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Click the link below to see the 2013 School News Report from Gryffe |
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BBC NEWS SCHOOL REPORT
The Gryffe High Media Team made the news for real on 15 March 2012 as they took part in BBC News School Report. The aim was to publish the news by 1600 GMT on the News Day. After a day of sheer hard work, determination and a few stressful moments, the team managed to meet that deadline.
For more details of the project, please click on the BBC link below.
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PI DAY AT THE BUTCHERSHOP
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At 9.10 on BBC Schools Report Day we caught a taxi. We were on our way to interview customers of Holmes and Sons butcher in Bridge of Weir on what they knew about pi (and pies!). We never expected the taxi driver to be a brilliant person to interview. He had taken his 6thyear studies maths in 1973 and he had also studied engineering at school and back then they had to learn 6 decimal places of pi. We went into the butchers and not long after a man and a woman came in. Our first customers were kind enough to let us interview them. They knew about the pi sign and also the shape it represented and they also knew what the value of pi was. The man had remembered doing it in school. A few more people came in and were happy for us to interview them. The time was coming to an end and the last customer happened to know a lot. He knew the pi sign, knew it was a circle and knew the formula but he made a guess that our 5th year pupil Toni was able to memorise pi to 9 decimal places when in fact it was over 700. It was a hard question though and nobody came up with the correct answer, though our closest answer was 200. By then we were cold and ready to head back to the school for more hard work and some heat!
By Aqib S1, Beth S1, Alison S1
Click below to hear what the people of Bridge of Weir know about pi!
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Download (2209k)
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TONI FINDS PI A PIECE OF CAKE
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Many people struggle to remember certain dates, phone numbers or passwords. However, this isn’t a problem for Toni, a fifth year Gryffe pupil, as his memory enables him to not only remember such numbers, but also to recall pi to over a mind boggling 700 decimal places!
Toni has not only been able to use such a great skill to his advantage when memorising pi, but also in his studies, and this astounding talent comes in very handy when revising for any biology and chemistry exams, as he is able to memorise specific equations, calculations and overall facts.
His amazing ability was covered by the BBC during an interview on BBC Scotland with Kenneth MacDonald yesterday to celebrate National Pi Day. This interview explained how Toni remembers numbers, facts and dates through picturing specific routes and journeys, where each object he encounters has a specific number allocated to it. It is through this method that Toni has been able to recall pi to over 700 decimal places, as he proved yesterday. Pi day may only occur once a year, but this one day gives Toni the perfect opportunity to showcase his extraordinary talent. At the moment, the UK record for reciting pi stands at 701 decimal places, so Toni’s facing tough competition! Good luck Toni, we’re all counting on you!
by Heather, S4
Click below to hear Toni's BBC interview |
Download (8415k)
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Since 1929, it has been legal to be married at sixteen in Scotland under the Age of Marriage Bill (30 April 1929). The question is, is this law right? It has been debated for a long time whether or not it should be legal to marry at such a young age. In 2010 there were 9893 divorces in Scotland, many of occurring in marriages of people under the age of 30. Could the young legal age to be married be partially responsible?
We conducted a survey throughout the school to see what young people’s opinions of being allowed to marry at sixteen were. We then put the results into a Pie Chart.
The end result was a 50/50 split! Some of the pupil’s comments were:
"It’s your life and it is up to you. Sixteen is mature enough to make the decision to marry.” - an S1 pupil
“You are too young. You need to think about exams and further education, not being married and having children.” - an S2 pupil
“It should be your choice and there is no reason why you have to be older, you can make your own decisions.”
“You are still young and probably can’t afford to get married.” - an S4 pupil
“Many people at this age are responsible, and it is their own life. It is legal.” - an S5 pupil
“You should enjoy life while you’re young, and then get married later when you are more mature and ready to settle down.” - an S6 pupil
To sum up, most of the younger pupils thought people should be allowed to marry at sixteen, but as it progressed up the school, the more pupils thought it would be a bad idea and it would most likely end in divorce.
by Sophie and Katie, S2
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The Media Team conducted a whole school survey recently and discovered that a massive 84% of the whole school use a Social Networking site regularly. 67% of Gryffe pupils use a Facebook account regularly, with many admitting to using them for more than an hour each evening.
Social Networking plays a major part in society today. It is widely used by the general public and particular businesses for all sorts of reasons. As time has moved on and technology has advanced there are many more features and facilities available which make communicating much easier and more convenient. Some of the many features include video calls, games and pages to upload photographs. The huge advantage of Social Networking is the ability to share information instantly with a wide circle of people. This can be really useful for sharing good news eg. The birth of a baby complete with beautiful images.
Social networking is a fabulous tool for communicating with far away relatives and work colleagues if you want to find anything out quickly. It could also be said that it has some disadvantages. It can, in some cases, encourage cyber bullying and it can sometimes be very misleading if you are not careful about how you say or phrase things.
The most popular site amongst pupils is Facebook. Facebook was founded by Mark Zuckerberg on the 4th of Feb 2004 and since then it has gained 845 million users. Most of these users are of the age range 18 - 34 years old.
Facebook has a facility which means that you can send friend requests to people that you want to contact. This is a good facility if you want to reconnect with relatives who live abroad or far away if it is convenient for you to travel. Some family reunions have taken place with people who had not met in 20 to 48 years. A new adaption to the site called timeline allows you to display your life story by year.
The other popular site used by many pupils is Twitter, where users can ‘tweet’ up to 140 characters at a time. This is a useful tool for official organisations e.g. Renfrewshire Council or the Met Office. They tweet a lot to reach huge numbers of people and give them important, up to date information instantly.
My personal opinion is that I do not see the point in talking to your friends for most of the day at school, going home and talking to them again. I would rather talk to them face to face and as I am rather chatty and I may, subconsciously phrase something which could be conveyed as sarcastic or mean.
Sarah S3 | |
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Not a PIE Chart!! |
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And finally...
Well done Ian, Aqib, Alison, Beth, (S1) Sophie, Katie, Emma, (S2) Sarah, Lucy (S3) and Heather (S4) on all your hard work today and on a great job!
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Media Team members record at the BBC - Body Image Phone In
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Click on this link to see the BBC report: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schoolreport/17305500
On Thursday 1st March, 3 members of the Gryffe High Media Group, Katie, Sophie and Sarah, earned an incredible opportunity to visit the BBC to participate in a radio phone in. We went to the BBC by taxi at lunchtime. When we arrived there the overall view from the front door was brilliant. The place was massive! We waited only a couple of minutes for our name badges and then Rosalind McInnis (BBC Media Lawyer) came to say hello and to see how we were and what we were up to in the radio phone in. We were escorted by Sunana Nanda, our ‘host’ up to the studio where we were to do our phone in. Even going in the lift to the 4th floor, the people working in the BBC were very welcoming and created a lovely atmosphere.
When we arrived in the room there were three seats all set up with a microphone in front of each one. We could also see through the glass to others in the next radio booth. After waiting to be connected to the hosts of the phone in from England, we were told that as it was pre recorded we did not need to worry about making mistakes. The other pupils were very entertaining and supportive - they also sounded experienced and made the phone in much more comfortable by encouraging us by saying thing like ‘That’s a good answer’ or’ I agree with Gryffe’ etc.
The phone in lasted around an hour and we all got had chance to express our opinion and answer questions put to us by a school in Ireland called Carrickfergus College. The questions were all about body image and what lengths people will go to to look perfect when they do not actually realise how much effort is put in to make stars and models look flawless. Questions were also asked about uniform and how far the limits are set to let people express themselves and their personality. The school initiating the phone in discussion said that body image was a major problem for 80% of their own pupils.
The original plan was that we would get a chance to talk to Paige from the TV series Gok Wans Teens - The Naked Truth. Unfortunately we were not able to contact her so we pre recorded the questions for her about body image. These questions included things like; ‘Did going on the show boost your confidence?’ , If you had to talk to girls with the same problem you had, what would you say to them?’ We also heard an interview with Alexandra Burke who also spoke about self confidence and body image. She said very inspiring words and told us how she has a bit of a confidence problem but just gets on with it. She also advises people to be who you are and not be influenced by others. Some very valid points were made during the phone in and it is hoped that they will help teens suffering from body problems and we look forward to the answers from Paige.
Sarah - I thoroughly enjoyed the day. Everyone was very welcoming and it was nice that they told us step by step what to do throughout the radio phone in. The BBC is a very impressive place and I hope that I can go again in the future and even work there one day. Thanks for the fabulous day!
Sophie ‘I had an amazing time recording for the School Report Day. It was such a great opportunity - I've always wanted to be on the radio! It was very interesting to hear the other pupils opinions on the subject of body image, and to be able to discuss my feelings on the subject as well. I had a brilliant time and I hope to be able to take part in an event like this again.’
Katie ‘This experience was a great opportunity to understand more about the job, journalism. I found it quite fascinating to find out what other school kids thought of this topic. I also found it really interesting to learn how they create phone ins and I thoroughly enjoyed myself throughout the day.’
Article by Sarah S3 |
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