Table of contents for 482 in The Week Junior

On 2 March, the UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer held a summit (meeting) of international leaders in London to discuss the situation in Ukraine. Ukraine and Russia have been at war since 2014. In 2022, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Who was at the meeting? Most of the 19 leaders at the meeting were from Europe. They included the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, the French president Emmanuel Macron and the head of NATO (a military partnership between 32 countries). Justin Trudeau, the leader of Canada, was also there. After the summit, Starmer said several things had been agreed. The countries will continue to support Ukraine while the war carries on, and they said peace talks should not take place without Ukraine being involved. They also discussed plans to…

On 8 February, 14-year-old Shane Grant was elected to be the Young Mayor for 2025–2026 in Lewisham, south-east London. In this role he will represent young people, bringing their opinions to Lewisham’s council and mayor. He will also be given a budget of £25,000 to spend on the area. Shane tells The Week Junior he “felt really excited” when he found out he’d won the election, which is voted for by young people aged between 11 and 17 who live in Lewisham. He says one of his main goals as Young Mayor is to create business opportunities for young people. He wants to help others develop skills they might not be learning at school, which they could then use to create a career for themselves when they’re older. Although Shane…

Velvet worm Out of 21 nominees, the velvet worm has been voted New Zealand’s Bug of the Year for 2025. They are known as Ngāokeoke in the Māori language. The praying mantis came second and the giant springtail was third. • LIFESPAN: Five years. • HABITAT: The forest floor. • SIZE: 14 to 150 millimetres, depending on the species. • DIET: Spiders, termites, woodlice and other small creatures. • FUN FACT: They shoot sticky fluid onto their prey and then dissolve it into a soup to eat.…

Thirty homes had to be evacuated after two sinkholes appeared in Godstone, a village in England, on 17 February. The residents of six homes have since been allowed to return. Sinkholes are large pits that form when material under the ground is removed for some reason – for example, it gets washed away by water. With nothing holding it up, the top layer, such as a road, collapses. Experts are hoping to examine the sinkholes with Lidar, a system that uses a laser to create a 3D map of something. However, investigations and repairs will take time, and it is likely to be several months before experts find out what caused the sinkholes and they are repaired. Sinkholes can form in different ways. One of the most usual is rainwater…

Celebrating even your small achievements can help you to feel more confident and motivated.  What does achievement mean? Whether it’s working hard at your favourite subject or baking a cake for your friends, putting effort into something that makes you happy is an achievement. It’s a good feeling you can get from all areas of your life. You might not always notice your small successes. Try looking at schoolwork from ages ago and see how much you’ve improved, or think about a time you made a positive impact, by helping someone, for example. Success can be something that no one else sees but you feel, such as making it through a difficult day or speaking up in class. Anything that involves hard work, courage or skill counts as an achievement.…

Batman’s new look DC Comics has revealed a new look for Batman as it plans to relaunch the comic series in September. In everyday life, the hero is a rich man called Bruce Wayne – but as Batman he fights crime to keep Gotham City safe. Batman first appeared in 1939 and the comics introduced lots of famous villains, including The Joker and Catwoman. Comic book writer Matt Fraction, who worked on The Invincible Iron Man and Hawkeye at Marvel Comics, will be creating Batman’s new story. Artist Jorge Jiménez will be illustrating the series and he has revealed a new design for Batman. The hero is swapping his black and grey costume for blue and grey, a more classic look. He will also have a different Batmobile (his high-tech…

by Jamie Hammond (Usborne Publishing) Mo (short for Monday the Sixteenth) isn’t very keen on taking over his grandmother’s responsibilities as warden of Bogfoss. Now it’s his responsibility to protect the village from the terrifying monsters that are lurking in the woods. When a bunch of goblins get the better of him on his very first patrol, Mo knows he must do something to prove himself. Soon, he’s setting out into the forbidden woods, with a plan to catch a monster and show everyone he’s a hero just like grandmother. Instead, a sausage-roll baited booby-trap sends him flying into Grumpfort – the monster’s secret den – and Mo realises he’s in big trouble. This adventure is packed with brilliant artwork, hilarious jokes and wonderfully wacky characters. It’s a monstrously entertaining…

Scientist Adam Rutherford is the author of Where Are You Really From? It was the winner of the STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics) prize at The Week Junior Book Awards in 2024. The book takes readers on an extraordinary adventure through millions of years of human history, explaining all about evolution, race and the story of how the human species came about – from prehistoric times to the present day. It is British Science Week (7–16 March) and Rutherford tells The Week Junior that there are lots of different types of scientists but they all share a common goal. He says, “Some are explorers, others stay in labs. Scientists come in all sorts of sizes and colours but we are all curious. We all want to know how things…

Spring is in the air and that means lots of birds are preparing to build nests and raise their chicks. Birds’ nests are built for incubating eggs (keeping them warm) and to ensure that young birds are safe and snug. The design and materials used in a nest vary depending on the type of bird building it. For example, a woodpigeon’s nest is an untidy pile of twigs in a tree or on a ledge. A long-tailed tit’s nest is a beautiful and impressive-looking enclosed dome, which can take three weeks to build. Long-tailed tits hide their nests deep in hedges or bushes and construct them using lichens (plant-like organisms) cobwebs and moss. They line the nest with up to 1,500 feathers to keep the eggs and chicks warm and…

After such a cloudy, wet winter, the appearance of sunshine at last has been very cheering. It’s not just people who seem energised, either – the birds have been singing gloriously as they prepare to find a mate and start building nests to raise a family. It’s a good time to try and photograph some of the birds you see in parks or gardens. If you’d like a chance to get your photo published, please send it to us at hello@theweekjunior.co.uk. We love hearing from readers about what they’ve been up to. Well done to Kit and Art, who sent in their story about acting in Shakespeare, which appears just beside this letter. It’s fascinating that Shakespeare’s plays are still popular with audiences because the ideas they contain are still…

A RETURNING LEGEND On 2 March in Tokyo, Japan, Paula Radcliffe ran her first marathon in 10 years. The 51-year-old finished the 26.2 mile race in under three hours. Radcliffe, who broke the women’s marathon world record in 2003, hopes to compete in more races this year. KEEPING COSY In Perthshire, Scotland, lambs at Auchingarrich Wildlife Park have been given woolly jumpers to keep warm. Maxine Scott from the wildlife park said, “It’s been really cold recently and we always have a selection of jumpers to put on them.” It is lambing season and more lambs are expected to arrive at the centre soon. DELVING INTO HISTORY In Belfast, Northern Ireland, early editions of one of the world’s oldest newspapers will go online for readers to enjoy. The Belfast News…

Francesco Rivella, who was born in Piedmont, Italy, in 1927, became known as the “father of Nutella”. He worked in the chemistry room of Ferrero, a company that makes chocolate and sweets, including Kinder eggs. It was in this room that the world famous hazelnut spread was created. Rivella joined Ferrero in 1952, around the same time that Michele Ferrero began managing the company. Michele’s father, Pietro, had already developed a spread that would eventually become Nutella but the recipe hadn’t been perfected. Rivella and Michele made a good team. In the 1950s, they travelled through northern Europe together, where they’d buy other companies’ chocolate products and take them back to Italy to analyse. Their aim was to turn them into something even better for the company. In the chemistry…

This strange plant has no leaves and is named because its pale pink flower looks like a stack of pulled-out teeth. Toothwort is found across the UK, especially central England, but it’s not very common. In March and April it starts to pop up in woods, especially underneath hazel, elm, beech and lime trees. Toothwort is a parasite, which means it lives off other organisms. This vampire-like plant spends most of its time underground in the dark, getting its water and nutrients from the roots of other plants by attaching suckers to them. The flower part of the plant contains tiny seeds that have fatty parts attached to them. These attract ants, which then take them underground into their nests around tree roots.…

You’ve probably heard of the Olympic Games and the Paralympic Games – but what about the Special Olympics? It is a global sports organisation that aims to give people of all ages with learning disabilities the chance to play and compete in all sorts of sports. Learning disabilities affect the way a person gains knowledge or skills. Some people with a learning disability need support and might not be able to live independently (without help). For others, it could mean finding it hard to understand complex information. The Special Olympics World Winter Games are taking place from 8 to 15 March in Turin, Italy. More than 1,500 athletes will compete in sports including ice-skating, skiing, snowboarding and snowshoeing (running in snowshoes). How the Special Olympics began The organisation was created…

Hundreds of talented teenagers competed at the England Athletics Open Indoor Championships last month. Held at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield, events included 60 metres and 200 metres sprinting, shot-put, long jump, triple jump, hurdles, 800 metres running and pole vault. Athletes competed in under-15s, under-17s and under-20s age groups. In the 60 metres sprint, Celine Obinna-Alo won the under-17s women’s race and Farrell Fabusiwa took first place in the men’s. Obinna-Alo finished in an impressive time of 7.38 seconds and Fabusiwa took just 6.82 seconds to win his final. He was also the men’s 200 metres champion, achieving a brilliant double of gold medals. The men’s under-20s 60 metres event had an extremely close result, as the winner Teddy Wilson finished only 0.002 seconds ahead of second-place…

In a new version of Romeo and Juliet, the famous play by William Shakespeare is given a fresh twist. Most of the original story is there, but the play also includes rap music created by A Class and That’s A Rap (see panel). There are other changes, too. In Romeo and Juliet, Romeo is a member of the Montague family and Juliet is from the Capulet family. The Montagues and Capulets are enemies, so although Romeo and Juliet love each other they aren’t allowed to be together. In this version, the families are also rival political parties. Asheq Akhtar plays Lord Capulet, Juliet’s father, in the play. He tells The Week Junior that he hopes the modern changes in this version of Romeo and Juliet will make it easier to…

Giants of La Mancha Out now in cinemas An 11-year-old boy called Alfonso senses something is wrong as a huge storm approaches his town and a businessman turns up offering families the chance to move away. Alfonso embarks on an adventure with his friends and three friendly rabbits to figure out what is going on. Planet Defenders Available now on BBC iplayer In this series, explore the world from the point of view of people who work in the wild. Join Planet Defenders such as a wildlife camera operator filming penguins and a photographer protecting dolphins.…

Jamie Hammond The Grumpfort author tells us about snotwoggles and sausage rolls. Do you prefer writing or drawing? When I’m writing I visualise the world and characters in my head, so to bring these to life with illustrations is so exciting – I have to say both equally! What is a snotwoggle? Part dragon, part bear, mixed with the excitedness of a dog and the spirit of a capybara. Do you have anything in common with Mo? I’m very clumsy and I love sausage rolls (food of the golden pastry gods). I also used to be very shy and felt different, but now I know it’s a superpower to be celebrated. Do you think you would make a good monster hunter? Never mind the world’s worst monster hunter – I’d be…

“I lived the rest of my life in that beautiful land of ice and fire… and freedom for strongwilled women.” Women Who Led the Way: Great Explorers and Adventurers by Mick Manning, illustrated by Brita Granström, tells the stories of 21 adventurers that made history despite the odds. From Aud, a Vikingexplorer, to Arunima Sinha, the first female amputee to climb Mount Everest, the world’s tallest mountain, the stories in this book are perfect to celebrate International Women’s Day on 8 March.…

Word fill in All these words fit in the grid. Can you work out where each word goes to complete it? 3 letters Aim Arc Win 4 letters Chop Miss Pins Spin 5 letters Bowls Shoes 6 letters Member Points Result Screen 7 letters Kingpin Sleeper Tenpins 8 letters Champion Underarm Wordsearch Can you find all of the words listed here? They are hidden horizontally, vertically or diagonally and may read forwards or backwards. CHEST COINS COMPASS DIGGING GOLD HUNT JEWELS LOOT MAPS MONEY NUGGETS PIRATES SAND SEARCH SECRET SHIPS SILVER TRAIL TROVE WEALTH Puzzles page and quiz answers…

Name: Kit (Lysander) and Art (Polonius) “Performing Shakespeare in Year 5 with Shakespeare Schools Foundation was one of the greatest days of our lives. We spent three whole months editing, picking songs, projecting our voices and rehearsing dances. We performed in the Shaw Theatre, London. They had a huge stage and a lighting crew; we felt like professionals. We even had our own dressing rooms! Overall, from the sudden lows of Hamlet to the joyful highs of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, it was just WOW! We believe that Shakespeare’s language is very important to how we speak today. If schools get the choice to do Shakespeare in a theatre, they should bend over backwards to do it. ” JOKE OF THE WEEK “Why was the football stadium so cold? Because…

Teacher’s name: Mr Caton School: Strand on the Green Junior School, London “Mr Caton is an awesome and cool teacher with great ideas! At the moment, for our dance unit in PE he is teaching us a dance including songs and moves from the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s and 2010s; and we will come up with something ourselves for the 2020s. I love his lessons. He is always enthusiastic, funny, fair and gives clear instructions so we know what to do. Thank you Mr Caton for making our PE lessons so fun!”Rafael 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…

On 28 February, an agreement to protect and restore nature was reached at the COP16 nature conference in Rome, Italy. COP stands for Conference of the Parties. At COP16, government leaders from around the world gathered to discuss biodiversity. Biodiversity is the number and variety of living creatures that are found in a particular environment. It is vitally important – the health of the planet depends on a wide range of animals and plants. The COP16 nature conference was organised by the United Nations (UN), a group of most of the world’s countries that work together on the challenges facing humanity. COP16 began in Colombia, South America, in November 2024, but leaders couldn’t agree a deal, so talks were halted for a few weeks. They started again in Rome in…

Bristol City Council in England is considering changing how often black rubbish bins, which hold general, non-recyclable waste, are collected from people’s homes. At the moment, people in Bristol have their bins emptied every two weeks. If the changes go ahead, this could become every four weeks. The council says it wants to encourage people to recycle more. Bristol already has one of the highest rates of recycling of English cities – 45% of household waste is recycled. Even so, the council says that up to half of what people put in their black bins could be recycled. Local people have been asked to take part in a survey about Bristol’s waste-collection services and how they could be changed. What do you think? Should councils collect the bins less often?…

Wolves might not seem like obvious climate heroes but a new study has found that reintroducing them to the Scottish Highlands could help the planet. Wolves could encourage woodlands to grow, which would absorb more carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that traps the Sun’s heat in the Earth’s atmosphere, causing climate change. Today, there are no wild wolves in the UK. They were wiped out in Scotland more than 250 years ago because humans hunted them. With no wolves left, the number of red deer has soared because there are now no natural predators to kill them. Although this is good for the deer, it’s not so good for Scotland’s woodlands. Red deer like to chew on saplings (young trees), which stops woodlands from growing. Only 4% of Scotland’s land…

On 19 February, a huge ship that has carried US presidents and film stars across the Atlantic began its final voyage before being sunk. The SS United States, which is 302 metres long, will end up off the coast of Florida, US, as the world’s largest artificial (made by humans) coral reef. Artificial reefs offer a place for corals (tiny sea creatures) to attach to and grow. The sunken ship will attract other sea creatures looking for shelter and food, as well as making a good place for people to scuba dive. The ship is being pulled along the coast by tugboats from Philadelphia, a city in the north-east of the country – a journey of more than 2,000 miles. The SS United States will join around 30 other sunken…

Lucy Best Representing Ireland, Best first hit the ski slopes when she was 10. She has won medals at the Special Olympics before, including the downhill skiing and giant slalom events (slalom means skiing between poles). Best loves meeting athletes and says everyone should try skiing. Stephanie Gott Representing Great Britain in figure skating, Gott says she is glad to be in Italy because the doctor who saved her when she was a baby lives there. Gott was bullied at school but she says skating gives her confidence and makes her feel “as free as a butterfly”. Stefan Nakoneczny A member of Team GB for alpine skiing (also known as downhill skiing), Nakoneczny won two medals in the Special Olympics GB National Winter Games last year – silver in the…

A new treatment for sickle cell disease has been approved for NHS patients in England. Around 50 patients a year will receive it. Sickle cell disease is the name for a group of health conditions that affect red blood cells. These carry oxygen around the body. People who have sickle cell disease produce unusually shaped red blood cells. These cells don’t live as long as healthy blood cells and sometimes make it difficult for blood to flow around the body. This can cause painful episodes when the blood vessels get blocked, and people are more likely to get infections. Patients with sickle cell disease are born with it, and it’s passed down in families through genes. Genes are short sections of DNA, which is the molecule that instructs the body…

Molly Caudery The British pole vaulter won the World Indoor Tour title with victory in Madrid, Spain. England women’s football team England defeated Spain 1-0 in the Women’s Nations League. England are the current Euro champions and Spain are the World Cup winners. Luke Littler  Littler, who is 18 years old, won the UK Open darts tournament for the first time. He defeated James Wade 11–2 in the final. Charlotte Bankes At the Snowboard Cross World Cup in Turkey, Great Britain’s Bankes won gold in the women’s event and silver with Huw Nightingale in the team competition.…

Delta and the Lost City  by Anna Fargher. Illustrated by David Dean (Macmillan Children’s) Delta is a young wolfdog, living in Pompeii in AD79. The earth around Mount Vesuvius is beginning to shake. With the help of an eagle friend, can Delta navigate the dangers, find her family and warn them about the volcano before it’s too late? Letty and the Mystery of the Golden Thread by Penny Boxall (Puffin Books) It’s 1774 and Letty is excited to be travelling around Europe with her father. He is accused of making a fake version of a famous statue to deceive others and is put in jail. Letty must journey through cities, mazes and mountains to solve the mystery of the statue – and prove her father’s innocence. Anglo-Saxon Boy  by Tony…

Name: Anaahi The Last Bear  by Hannah Gold “Inspiring, heart-touching and moving. You never want to put the book down and it’s a real page-turner.” YOUR TURN Please email your book review to Junior Roving Reporter 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.*…

Would you like to work in gaming? To celebrate International Women’s Day 2025, here are some useful pointers from some of the women who work and create in the industry. One important tip is that being excited to play and learn is more important than, say, studying game design at school or university. Rhea Loucas, head of green-games company PlanetPlay, says, “You don’t have to study games to engage with this fantastic sector for your career. The games industry is a place where many different talents shine.” Julianna Pfister is a 3D artist on the popular Roblox game Splash: Skate & Music. She agrees that it’s about having a passion for gaming, rather than focusing on learning. “Honestly, 95% of what I know came from learning after formal education. Start…

Space sounds like birds singing For more than 60 years, astronomers have said space sounds like chirping birds. Scientists in Beijing, China, recently studied space radiation known as chorus waves and detected them a lot further from Earth than previously found. The “chirping” is created when electromagnetic radiation (invisible light and radio waves) given off by gas clouds is converted into sound by scientists. Professor Richard Horne, who studies space weather, called the findings “surprising”. Luke Phillips from the RSPB bird charity said the sounds were “reassuring” because birdsong is “a connection to the wider natural world… and even the universe”. Top tea with a dog-friendly twist On 1 March, the UK’s largest enclosed dog park started offering dogs and owners a pawfect afternoon tea experience to enjoy. Served up…

Presenters of the future Are you aged 10 or older and do you dream of interviewing famous people? BAFTA (the British Academy of Film and Television Arts) is giving two lucky young people the chance to become BAFTA Young Presenters. This means representing BAFTA at events, interviewing celebrities and hosting videos. To enter, share a short video (no longer than two minutes) on Know Yourself, Grow Yourself, which is the theme of Children’s Mental Health Week, organised by the charity Place2Be. The deadline for entries is 17 April. To find out more about how you can take part, ask an adult to visit bafta.org/youngpresenters GET INVOLVED 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…

1 What is the name of the spacecraft that recently landed on the Moon? ☐ a) Pink Zombie ☐ b) Green Vampire ☐ c) Blue Ghost 2 True or false? Longships Lighthouse is found off the coast of Land’s Beginning in Cornwall. ☐ True ☐ False 3 The Svalbard Seed Vault is in which country? 4 How many tonnes of waste were generated by UK homes in 2022? ☐ a) 12.4 million ☐ b) 17.6 million ☐ c) 25.7 million 5 True or false? The exact recipe for Nutella is a secret. ☐ True ☐ False 6 What was New Zealand’s Bug of the Year for 2025? 7 Which country is hosting the Special Olympics World Winter Games? ☐ a)France ☐ b) Italy ☐ c) China 8 True or false?…