Table of contents for 464 in The Week Junior

From 21 to 26 October, leaders of Commonwealth countries gathered in Samoa, a country in the Pacific Ocean, for a meeting. The Commonwealth of Nations is a group of 56 countries, most of which used to be territories ruled by the British Empire. What happened at the meeting? The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) aims to encourage different countries to work together and tackle issues that affect future generations. Leaders from all Commonwealth countries attended, including UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and King Charles (see panel). The main topics discussed at the event were tackling climate change and protecting the world’s oceans. At the end of the meeting, the leaders signed a document stating that the time had come to start talking about whether the UK should offer “reparations”…

For the 30th year, the Whitby Goth Weekend festival is taking place in Yorkshire, England. The town of Whitby inspired the author Bram Stoker, who wrote the famous book Dracula. The festival began in 1994, when a group of friends met in Whitby to celebrate gothic stories (stories that include darkness and mystery). The festival grew to include music and fashion. Dr Crank, who leads ghost walks for visitors, said, “You get goths from all over the world coming to Whitby; we welcome them all.”…

The Government says that primary school children in Year 4 in England must take timed tests for the times tables. Formal testing (setting students tasks to be completed within a certain time) is a traditional way to check how much pupils know and how they are getting on. Some people say these tests are a quick way to see a student’s progress and where they might need extra help. However, some people find timed tests stressful, which could affect their mark. For example, a study in 2022 found that almost half of teachers and students think the system of exams has a negative impact on mental health. During Covid, pupils did not have to sit SATs and GCSEs. Instead, they were assessed on their work through the year. So, do…

Kelci Banschbach has been crowned Queen Conker at the World Conker Championships. She is the first American to win the competition. Banschbach hadn’t heard of conkers until she moved from Indiana, US, to the UK. She played her first ever game of conkers (which involves striking and smashing conkers) a year ago and then decided to compete at the Championship in Southwick, England, when her friend took part. She said competing was “nerve-racking” and that her parents were “a little confused when I had to explain what I was doing, but they’re so proud nonetheless”.…

The spindle tree can grow to nine metres high and live for more than 100 years. It’s found across the UK, usually on the edges of forests and in hedgerows. The bark and twigs of the spindle are a deep green that gets darker as the tree ages, with brown markings. At this time of year, the tree’s leaves turn a reddish orange, and clusters of colourful berries hang from its twigs. This happens after its flowers are pollinated. The berries turn into bright pink fruits and eventually burst open to reveal orange pips, although the seed is actually inside this covering, which looks a bit like a popcorn kernel. Spindle fruits are poisonous to humans but they get gobbled up by birds and mammals, including mice and red foxes.…

Children’s rights are basic freedoms that belong to young people. These include the right to education, protection from violence and the freedom to express opinions. This year marks 100 years since the Declaration of the Rights of the Child was accepted by countries around the world. To mark the occasion, the charity Save the Children encouraged children from Indonesia, Syria and Ukraine to create photo collages and poems about what is important to them. When were the rights of children first recognised? It all began with a woman called Eglantyne Jebb, who founded Save the Children in 1919. Jebb started campaigning for rights after she saw newspaper photographs of how the First World War (1914–1918) had affected children in Europe. She handed out leaflets in Trafalgar Square, London, to raise…

Katie Reid was eight years old when she first played football in her local park with her dad and sister. This year she made her debut for Arsenal, one of the world’s biggest clubs, and really enjoys being a professional player. “I first joined Arsenal when I was 13 and that’s when I realised I was really serious about football,” the 18-year-old tells The Week Junior. “When I was younger I also did golf and swimming but I mainly wanted to train with football and focus my time with that.” Reid plays in the Women’s Super League (WSL), the top level of women’s football in England, and recently appeared in the Women’s Champions League – a competition against teams from around Europe. Asked if she gets nervous in big games,…

Paddington Bear, known for his love of marmalade sandwiches, has been up to all sorts of adventures since he arrived in London. He’s been taken in by the Brown family; he’s escaped from prison after he was wrongly accused of a crime; and has had afternoon tea with Queen Elizabeth II. For his next adventure, Paddington wants to visit his Aunt Lucy, who lives at a home for retired bears in Peru, in South America. He’s joined by the Brown family but things don’t quite go as planned. Aunt Lucy has disappeared on a quest, so the family head into the rainforest to find her. Madeleine Harris and Samuel Joslin, who play Judy and Jonathan Brown, told The Week Junior what it was like to work on Paddington in Peru.…

The Feeling Good Club: Smash Your Worries, Bella! by Kelly McKain. Illustrated by Jenny Latham (Little Tiger Press) It’s Feeling Good Week at school but Bella isn’t feeling very good at all. Her best friend has moved away and she’s worried about the upcoming class talk. Then a new friendship starts to flourish and things begin to look up. Loki: A Bad God’s Guide to Making Enemies by Louie Stowell (Walker Books) This deliciously funny, doodle-packed series follows the Norse trickster god Loki, who has been trapped in the body of an ordinary schoolboy. When an old enemy reappears in Loki’s life, there are vendettas and vengeance in store – and as always, he’s recording it all in the pages of his hilarious diary. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hot…

Name: Holly The Secret Lake by Karen Inglis “Mysterious, adventurous, gripping. I loved this book; it is all about time travel and I could not keep my hands off it. It also contains mystery.” YOUR TURN Please email your book review to hello@theweekjunior.co.uk. If it is printed in the magazine you will receive a Roving Reporter badge. Describe your chosen book in three words, tell us what you liked about it and why you would recommend it to others. Don’t forget to include your name and address.* *If you are the competition winner, we will only use the details you provide to contact you and arrange delivery of your competition prize. Further details about how we manage the data you provide can be found at www.futureplc.com/privacy-policy…

Hello, my name’s Olaf Falafel. I’m a dad, a stand-up comedian and the author and illustrator of the Trixie Pickle Art Avenger books. Every month I show you how to create art based on the works of a famous artist. Plus, I tell you a really bad joke, like this: Why don’t ants get ill? Because they have anty-bodies! This week I want to talk about Wassily Kandinsky, an abstract artist from Russia. Abstract art is art that doesn’t try to show reality. Instead, Kandinsky focused on how art made people feel. He believed it could be like music, and that shapes and colours could create emotions, just like notes in a song do. As a lot of Kandinsky’s art used bright colours and shapes, some of it looks a…

It’s been an especially busy week for us at The Week Junior. We have several parents on the team, and of course for most children it was half-term, so lots of us have been taking time off to spend with our families. We also held our Book Festival at the Barbican in London on 29 October. It was a brilliant day – huge thanks to everyone who came along and made it so much fun. We’ll have a report on it in our next issue. The entries to our Christmas cover competition are still pouring in. Well done to all of you for your wonderful work – we are so enjoying looking at your designs. Don’t forget, the competition closes on 10 November, and you can enter using the template…

Invention competition Fancy helping Alex Horne become the best Taskmaster’s assistant ever? Here’s your chance! If you are between four and 11 years old, you can enter the Kids Invent Stuff Taskmaster Education competition. It’s supported by the Intellectual Property Office (who register inventions). Come up with a crazy invention to help Alex on the TV show Taskmaster. The best idea will be built by Ruth and Shawn, the YouTube stars behind Kids Invent Stuff, and tested by Alex himself at the Taskmaster house. Send in your ideas by 13 December 2024. Find out more at tinyurl.com/twj-invention-comp…

Email your news, views and pictures to hello@theweekjunior.co.uk Please include your full name and address so that we can send you a Roving Reporter badge if your contribution makes it onto the page. We will only use the details you provide to arrange delivery of badges, and we will not share them with anyone else. By submitting your reports and pictures, you give consent to The Week Junior to print them in magazine and digital editions, and mention on our podcast. We reserve the right to edit contributions for length, accuracy and suitability. Ensure you have your parent/guardian’s permission before sending anything to us.…

Teacher’s name: Mrs Egan-Clarke School: Littlegarth School, Nayland, Essex, England “Mrs Egan-Clarke is inspirational, caring and thoughtful. She decorates our classroom and brings us breakfast treats on special days. In science she sets up experiments – one of our favourites was making rockets that shoot into the sky. We love her special prize box and getting a treat when we work hard. We all love Mrs Egan-Clarke and wish she could be our teacher forever.” Amelia and Poppy If we pick your teacher as Teacher of the Week, we’ll send your school three free issues of The Week Junior. Send your nominations, along with a picture of your teacher and your school’s full name and address, to hello@theweekjunior.co.uk…

We love hearing from you! It’s easy – just write a comment when you vote in our online Big Debate poll, or even record a voice note for The Week Junior Show. Last week we asked you if we should have robot waiters… “Robots are not the same as a real, friendly human waiter and are also too expensive to make.” “I think that humans should hand out the food and robots should make the food.” “No, people would lose their jobs.” “Yes, some restaurants have them already and the robots are really nice.” Tell us what you think of this week’s issue and we’ll print some of the best comments here.…

A BRILLIANT DOCTOR On 28 October, Dr Sheila Reith received a Pride of Britain award. In the 1970s, Dr Reith helped to invent the insulin pen – a device that made it easier to give insulin to people with diabetes. Diabetes is a condition that affects the way the body processes sugar. A LUCKY ORANGUTAN A baby orangutan has been taken in by a sanctuary that specialises in helping orphan apes. Born at Dublin Zoo, Ireland, 12-week-old Sibu Junior’s mother couldn’t feed him and staff had to step in. Now at Monkey World in Dorset, England, the infant will be able to play with four other tiny orangutans when he’s stronger. THE LITTLE PRINCE This month, a rare book will go on sale for more than £960,000 in Abu Dhabi,…

Eight-year-old Max Alexander has made more than 100 gowns, created clothes for famous people and has been recognised by Guinness World Records as the youngest person to design a runway fashion show. A runway is a stage that models parade along to display new clothes. Last month, Max showed off his latest creations at an event for New York Fashion Week. Max asked his mum for a mannequin (a life-sized model of a person, which is used for making and displaying clothes) and told his family he was a dressmaker when he was four. His first designs were made of ribbons and scraps of material held together by tape or knots. Aged five, Max started sewing lessons with a professional teacher, and in 2021 he launched his own clothing label,…

The Natural History Museum (NHM) in London is asking governments around the world to do more to protect Earth’s most important areas of nature, after releasing new research. More than 190 countries are committed to achieving a target called “30x30” (see panel), which aims to protect more of the world’s land and oceans. Most countries trying to achieve this goal have released plans to expand protected areas but the NHM said this might not be enough. Its new research says 78% of land that is vitally important for human survival is far away from officially protected areas. The NHM said the 30x30 project needs to put more attention on conserving this land. Land that is vital for humans includes forests that absorb carbon dioxide (a gas that contributes to global…

More than three billion years ago, a huge rock from space – 200 times bigger than the one that wiped out the dinosaurs – hit the Earth. However, new research suggests it may have turbo-charged life here. Scientists discovered the S2 meteorite in 2014. A meteorite is a piece of rock from space that has fallen to the Earth’s surface (rather than burning up in the atmosphere), and the crater where S2 hit the planet is in South Africa. From the size of crater, it’s thought that S2 was between 25 and 37 miles wide. A team of researchers travelled to South Africa to take samples of rock from near where the meteorite crashed. They wanted to learn more about what happened when S2 hit the Earth. At the time…

Jack Draper The British tennis player won the Erste Bank Open tournament in Vienna, Austria. The victory was the biggest of his career. Aitana Bonmatí and Rodri The Spanish footballers won the Ballon d’Or as the world’s best players. Bonmatí won the women’s prize and Rodri took the men’s award. Liz Young On 27 October at the Women’s Indian Open golf competition, Young finished one shot ahead to win the tournament. Caoimhe Bray The 15-year-old cricketer helped Sydney Sixers beat Melbourne Renegades in the Women’s Big Bash League in Australia. She is the youngest to play in the competition.…

(Oneworld Publications) During the Second World War (1939-1945), a British country house and estate called Bletchley Park became a centre for code-breaking. There, mathematicians and scientists including Alan Turing worked in secret to crack codes, including the ciphers generated by the German “Enigma” machine. In this thrilling new historical mystery, we arrive at Bletchley in 1940, in the company of 14-year-old Lizzie, who has run away from the ship that’s supposed to be carrying her to safety in America. Instead, she has joined her brother Jakob – a mathematician working to crack the Enigma code. Soon, Lizzie is working as a messenger at Bletchley but she has a mission of her own: to find out the truth about what has happened to their mother, who is missing in Poland. WIN!…

Kate McKinnon has starred in Ghostbusters and most recently as Weird Barbie in the Barbie movie. Her first-ever children’s book is The Millicent Quibb School of Etiquette for Young Ladies of Mad Science, an adventure about three sisters, a murderous worm and a mad scientist. The book is not only very funny, it is a celebration of sisterhood, science and the strength to be exactly who you are. The story is set in the made-up town of Antiquarium in 1911, a world in which the “misfit” Porch sisters Gertrude, Eugenia and Dee-Dee do not fit in. McKinnon tells The Week Junior that she first imagined the girls with a drawing showing their different hair-dos, “one wide, one very tall and one deep”, then invented their voices. McKinnon recorded the audiobook…

Word fill in All these words fit in the grid. Can you work out where each word goes to complete it? 4 letters BANG LOUD 5 letters FLARE SPARK 6 letters BANGER BENGAL STROBE 7 letters CRACKLE SERPENT 8 letters FIREWORK IGNITION 9 letters CANNONADE EXPLOSIVE WATERFALL Wordsearch Can you find all of the words listed here? They are hidden horizontally, vertically or diagonally and may read forwards or backwards. APPLE BAGEL BRACELET BUBBLE CAROUSEL COIN COOKIE CROWN CYMBALS DRUM FOOTBALL MELON PIZZA PLUG PORTHOLE RING SATSUMA TOMATO TYRE WHEEL Number tower Place a number in every circle to complete the tower. The value in each circle is the sum of the numbers in the two circles directly beneath it. Spot the difference These two pictures appear to be the…

1 Which Republican Party politician is campaigning to become the next US president? □ a) Donald Trump □ b) Joe Biden □ c) Kamala Harris 2 True or false? A ban on single-use vapes will come into force across the UK in 2025. □ True □ False 3 Norway plans to increase the minimum age limit for social media users to what? 4 Where did the world’s first official exams take place? □ a) Wales □ b) France □ c) China 5 True or false? Cats and humans started living alongside each other 1,000 years ago. □ True □ False 6 Medicinal leeches have how many pairs of eyes? 7 Who founded Save the Children? □ a) Eglantyne Jebb □ b) Amelia Earhart □ c) Jane Austen 8 True or…

London Zoo has bred more than 40 medicinal leeches, an endangered species in England. In medieval times, doctors put them on people’s skin in order to cure illnesses. Today, a different species is specially bred and used to help patients with some blood disorders. ● LIFESPAN: Up to 20 years. ● HABITAT: Still water such as ditches, lakes and ponds. ● SIZE: Adults can grow up to 20 centimetres long. ● DIET: Leeches feed on the blood of other creatures, including amphibians (such as frogs), fish and mammals. ● FUN FACT: Medicinal leeches have five pairs of eyes and three jaws with 100 teeth each.…

Thinking ahead of what your day involves and making sure you do the things you have to do, while also making time for what you enjoy, has many benefits. This is what it means to have a routine, which is a way of planning your time. Why are routines good for you? When you regularly do something that makes you feel good, you’re more likely to do it again. This is because your body sends signals to your brain that an activity is important, which makes it easier to repeat. Routines like brushing your teeth work this way – doing it over and over makes it automatic. This stops it being something you have to think about and gives you more brain power to focus on other things. Samantha Heintzelman,…

We need your help! We’re asking you to design a bright, colourful image that captures the fun of the festive season for our issue dated 21 December. Not only will the winner’s artwork be on the cover, they will also receive a framed copy of their design. You can use paint, pencils or pen – but give it plenty of colour. Our judges are Anna Bassi, Vanessa Harriss, Dave Kelsall and Mandy Rowson, all from The Week Junior, and illustrator and artist Tom Clohosy Cole. How to enter Design your artwork using the template below (you can download more at theweekjunior.co.uk/christmas2024-cover). Please note that we need you to send in your original artwork, not a photo of it. Once you are happy with your entry, fill in your details at…

Are you anything like Jakob and Lizzie? SS: I’m like Jakob in some ways: I’m curious, proudly nerdy and I love puzzles. RS: Lizzie is more courageous than I could ever be and she’s also much better at keeping secrets but I value friends in a similar way to Lizzie. Would you have made good code-breakers? RS: I’m not gifted with maths or codes but I have a mind for mysteries and plots. SS: I do love taking bits and pieces of different things and trying to figure out how they might fit together. That’s basically what I do when I write books. One of the things I loved learning about Bletchley Park is that they needed people with all sorts of skills. Did you discover any of Bletchley’s secrets?…

Believe it or not, Sonic the Hedgehog isn’t the only super-speedy hedgehog in the gaming world. Shadow the Hedgehog first appeared in one of Sonic’s games in 2001 and has regularly popped up in others since then. Sonic X Shadow Generations is the latest game to feature both ’hogs, although really it’s two games in one. Sonic Generations came out in 2011 but has been remade for modern PlayStation, Xbox and Switch consoles, as well as PCs. It comes with Shadow Generations, a new standalone adventure for Shadow, who is an “anti-hero” – a cooler, grumpier version of Sonic. The best Sonic games have always been about speed: racing through levels collecting rings, bouncing on baddies and taking on bigger “boss” characters. That’s what Sonic X Shadow Generations is about…

The gift that became a business A man who was given a cheese-making kit for Christmas five years ago has now built a cheese factory in his garage. Matthew Lloyd, from Gobowen, England, has become fascinated by cheese since he had a go with the kit. “I really got into the science of it all,” he said. He now makes a halloumi-style cheese that’s flavoured with spearmint, and a smoked cheese, which he sells to local shops. He tries out new flavours, he says, by adding ingredients such as chocolate and other sweet treats. One hundred hungry raccoons A woman from Washington state in the US was forced to leave her home after up to 100 raccoons gathered outside demanding food. The woman had been feeding a family of raccoons…