Wednesday 2^nd saw the 15^th series of the well-known programme, The Apprentice. A new host of aspiring candidates were introduced on screens across the nation. The show has now been running for two weeks and two of the original 16 candidates have been fired. The process seems more difficult than ever.  

On the first task the candidates were sent to South Africa and were told to create an experience that they could sell to tourists and the team with the highest income would win the task. The groups were split into boys and girls, as usual on the first task. The boys team decided to do a Safari and a tour promising to see things like Elephants and Buffalo. Meanwhile the girls decided to go for a wine tasting experience with a tour of a winery. Lottie Lion, one of the candidates, made it clear that she used to work in one of the UK’s best winery’s and showed her knowledge of that in this task. However, when one of the tourists was trying to place an order in for some wine, halfway through the negotiation, Lottie jumped in and decided to steal the sale. This was very unprofessional. This childish behavior also came from the boy’s side too. They ended up losing the task and in the final three was Lewis Ellis, who midway through his discussion with Lord Sugar started shouting and getting irate. This looked very amateur and Lord Sugar wasn’t impressed. In the end it was Shahin Hassan who was fired on the basis that he didn’t sell any tours. 

On the second task, both teams were sent away and told to create their own ice lollies. The teams were the same as the last task with the boys on one side and the girls on the other. The boys decided to create a premium lolly which included Milk, Raspberry, edible glitter and coconut milk. The girls decided to create a lolly that showcased retro flavors and sweets. They ended up with a product made from cherry cola and liquorice. The girls ended up winning the task again and meant another one of the boys to be fired. One of the boys, Dean Ahmad, was in the final three to get fired for two weeks in a row. This isn’t a good position to be in this early into the competition. However, it wasn’t him to get fired, it was Kenna Gnoma. He was fired on the basis that he designed an outline of making a bespoke product and he did not deliver. 

We are now a few weeks in and the teams have now been really well mixed up and the competition is getting interesting. Go and check it out on iplayer. 

New and upcoming things in Student Journalism

Recently the school had an activities fair in which the co-curricular activities had a stand each to promote some of the things that happened there. The student journalism team made an appearance and one of the things we allowed the people to do there was send in some suggestions for things they would like to see in future editions. People were given slips of paper and asked to write things they would like the Journalism team to cover/write about. These were some of the things that came out of that exercise:

• A piece on what do to/how to get through year 7.
• An insight into student life.
• Brexit.
• Advice to the younger students from some of the older years.
• School’s daily life from the perspective of the student.
• We also had a suggestion for a piece on hairstyles. I don’t think we are going to cover this but if you would like to write something about this and submit it, please feel free.

In the student journalism we are constantly looking for things to write about and include in our blog. We have a fair few members now and will be able to cover these things suggested. We are interested in what our readers think about our blog and what they would like to see included in there. If there is anything you would like to see included in future editions, please email in or hand a list of things to the geography office.

Maple’s Verse Speaking Choir

At the start of the year, we have the annual choir competition for the bridge cup. I am currently in the Maple’s Verse Speaking Choir and we are currently performing the poem Still I’ll Rise. The choir leader has worked very hard lately with organising solos and rehearsals. Rehearsals are always hard for the choirs as often lots of students forget about them but recently we have had a real surge in attendance. The poem has been going very well with the majority of students attending and knowing the poem. Jeffrey Lu the choir leader has done really well at prescribing solos and making sure people know the poem and the choreography. There are always positives and negatives of the choir but so far as it is my first year doing the choir I am enjoying it. I am sure that all choirs from each house are working hard for the day in which we perform our pieces. My hope though is that obviously Maple’s will win for both verse speaking and singing choirs. But, good luck to everyone else!

Head of Year 7- Ms Mathews interview

Question 1- What has been the best thing about the start of the year with year 7?

Firstly, she stated that it has been a rush of excitement for the students as of course, they are new to the school and they have many questions, which is quite overwhelming. In addition, she amusingly replied that it is hard to keep up with how active they are and how they are bursting with energy.

Question 2- Are you looking forward to the residential?

 She explained that she was, in fact, excited for the residential and of course was going to need a couple of good nights of sleep to prepare her for the fact that the yr7’s probably won’t sleep. But overall, she thought everyone was looking forward to it and it was a good chance for them to bond and to continue to uphold great friendships in their form.

Question 3- What is it like being the head of year 7 compared to assistant head of year 8?

Ms. Matthews stated that the amount of work you must do as head of year compared to assistant is significantly more and she has found it a struggle at the start of the year. She said it is difficult to learn everyone’s name and the fact that if there is an issue, kids generally go to her meaning she must deal with a lot of things. Also, she said she has found it great so far and has thoroughly enjoyed it and it excited for the rest of the year.

Question 4- What are the challenges of being head of year?

One of the major challenges she thought, was trying to keep up with the workload and getting everything done in time. Also trying to keep on top of speaking to the yr7’s, planning her own lessons and contacting parents when she needs to, are challenges. As well as this the fact that the work never stops as its night and day can prove to be testing. So, in general the time management of it all has been quite demanding but who doesn’t love a test?

Question 5- In the future, would you see yourself continuing being the head of year 7?

Ms. Mathews said “definitely” when asked this question, and added that she was so excited to be given the head of year role and she wanted to continue for a long time in the role.

Today, 20^th September 2019, thousands of people around the world went on strike to change how the world is. See below for more detail

In Nottingham, there were 2 different protests in the town centre- we visited one of them- they were in front of the city hall. The idea was to increase awareness for people who are oblivious to this modern issue. They were working with extinction rebellion. We spoke to the woman who organised this particular protest. She said that she wanted to increase the profile of the protesters but it was very small to start as you can see in the image on the right. However, when we revisited later, it grew in size throughout the day. Many people held up boards with powerful messages. The woman also said that it was just a small gathering whereas “other people are lying down in banks…”

Another man we spoke to criticised the government for plans to expand Heathrow Airport and continuing plans of HS2, the high speed train from London to Manchester. “As of now, the climate is pretty bad, really bad, but it’s not irreversible YET” was what we heard from a man who wanted no more plastic to be used. People seem to think it is very desperate- “more needs to be done to stop the crisis.” The word crisis shows the pure desperation of the public.

Fracking is extracting gas from shale which is another fossil fuel. “They’re backing fracking” was what somebody said about the government. Many people we spoke to criticised not only the British government but many other countries all over the world. An example would be Donald Trump’s appalling attitude regarding climate change. He has made many ludicrous comments such as “we need global warming because it’s too cold”- this was said when temperatures reached -30C in America. “We don’t take the government seriously when they say they care.” Boris Johnson’s tory government has not done a great deal about climate change. However, it is hoped the protests will get a reaction from leading Politicians.

So what did they gain? “If it keeps being in your face you can’t ignore it anymore.” This is what protesters thought would help get people to stop using excess plastic and electricity.