Thursday 11 March – BBC School Report Day.
Year 9 students from the John Madejski Academy are making the news for real today as they take part in BBC News School Report. As a joint Media and English project, the students have been assigned a professional BBC mentor, and will create and source stories about the upcoming Olympics, school news, interviews with Reading FC players and even a match review! We aim to publish the news here by 16:00 GMT.
Click on a headline below to see the full news article.
The Effects of Violent Video Games
How Many Lives Will be Taken by Knives
Reading Reign Over Ten Man Rams
Olympics 2012
No matter who you are, everyone has an opinion on the upcoming 2012 Olympics:
Quotes: Matthew Pinsent "This is so special... It was four votes between winning and losing -- as close as our race in Athens... The emotion in the last couple of hours has been incredible."
David Beckham "This is going to do so much for our country, not just obviously the East End in London. For our country it inspires so many children to go out there and, they can go and watch an Olympics, I can go, I can take my children to watch an Olympics where I was, where I was brought up, so it's an amazing feeling. It's been an honor to be involved. Now we've won it there's a lot to be done."
Paula Radcliffe "I am really, really pleased. I knew Paris had a great bid but I hoping and finally confident, we would be successful... London will put on a brilliant Games, and yes, if I'm not crocked I hope to be running there."
Jonny Wilkinson “London 2012 will be a brilliant sporting event and something for us all to be very proud of.”
Gary Lineker “The games will inspire the nation and give us the ability to showcase all that is great about Britain.
Tony Blair “A momentous day for London… I couldn’t bear to watch (the final announcement). It is not often in this job that you get to punch the air and do a little jig and embrace the person standing next to you.”
Sebastian Coe “We are taking home the biggest prize in sport… I always knew this was going to be close… I am absolutely ecstatic … this is our moment. The spin off for sport in the united kingdom will be huge.”
London Mayor Ken Livingstone “We will promise you a games you will never forget.”
At school we did a survey asking people how the felt about the Olympics coming to England for the first time since 1948. The vast majority that we interviewed were very exited about it but a small group didn't follow what was happening.
66% of the people were exited about it.
77% liked the 2012 Olympic logo.
63% were hoping to get a ticket to watch.
Reported by: Tyler, Elliott and Josh.
The Effects of Violent Video Games
Today our group is covering a very serious issue, violet video games and their effect on children. We have been researching what violent video games people own and how it affects them and their families. Amazingly, 80% of the people we surveyed own violent video games! Only 20% do not. Many of the people that own these games get extremely agitated while playing online.
A majority of this anger was taken out on their families. Whilst internet research shows that in the past young American teens have re-enacted the video games and killed innocent people. Due to these incidents many countries have banned certain video games because of violence and cruelty towards others.
Many people that were surveyed admitted to re-enacting video games that involve wrestling or combat situations. 50% of the re-enactments ended up with someone being hurt. Parents are also a part of this issue. Parents that buy their children violent video games are putting them at risk. Some children said that age ratings should not be in place. This is worrying and shows that most children do not know what these games can do to them.
Overall we have found that all video games cause stress. This puts pressure on the families. This is because most of the stress of the children is taken out on the family. Many simple games like Pacman can even cause anger and stress. This is because people believe if they are not good at the games people would think badly of them.
Reported by: Shane.
Video Games Create a Killer
Years of research documents point to the fact that witnessing violence and aggression leads to a range of negative outcomes for children.
These outcomes result both from witnessing real violence as well as from viewing media violence. Ironically, the same parents who take great pains to keep children from witnessing violence in the home and neighborhood
often do little to keep them from viewing large quantities of violence on television, movies and video games. There is likelihood therefore of aggressive and violent behavior in both immediate and long-term contexts. In a 2004 survey, over 98% believe that the media affects childhood aggression. Somehow, this message has failed to be delivered successfully to the average American parent. Although there is a large and impressive body of research on the effects of violent television and film on aggressive behavior, there is less research on the effects of violent video games.
The first commercial video game, Pong, was released in 1972. It was similar to a game of table tennis (or ping pong), in which players had to hit a “ball” with “paddles”. As the commercial possibilities became known, game developers began to push the creative and technological boundaries in order to gain greater profits and market share. The developers not only worked to create better technological capacities and graphics abilities, but also experimented with content to see what the market would bear, including violent content. The first violent video game to receive much attention was Death Race, a driving simulator. Released in 1976, the game’s working title had been Pedestrian. The goal was to run down stick figure pedestrians, called “gremlins”. During the 1980s and early 1990s, the violence in video games was still fairly stylized, partially because of technological constraints. In 1992, a major step forward in realism was taken by the game Wolfenstein 3D, the first major “first-person shooter” game. In this game you had to “see and shoot” this was very addictive but also got very frustrating and caused people to take it out on their families and friends.
In conclusion violent video games do have a negative effect on children, as it makes them stressed if things do not go their way but these games do not influence the majority of children.
Reported by Charlie, Liam, Shane, Michael.
Skinny Vs Curvy?
By Sophie, Lauren, Poppy, Helen, Sophie and Katie.
We did a survey around the John Madejski Academy, asking students if they preferred to be ‘Curvy or Skinny’. The response was that 98% of girl’s would prefer to look curvy, but they also said that they wouldn’t want to look overweight.
Also the size that was considered perfect was size 8 because 61% of girls picked from sizes 8-12 and the most popular choice was size 8.
Students were asked if they felt pressure to look like size 0 models and 88% felt that they were not under pressure to look like a size 0 model.
We asked students what they felt was the size that they considered large and 65% felt that size 20 was large.
We also asked students how they felt about their weight and 47% said that they think about their weight daily.
We then asked students if they had ever been on a diet and 30% said that they had.
Students were asked if clothes should be sold up to a certain size in shops and 95% said that they should sell clothes in a variety of sizes.
We then asked if students have ever been bullied because of their size and 72% said that they had.
Students were asked if they could be any size what would they be and 46% picked size 10.
Reported by Sophie.
How Many Lives Will be Taken by Knives?
There have been a lot of stories and attention on knife crime in the past couple of years, so we have decided to see for ourselves if knife crime is getting a lot worse or if the increase is being exaggerated. We have focused our research mainly on London because that’s where the media have mainly been getting their knife crime stories.
In London alone 21 teenagers died in violent circumstances involving a knife last year, but in 2007 26 adolescents were killed due to knife crime. These statistics show us that the numbers of knife crime have decreased a lot in the past year, but even though there has been a decrease, many people are very worried about this very serious issue, especially the adolescents of our country as they are they are now the real victims of knife crime.
55% of young people fear of becoming a knife crime victim. Also 63% of people said last year that they do not feel that the police can protect them from the knife crime that is happening. However, we interviewed the Thames Valley police and asked them do they think they can protect people from knives and this was their response, ‘ we can protect people from knife crime to a level, but community has to play a part as well.’ We also asked Thames Valley police if they thought more teenagers are using knives, ‘Not teenagers in particular, anyone can use them, teenagers are more aware about knives.’
However the media have been suggesting that the youth are to blame for the increase on knife crime, but that isn’t exactly true. We spoke to Chelsea Cowley, a student at John Madejski Academy on her view of knife crime and how she thinks it affects her as a adolescent, ‘I think knife crime has a big effect on teenagers and where I’m a teenager most people look at us and are scared of us, so we tend to act bad around them because that’s their point of view. I know a lot of teenagers and all my friends that are well behaved and would never carry a knife or get in trouble with the law. ‘ We also interviewed Katie Royle, an anthropology teacher at John Madejski Academy, we asked her how she felt about knife crime, ‘ I think it is a significant issue among young people who don’t understand the dangers they are facing by carrying a knife or being with someone who does carry a knife.’ We also asked her if she thinks that the amount of knife crime has increased, ‘ I think people are more aware of knife crime, so people are less likely to put themselves at risk.’ Lastly we asked her, do you think the sentence for carrying a knife should be increased?, she replied. ‘ I think the sentence are harsh but fair.’
There are loads of stories in the news about knife crime, but the chances of you being stabbed are actually pretty low, the number of people getting hurt by knives is about the same as its always been. But what is changing is that the victims are getting younger. Some young people carry knives to protect them, but if you carry a knife you are more likely to be hurt by one. The big message here is that having a knife for protection doesn’t work.
Reported by: Vanessa, Aimee, Chelsea and Thea.
Speed Way
Despite promises from the Reading Borough Council that the Reading Greyhound Stadium would be open by 2010 there are still no signs of it emerging. There are plans to build offices where the stadium was to be built. It was hoped that the stadium could have been rebuilt for the 2010 season but as yet no building work has gone underway so the deadline seems highly unlikely.
Many people are angry or concerned when or if it will be ever be re-opened. We interviewed the vet who used to work at the Reading Greyhound Stadium and we asked him:
‘What do you think of the Greyhound Stadium closing?’ – ‘It was a sad day for the people of Reading’
‘What are people who were involved in dog racing at Reading talking about?’ – ‘A large company will take over in June’
‘What happened to the dogs that used to run at Reading?’ – ‘Well around 400 had to be re housed or moved to tracks up to 100 miles away and I’m happy to say that no dogs were put to sleep’
‘Do you think Stadia UK will rebuild the stadium?’ – ‘No’
‘What did you think when Stadia UK bought the Greyhound Stadium?’ – ‘I was disappointed because they shut Milton Keynes’
We also interviewed a former trainer and breeder:
‘What was the usual crowd?’ – ‘1500-2000 people per week’
‘How often was there trouble?’ – ‘Once in 30 years’
‘Was the standard of racing at Reading high?’ – ‘Yes It was possibly one of the hardest stadiums to get a dog graded’
As we went on we didn’t find many people that were that concerned about the greyhound track but whilst we were out and about we finally found someone. Tanya smith a local resident she said:
‘Bring it back, it was a family event that was affordable. It also had a great atmosphere which was relaxing, people were friendly’.
Reported by Aaron, Joseph, Steven, Luke, Anthony.
Reading Reign Over Ten Man Rams
Reading continue their path out of the relegation zone with a 4-1 win over Derby County. They played brilliant football having dominated with 61% ball possession.
The in-form Kebe lashed a cross across the face of goal before he created the opener for Shane Long in the 8th minute. Goalkeeper Stephen Bywater hobbled off on 13 minutes with a back injury. Saul Deeney came on to replace him. Clough’s side had failed to show any invention, however, Gilles Sinu scored an equaliser for the Rams on 21 minutes before Jimmy Kebe restored the advantage 13 minutes later. In the 41st minute Shane Long was through on goal after beating the keeper but substitute Saul Deeney was shown a red card on his debut for the Rams. Derby skipper Robbie Savage had to go in goal for the penalty and the remainder of the match. Deeney had come on less than half an hour into the game when Stephen Bywater was injured, which left manager Nigel Clough with no choice but to send Savage between the posts. However
Shane Long took penalty and sent it high over the crossbar.
The veteran midfielder did pull off a few saves especially a screamer to deny Gylfi Sigurdsson, Reading went further ahead via Ryan Burtrand on 69 minutes before substitute Simon Church wrapped up the victory with 6 minutes to go.
The win sent Reading climbing 4 points out the drop zone whilst Derby remain in trouble themselves, being just a point above Reading having played 2 games more.
Brian McDermott was satisfied with the victory, we also asked him what his thoughts are on the upcoming game against Bristol City, he stated “It is very difficult to forecast a score but as long as we win, its good enough.”
Reported by Haris.
The survey
On account of the sublime form that Reading are in, we decided to do a survey. If they don’t get promoted this season, we looked forward to next.
We surveyed 44 people. 21 people said that Reading FC would stay in the championship. The main reason behind this was, because Leeds will probably be promoted into the Championship. Leeds are also a team having a delightful season. They knocked out the great Manchester United in the FA cup. Leeds will most probably get promoted and be great contenders for the Premier League.
6 people said that Reading would be relegated. This is because these people do not watch football or really dislike the team.
17 people said Reading FC will be promoted. Their recent form has been sparkling. Reading at the moment are 4 points clear of the relegation zone, however they have 2 games in hand with 41 points. If they are to win their games in hand, Reading will go behind Middlesbrough because Reading have a lower goal difference.
Next season if Reading are still in the Championship and they start the season in the form they are in now they will be great contenders to win the Championship.
Fans View
Before the match, I met some fans. They were real confident after the Sheffield Wednesday thrashing. Reading won 5-0 against the Owls. Which gave the fans encouragement that they would win.
After the FA cup heartbreak, the fans were determined for a win. One fan said that “it was a game of two halves.” Reading were dominant in the first half but lost out in the second. The final score was 4-2 to Aston villa.
When we asked fans about the Sheffield Wednesday win, they said that they were ecstatic. “ we beat them 6-0 so I expected that same result never the less it was still a great win.”
We also asked the fan whet they think the score line would be. Some said 1-0, 2-0, 2-1. But no one expected a 4-1 emphatic win.
I asked Brian Mcdermott what he thought about the fans. He said “they were great.” Fans always play a big part in big games and the Reading FC fans were always behind their team.
Reported by: Haris.
All photography by: Lauren and Helen.