Year 9 When we hear the words Year 9 we think STRESS STRESS STRESS! Teachers are always going on AND on about our options and GCSE’s. So how are we EVER going to get through this year without going insane.

Here are some top tips for the year to try and stop us from going completely bonkers!: Keep Fit! Eat and drink the right food at the right time, if you are healthy

you are more likely to be happy. Also get enough sleep at night, tiredness can result in a headache which makes people more irritable and lessens your concentration.

Prepare! Failing to prepare is preparing to fail! Make sure you have the

right equipment and have done your homework. A lot of homework links into the next lesson and if you don’t complete it you will be clueless.

Visualise Success! Many people have a very low self esteem, you need to be

confident in yourself and always aim for the best, this will help you achieve higher than you expected.

Mistakes! Don’t worry about mistakes everyone makes them, the important

thing is that you learn from them. Relax! When you are stressed make sure you have some personal time on

your own so you can reflect. Admit it! If you think you’re not coping talk to someone whether it be a

friend, teacher or parent, admitting you have a problem is the first step to solving it.

Smile! This year doesn’t have to be stressful if you don’t want it to be, put

aside time for a special hobby or going out with friends and family from time to time. This way you will feel refreshed and have a more positive outlook on things.

Hopefully this will get through the year! By Hiba Azim 9C

GCSE Options What should I select? By Manishah Jayabalan 9S

Compulsory Subjects

English

Maths

Science

Optional Subjects

Music

Geography

Social Science

Philosophy

Media Studies

History

Business Studies

Citizenship

ICT/DiDA

Physical Education

Religious Education

Design & Technology

Additional Language

What else can you add to your

qualifications?

Its not just GCSE results that can have an

impact on your future, other certificates

and past records matter too. Doing

activities such as sports leadership for

example can a make a big difference. The

way we behave, progress and our attitude

matter greatly when applying to university

or for a job. We need to start caring about

our attitude towards working and learning.

Why is Year 9

important?

Year 9 is a very

important year for

everyone because it is

the end of Key Stage 3

as well as the time to

choose your options for

GCSE. We need to work

hard and motivate

ourselves to do better

so we can get high

GCSE grades. We are all

working towards our

GCSE’s and we must

make sure that we

prepare for them to the

best of our abilities.

GCSE’ are going to be

very important in

deciding our futures.

What should I

choose?

Choosing your

options can be a

challenging task.

The best way to

decide is to think

about what

subjects you enjoy

the most, whether

or not you will

benefit from them

and also consider

which ones you

excel the most in.

It’s definitely not

an easy task to

decide your GCSE

options. If you have

an idea of your

future career and

you want to be a

doctor for

example, then

choosing triple

science would be

beneficial to you.

To help you in

deciding your

P.E.

My name is Prameet and my favourite subject is P.E. In my opinion I

believe that P.E. is a very important subject because what you learn

can be used in a number of different ways, for example you can get

good exercise doing it and skills you learn in a subject like swimming

could even help you save someone’s life. At the moment my P.E. class is

doing swimming which along with football I enjoy the most.

I love being active, but most importantly my goal is to have fun. My

definition of fun isn’t winning but just enjoying myself as much as I

can because at the end of the day we’re all winners not losers.

ByPrameet Kaur 9L

Black History Month

Black History Month is a month that is celebrated by different people around the world. It takes place in February in the USA and Canada and in October in Britain and the Republic of Ireland. This month exists because it remind people of the struggles that African Americans went through when they fought for civil rights.

Rosa Parks (February 4 1913—October 24 2005) Rosa Parks was an African American civil rights activist who made a huge contribution to ending the struggle for black people in America. At the time buses in America were segregated and it was compulsory for a black person to give up their seat for a white person or to stand. When Parks refused to give up her seat one day she was arrested and was mistreated whilst in custody and lost her job. As a result she became a public figure and today she is regarded as a leading figure in the civil rights movement and is source of inspiration for many. By Safiyah Ahmad 9D

Chocolate

Chocolate is a confection made from cocoa beans. It mostly commonly comes in dark,

milk and white varieties. Chocolate originally comes from cocoa plants which are

often found in plantations in South America, there are several different varieties of

cocoa plant which all produce slightly different flavours. The flavour is also

impacted by where the chocolate is grown.

Chocolate was first discovered thousands of years ago in the ancient Maya and

Aztec civilizations of Central America. Cocoa trees grew wild in the jungle and they

were used to make a spicy and rather bitter drink for special occasions. Centuries

later the Aztec Empire fell, and the Conquistador, Hernan Cortes brought cocoa

beans back across Europe. It became a fashionable choice of Kings and Queens, the

nobility and the rich, just like champagne and caviar today. At the end of the 19th

Century milk was added and at last someone devised a way of making chocolate to

eat as well as drink. But it wasn’t until the 20th Century that chocolate became

affordable for everyone. Chocolate has been on an epic journey, but its popularity is

enduring, once prized by the Aztecs and now today by millions of people around t he

world.

There are three main types of cocoa: Forastero, Criollo and Trinitario (a cross

between the first two).

In the 18th Century France produced pastilles (tablets) and bars, but it wasn’t until

Bristol company Fry & Son made a ‘chocolate delicieux a manger’ in 1847 that the

first bar of chocolate as we know it today appeared. It was a mixture of cocoa

powder and sugar with a little of the melted coca butter that had been extracted

from the beans, the end result was a bar that could be moulded. It might have been

coarse and bitter but today’s standards but it was still a revolution. Moulded into

blocks and bars and poured over fruit-flavoured centres. This plain chocolate was a

real breakthrough but there was more to follow, in 1875 a Swiss manufacturer called

Daniel Peter added powdered milk to make the first milk chocolate bar.

During the early part of the 20th century new machinery, new lands for cocoa-

growing and even two world wars helped spread chocolate’s popularity. Today,

although cocoa farming hasn’t changed much, chocolate manufacturing has become a

blend of art and science. Thanks to trade and technology, cocoa seeds and chocolate

are part of a global market economy that includes most countries around the world.

So now you know a lot about the history of chocolate, today chocolate comes in

different types of shapes and sizes and can be used in all sorts of things like

recipes, cookies and cakes.

If you would like to know any more about chocolate than visit the following

websites:

www.prestat.co.uk/chocolate-facts/chocolates-history/chocolate-today

www.wisegeeks.com/what-is-chocolate.htm

www.cadbury.co.uk/cadburyandchocolate/historyofchocolate/Pages/

thehistoryofchocolate.aspx

By Mishel Waseem 9N

Three Amazing Facts!

Coca-Cola would be green if

colouring wasn’t added to it

Months that begin on a Sunday will always have a

Friday the 13th

‘Rhythm’ is the longest English word without a

vowel

By Naeem Kaiyum 9R

Space Poem

I open up my science book

What shall I see? The sun, the moon,

The whole of the galaxy

There are seven planets Orbiting the sun at a pace

Jupiter, Saturn, Earth, Uranus, Mars, Mercury and Venus

The moon orbits the Earth Like the cycle of a birth

Round and round Without dropping to the ground

By Uzma Chawdary 9R

Riddles When I turn around I’m still in the same place, When I jump up I’m still

on the ground. What am I?

I an dark, I can only be seen in the light, the more there is the more valid I look. I can’t speak but I can only follow your. What am I?

Pronounced as one letter and written with three, two letters there are

and two in me. I’m double, I’m single, I’m black, blue and gray. I’m read from both ends and the same either way. What am I?

By Razina Bapu 9R

A normal day, a normal time, a normal person, a normal morning. Get up, get ready, have

breakfast or maybe even not. Then go to school—Maths, English, Tech, History, Spanish then

home.

―Bye Mum‖ I said.

More depressing the day becomes when your Dad, lying in bed refuses to drive you , and your

Mum is too ‗environmentally friendly‘.

―Don‘t pollute darling‖ she says

―Don‘t kill your future‖ she says

It‘s all crap anyway!

Just once what if Aladdin could just come with his flying carpet, Jasmine included and fly us to

school, that would be wicked, why couldn‘t life just be simple? I wonder...

Instead of things becoming simple, white dust started to fall on to me....snow.

‗Is that good or bad?‘ I wondered

‗Bad!‘, although the snow felt good on my face, my feet were crying and I had no winter shoes

either!

‗Just walk‘ I thought, ignoring the urge to turn around and stagger back home, I ducked my face

and limped towards school.

I won‘t blame anyone, my luck has always been bad, I arrived at school only to find one board, it

read: ‗School closed due to heavy snowfall‘

―Yippee a day off school!‖ I exclaimed

However as I told you my luck has never been good,

all this luck was a ‗what if...‘ up until the part when

Aladdin came with his flying carpet to do whatever,

in my mentality anyway.

Okay, walking, walking, walking hmmh.... So as

usual nothing to do, but schools getting in might

anyway. Just then there was a loud creeping sound,

then a loud crash.

―Alisha! Alisha! Alisha! Oh my gosh!!!‖

There calls for her name were going on everywhere,

just behind a pool of blood was forming and nearby

a navy car was parked which seemed to be the

source of it. I ran towards them in an instant, after all

you would help if somebody is dying right? Well yes

there she was, Alisha, yes and she was dying.

Herds of teachers were marching up towards Alisha, or should I say us? Alisha, no I didn‘t really

like her, neither were we friends, she was just ‗the girl who sat behind me in science‘. Obviously

your brain is always thinking of an excuse to get away from school, I thought as Alisha lay there

Coming back to reality (where no cars beep, no Alisha‘s dying) I walked through the school‘s

entrance. ―Moring, Good Morning‖ the teachers chorused, as always I said (or sometimes forgot):

―Good Morning miss‖

Now in reality this morning even though it looked it didn‘t seem normal, it was different. Well I

went to my locker to put my PE kit away, I could seem my friends from the first-floor window,

they were chatting away as usual. I heard a ‗tic-tuck, tic-tuck‘, a clock obviously I thought,

suddenly it got faster and then BOOM!

Wow! That was awesome! Our new school has been blown up and completely destroyed, Mrs

Johnson will be furious! Who ever did it will be dead! I however am just going to be happy, no

school forever! Wiping the soot off my face I walked towards the fire exit. Okay rewind, wiping

the swear off my face I walked towards my class, I admit it I‘m now showing off that story was

awesome! If only...if only..... It COULD happen!

Well after greeting my friends, registration commenced. The second bell rang and as we rushed

towards maths, because nobody wants a late-mark (with automatic 20 minutes detention). We

were studying algebra which is my favourite maths topic, consequently it was just a revision of

what we had already done last lesson.

Meanwhile 15 minutes into my lesson, Mrs Shand was walking towards my classroom, she came

in and after a few minutes of talking with Mrs Kaur she gestured towards me! Up I got trying not

to show the pleasure beating inside me, as I heard others moan and grumble behind me.

―Sorry darling, you need to go home.‖

What could it be I thought? My mum‘s ill? Hopefully! Your house burned down? Yippy, were

moving at last! Your mum‘s pregnant? No thanks! I‘ve always liked being an only child, Your

parents have won the lottery? They don‘t play it. I can‘t think of what it could be, plus I don‘t want

it to be anything bad!

Suddenly the bell went and I realised that I had actually be en daydreaming through maths! I

quickly grabbed my bag and headed to my next lesson, English. Afterwards I had break and went

to the canteen to buy something and headed to the benches. Science came next and we made

copper sulphate crystals in the lesson, they actually looked wicked! In the lab I sat next to the

windows were I thought about daydreaming again, I could see the builders outside and one of

them was sitting on a mountain of dust, sand and stone, drinking a cup of coffee.

Next to the builder was a bulldozer, its hinges were whinging, the sphere at the front was

swinging, the yellow colour seemed to be laughing. I‘m not boasting here but could anyone else‘s

imagination be so imaginative? Now I could see the creature moving to closer to me, okay the

school. Woah! I‘m sure it‘s getting too close now! Maybe I need to rub my eyes, I could hear Ms

Rahman teaching us about word equations. In my mind I started to hear people screaming, the

bulldozer seemed out of control! It was swinging here and there, pushing anything and everything

out of the way. The first person it would hit was basically me, how would feel to lie in a hospital

bed? I wonder......

I decided to wake up and open my eyes. In reality I don‘t know what to say, I‘ve said it all before,

bulldozer screeching, kids screaming, people running –us dying, well close to anyway. I saw the

science block break into pieces as I included myself as one of the runners, I‘m telling you nothing

could be more real. I got what I wanted, I was out of school, now is that good or bad? You decide..

By Laraib Siddique 9C