Table of contents for 414 in The Week Junior

After days of heavy attacks by Israel’s military, Gaza’s largest hospital, Al-Shifa, has no food and no fuel. Gaza is a strip of land that lies between Israel, Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea. On 7 October, a long conflict between Israel and Hamas (a group that controls Gaza that is classified by the UK Government as a terrorist organisation) became much worse. What is happening? On 12 November, the World Health Organization (WHO), a global organisation responsible for people’s health, said that Al-Shifa had stopped working as a hospital. People inside Al-Shifa said the hospital was relying on solar power (energy from sunlight) to run a few essential systems. On the same day, the ministry of health, which is controlled by Hamas, said there were still 600 to 650 patients…

• Taxonomy is the process of naming plants and animals. This gives species two names in Latin or Greek. The first is its genus (a group of similar species), the second is its particular species. There is usually a common name too. Panthera leo, for example, is also called a lion. • A species might be named after a person - perhaps who found it - or the place it comes from. Around 20% of animals are named after people in history. • Some species are named after people now considered inappropriate. The eyeless beetle, Anophthalmus hitleri, is named after the Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, who started the Second World War.…

Nahid Roshanali was aged 10 when she moved to Birmingham, England from Burundi, in Africa. On her first night in the UK someone threw eggs at her home, and at school she experienced Islamophobia (when someone is treated badly or unfairly because they are Muslim). Roshanali is now the engagement officer for Islamophobia Awareness Month (which takes place in November). This is a campaign that highlights the positive contributions that Muslims make to communities around the UK, and raises awareness about Islamophobia. “I do it for every kid who’s going through what I did,” says Roshanali.…

Scientists investigating a site in Indonesia think they might have found the oldest megalithic structure in the world. “Megalithic” means it is ancient and made out of huge stones. Gunung Padang is on the island of Java, and the scientists say that their research strongly suggests it is not a hill that formed naturally; it is actually a pyramid-like building. They think it was built between 16,000 and 27,000 years ago on a volcano that is now extinct. This is the result of years of research. Between 2011 and 2015, a team of scientists used several techniques – including radar (a system that uses light to detect objects) and drilling – to explore the hill at Gunung Padang. They found evidence of underground chambers and they think that the deepest…

Harriet Dart Dart won her tennis singles match to help Great Britain beat Sweden in their Billie Jean King Cup play-off match. Bryony Page Team GB’s Page won the women’s trampoline gold medal at the Trampoline Gymnastics World Championships in Birmingham, England. Brighton and Hove Albion women In the Women’s Super League football competition, Brighton had a surprise 1-0 win at Manchester City. Katie Archibald At the Lee Valley VeloPark in London, British cyclist Archibald won the women’s endurance title at the Track Champions League series.…

The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is bringing its stage version of the animated film My Neighbour Totoro to the Barbican theatre in London. The film version of My Neighbour Totoro was made by the brilliant Japanese animation company Studio Ghibli, and it came out in 1988. The RSC’s theatre version was first performed last year, and it proved so popular that the RSC is putting it on again. The stage show features actors, live musicians and singers, puppets and artwork by Toshio Suzuki, one of the people who worked on the original film. The film and play follow two sisters, Mei and Satsuki, who move to the countryside with their dad while their mum is recovering from an illness. The sisters begin to explore a magical, fantasy world in the…

Agent 203 Available now on ITVX Zoe’s dad disappears, leaving her with a bracelet that she wears all the time. One day it starts flashing and beeping, summoning a purple alien called Ulav who explains the truth. Zoe’s dad was Agent 202, fighting evil across the universe. Now Zoe – Agent 203 – must step into his shoes. Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes In cinemas now, 12A Based on Suzanne Collins’s novel of the same name, the film shows the 10th annual Hunger Games, which happened 64 years before the original series. It follows the fortunes of teenager Coriolanus Snow, who goes on to become the cruel president of Panem. The Santa Clauses Season 2 Available now on Disney+ Scott Calvin, who was once an ordinary man,…

What’s the main thing you have learned during your writing career? Write because you love it. Believe you can do it. Just write. Experiment with different ways of writing. Scribble in notebooks and compose on computers. Try to make something beautiful. Can you remember your first story? When I was seven I wrote about some children finding a treasure chest in an attic. I can’t remember what was inside. Maybe I’ll write it again and try to find out. Or maybe you could! Favourite animal? Our lovely cat, Koshka. He even has a starring part in my book, Brand New Boy. Where is your favourite place to write? In my writing room upstairs. I have plants and pictures in there and it faces south so it can be very sunny.…

From Sarina Wiegman and Gareth Southgate to Pep Guardiola and Emma Hayes, there are some brilliant football managers in the UK. Could you be the next superstar coach? Several games will test your skills to answer that question. The most famous football manager game also has the simplest name: Football Manager. Its latest version, Football Manager 2024, came out this month. You can play it on PC and Mac computers; Xbox, PlayStation and Switch consoles, and on Apple and Android phones. It has you choosing a club to manage, from the biggest teams in world football to smaller local clubs. You pick the team and tactics and decide how your players should train to make them better. You are also in charge of transfers to improve your squad. The game…

When Anne-Sofie Tornso Olesen was invited to Prince Christian of Denmark’s 18th birthday party, she decided to have a bit of fun by becoming Cinderella for the night. As she was leaving the party, she planted her sparkly high-heeled shoe at the top of the stairs. Her plan went wrong several times when guests spotted the shoe and thoughtfully returned it to her. However, she eventually managed to pull off her trick and ran home barefoot. The prince later posted on Instagram, “Is it Cinderella who forgot her shoe last night?” Olesen told the newspaper Ekstra Bladet that she wasn’t hoping for romance with the prince, but thought “it would be great if Prince Christian called.”…

Buttercups Sanctuary for Goats Buttercups is the only charity in the UK that solely cares for goats who have been abandoned or have suffered neglect. Based in the middle of Kent, England, owners Bob and Valerie Hitch began caring for goats in 1989. The sanctuary was officially declared a charity 14 years later in 2003, and is now home to more than 140 goats. It also cares for more than 100 other goats living in foster homes. Learn more about the sanctuary, including how you can visit, at buttercups.org.uk…

Design our front cover Time is running out! We want you to design an exciting cover for our Christmas issue, which is out on 16 December 2023. The winner’s design will be on the cover and they will receive a framed copy of their artwork. Make your entry bold and bright – you can use pencils, crayons or paint. Please note, we need your original design, not a photo of it. How to enter Draw your final design in the box below (you can download more at theweekjunior.co.uk/christmas2023-cover). Fill in the form under the picture and send the whole page to Christmas Cover Competition, The Week Junior, 121–141 Westbourne Terrace, London W2 6JR. The closing date is 11.59pm on 24 November. Entrants must be resident in the UK and aged…

On 13 November, at an event in London, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said Israel must “be able to defend itself against terror” and “bring the hostages home”. However, he said the country must “take all possible measures to protect innocent civilians, including at hospitals” and “allow more aid into Gaza”. He called for unlimited access for aid to reach people in Gaza and for “humanitarian pauses” – breaks in the fighting to allow supplies to reach those in need. “Too many civilians are losing their lives,” he said.…

FEELING FESTIVE The UK’s tallest living Christmas tree has been decorated with 1,800 energy-saving light bulbs. Standing 37 metres tall, the giant redwood will star at the Wakehurst Glow Wild light trail in West Sussex, England, which opens on 23 November. A BASKETBALL FAN Basketball fan Max Philliban, aged 10, from Falkirk in Scotland dressed up as the head coach of Caledonia Gladiators for a Halloween match. Players spotted his bushy beard in the crowd and now coach Gareth Murray has invited Max to help at a team training session. FURRY FRIENDS Mowgli the cat was rescued by firefighters from an old mine in Cornwall, England, after Daisy the dog saved the day. Mowgli fell 30 metres into the mine and was trapped for six days before “superstar” Daisy led…

Madrid, Spain Art turns its back to visitors Visitors to the Prado will see a new side to the museum’s most famous artwork. A life-sized recreation of the back of Las Meninas, painted by Diego Velázquez, is on display. It’s part of an exhibition called Reversos (Spanish for “on the reverse”) which shows what paintings look like from behind and explores the secrets hidden behind the art. Bello and Itagüí, Colombia Dengue falls in cities The number of people catching dengue (an infection spread by mosquitos) has fallen by 95% and 97% in two cities, Bello and Itagüí. The World Mosquito Program has been releasing wolbachia-infected mosquitos. Wolbachia is a type of bacteria (tiny living things made up of one cell) that makes insects much less likely to pass on…

Now that you’ve read a bit more about it, tell us what you think by voting in our poll at theweekjunior.co.uk/polls. Vote YES if you think species should be named after people, or NO if you don’t. We’ll publish the results next week. The aim of the Big debate page is to present two sides of an issue fairly and objectively, in order to stimulate discussion and allow our readers to make up their minds. The views on the page do not reflect those of The Week Junior, and the page is not funded by third parties. The page is created in association with the English-Speaking Union, an educational charity helping young people discover their voice and realise their full potential. For more information, please see esu.org…

Fuligo septica is a species of slime mould – also called “dog vomit slime mould” or “scrambled egg slime”. A collection of single-cell organisms (tiny lifeforms), it’s found all over the world. Fuligo septica loves damp autumnal woods and creeps over tree trunks, logs and wet leaves. It forms a thin and gloopy covering, or a puffy mound, ranging from white to bright yellow. It can look like a sponge. At first it appears slimy but it gets crusty over time, and breaks away, revealing spores. These are carried off by the wind to create mould elsewhere, allowing the mould to spread. Don’t touch Fuligo septica because it can cause allergic reactions. In European folk tales, it is known as “witches’ butter” or “the vomit of troll cats”.…

In November 1963, television magazine Radio Times announced that “a new Saturday afternoon television series of adventures in time and space” was to be shown on the BBC. The programme, called Doctor Who, was a science-fiction series about the adventures of an alien called the Doctor, who travelled through space and time to save the universe. The show is still going strong and on 23 November it will be 60 years old. To celebrate, there will be three new anniversary special episodes on TV, starting on 25 November. Who is the Doctor? The Doctor is the main character in the show. He may look like a human but the Doctor is actually a Time Lord, a type of alien from the planet Gallifrey. Time Lords have two hearts, can read…

Another group of scientists think they have found the oldest burial site in the world. The remains of several Homo naledi were discovered in a cave system near Johannesburg, South Africa. Homo naledi was a distant relative of humans. They had a small brain, about the size of an orange, and climbed trees. The scientists say the remains date back more than 200,000 years. Up to now, the oldest burial sites have been around 100,000 years old. The findings challenge the belief that it was humans’ bigger brains and higher intelligence that led them to start burying people and putting objects with them when they died.…

A Canadian company has invented a floating machine that uses the power of waves to desalinate (remove salt from) sea water, making it drinkable. More than 300 million people around the world rely on desalinated water. However, taking salt out of water takes a lot of energy, often from coal, oil and gas, causing pollution. This new machine uses energy from waves to push seawater through a membrane (a thin material) that catches the salt. The company, Oneka Technologies, hopes to start selling them next year. Enjoy these stories? Find more in this month’s The Week Junior Science+Nature magazine sciencenature.theweekjunior.co.uk…

It’s common to wonder sometimes, “What if something goes wrong?” It’s important to recognise that thought and manage it so that you don’t get stuck in the worry. What are “what if” thoughts? Worrying about the future is a normal part of life. From time to time, everyone wonders what would happen if something doesn’t go to plan: ”What if I make a mistake?” or “What if everyone laughs at me?”. These “what-if” worries focus on a negative outcome. When you spend a lot of time worrying about bad things that could happen, it’s called “catastrophising” – because you’re imagining the future could be a catastrophe. Spending a lot of time “what if-ing” makes you feel anxious and stressed. For example, you might feel tense and unwell, it might make…

Nintendo has announced that it will make a live-action film of its popular game series, The Legend of Zelda. Shigeru Miyamoto is the Japanese video games designer who created Zelda, as well as Mario. Miyamoto will co-produce the new Zelda film with Avi Arad, who made the recent Spider-Man films. Miyamoto said, “It will take time until its completion, but I hope you look forward to seeing it.” The Legend of Zelda video games are about Link, an elf-like character who must battle the evil beast Ganon to rescue Princess Zelda. The games are set in the mythical land of Hyrule and are one of Nintendo’s most successful video game series. In May this year, Nintendo released a new Zelda game called Tears of the Kingdom. It sold 10 million…

The Fossil Hunter by Kate Winter (Puffin Books) Discover pioneering fossil hunter Mary Anning, who once scoured the cliffs and seashores for rocks and shells. Her work paved the way for some of the most important discoveries about dinosaurs. Lots of illustrations bring Anning’s fascinating story to life, including panoramic fold-out pages. Walter Tull’s Scrapbook by Michaela Morgan (Frances Lincoln Publishing) This award-winning book is presented as a scrapbook with photos, documents and records to tell the life story of Walter Tull – one of the first black British professional football players and one of the first black officers in the British Army. Follow Tull from his childhood, through his football years, to his death in the First World War. Nina by Traci N. Todd. Illustrated by Christian Robinson (Scribe…

Email your book review to hello@theweekjunior.co.uk. If it’s printed in the magazine you’ll receive a Roving Reporter badge. Describe the book in three words, what you liked about it and why you’d 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 futureplc.com/privacy-policy…

These delicious savoury scones are the perfect treat on a cold and rainy day. Get baking and leave them ready to eat after a wintry walk, for afternoon tea or even as a tasty brunch at the weekend. Slightly crunchy on the outside and fluffy inside, these are best served warm but can also be frozen to enjoy later. What you need • 225g self-raising flour • Pinch of salt • 1 tsp baking powder • 55g chilled butter • 120g grated mature • cheddar cheese • 100ml milk • Sieve • Bowl • Knife • Rolling pin • Circle cutter • Baking paper • Baking tray • Pastry/basting brush 1 Preheat the oven to 200°C and gather your equipment and ingredients. Sift the flour, salt and baking powder with a sieve into a bowl and mix. 2 Chop the butter into small cubes…

Name: Léa and William “This is Cookie, she is a kitten who was born with a condition called ‘flat chested kitten syndrome’, which means her chest is flat, rather than rounded, and her ribs bow out more than normal along her sides. It also means she grows smaller than an average cat. When we first got Cookie, she was an adorable little kitten that could climb, run, jump etc. She was the most active out of her siblings who didn’t have the condition. She is doing amazing and is so cute. She loves to go outside, play and have cuddles. There are not many cats with this condition and our family want to raise awareness of it.” What have you been up to lately? Which books have you enjoyed reading?…

“We love cooking in our family and enjoy creating lots of seasonal and fun themed food. Inspired by the Hogwarts feasts in Harry Potter films, every autumn we have a huge Autumnal Feast, including a yummy pumpkin fondue.” Gwynie and Tal “Here we are reading The Week Junior with our dog.” Isabella and Carlo “My guinea pigs love reading The Week Junior almost as much as me.” Chloe…

On 9 November, 160,000 actors ended a strike that had lasted for 118 days, after agreeing a deal with film studios in Hollywood. A strike is when people stop working as a protest. The actors were members of Sag-Aftra, a union that represents the rights of film and TV workers, including voiceover artists, stunt performers and background actors. The new deal includes a pay rise for actors and a bonus for films and TV shows that become successful on streaming platforms like Netflix and Disney+. The deal also gives actors protection against their faces or voices being copied by artificial intelligence (computers that can do things that usually require human intelligence). Actors can now carry on working on films and TV shows that paused production during the strike, like Spider-Man:…

On 13 November, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced that he had sacked Suella Braverman, the Home Secretary. This was one of a number of changes to the Cabinet, a team of senior Government ministers in charge of different areas such as health, education and transport. Who is Suella Braverman? Suella Braverman is a politician who was first made Home Secretary by former Prime Minister Liz Truss in September 2022. The Home Secretary is in charge of the police, prisons and security in the UK. Braverman had to resign a month later after she sent an official Government document from her personal email. This is against the rules that ministers must follow. However, when Rishi Sunak became Prime Minister in October 2022 he made Braverman Home Secretary again. Why was she…

How would you like an animal or plant to be named after you? A newly discovered species of spider was named after the footballer Lionel Messi last year. A horsefly with a shiny golden bottom is named after the singer Beyoncé, and David Attenborough has more than 40 species named after him. However, some names from the past are inappropriate today. A US lizard, Uta stansburiana, is named after Howard Stansbury, an explorer who encouraged the killing of many Native American people in 1850. Under today’s law, species’ names cannot be changed, so some scientists don’t think they should be named after people at all. Others say it’s a good system that provides fun and memorable names. What do you think, should species be named after people? Yes – it’s…

Despite only being in his mid-20s, Nhial Deng has experienced a lot in his life. When he was 11, he was forced to leave his home village in Ethiopia after an attack by armed men. He had to pack his belongings into a small bag and join a group of people on a long journey to Kakuma Refugee Camp in the neighbouring country of Kenya. He left members of his family behind, and it was 12 years before he saw any of them again. He spent 11 years at Kakuma, living alongside thousands of other refugees (people who have been forced to leave their home countries because of the threat of violence). Deng tells The Week Junior that the camp’s school was the only place where things felt normal for him…

According to a new study, during the last 230 million years of their existence, crabs have evolved to live away from the ocean many times – something that makes them unique. If you are at the beach or exploring rockpools, you might well see a crab scuttling or hiding under cover. In fact, there are more crab species than mammal species on Earth, and they live in all kinds of habitats, from deep seas to mountains. Crabs are arthropods, a group that includes centipedes, insects, lobsters and spiders. Some groups of arthropods moved from the sea to live on land around 300 million years ago. Most of these moves only happened a few times at most. However, in the last 100 million years, 17 groups of crabs in different parts…

Thousands of flowers that were picked in northern Italy nearly 500 years ago are helping to show how the region has changed. A naturalist (person who studies animals and plants) called Ulisse Aldrovandi picked flowers from hillsides around the city of Bologna between 1551 and 1586. He gathered an impressive herbarium (collection of preserved plants) consisting of 15 books, each with up to 580 samples glued inside. New research has compared Aldrovandi’s collection with flowers found in the area now. It shows that the number of species has increased since the 1500s but the amount of many rarer species has fallen. There has been a big increase in non-native species (those not from Italy) – including almost 10 times more from North or South America. Dr Fabrizio Buldrini, who led…

Cybermen The Cybermen are some of the longest-running enemies in Doctor Who. They want to turn everyone into Cybermen. During filming for their first episode, the actors found the costumes so bulky that they kept falling over. Daleks The Daleks are also 60 years old and are the Doctor’s most famous foes. They look like robots but are actually living beings hidden inside protective metal armour. For early episodes, people had to climb inside them to control their arms and eyes. Judoon This race of aliens, who have the head of a rhino, first appeared in Doctor Who in 2007. The Doctor describes them as “police-for-hire” across the universe. Although they are strong, they’re not very intelligent. They are voiced by the same actor who does the voice for the…

For years, researchers and energy companies have been trying to find new and environmentally friendly ways to heat people’s homes. Now, one organisation in Amsterdam in the Netherlands has announced plans to keep 1,600 homes warm using the heat from sewage. Sewage is the waste water that comes from people’s houses after they’ve had a bath or shower, used their dishwasher or washing machine, or flushed the toilet. In Amsterdam, throughout the year, this liquid is usually between 15ºC and 18ºC. The leader of the project, Jeroen Rademaker, told The Guardian newspaper, “Warm sewage flows 24 hours a day and we should capture it.” The heat from the sewage can be brought into people’s houses using a device called a heat exchanger. This works by absorbing heat from the sewage…

More than 100 goalkeepers aged from 10 to 16 recently got to meet and learn from their football idols. The young players were part of a special event at St George’s Park, in Staffordshire, England, where the England football teams train and prepare for international games. The England women’s team is known as the Lionesses. They watched goalkeepers Mary Earps, Ellie Roebuck, Hannah Hampton and Khiara Keating in action to get a close-up look at their shot-stopping skills. The girls then met the four players to ask them for tips – and selfies – and join in with a question-and-answer session. Izzy was one of the young players who was at the session. “A day like this is really important because you can see the talent around you and it…

A new animated comedy arrives on Netflix on 21 November. The film is called Leo, after the main character Leonardo, a 74-year-old lizard. Leo has spent his whole life living in a glass box in a primary school classroom in Florida, US, where he is a class pet, along with his friend Squirtle the turtle. When Leo, voiced by actor and comedian Adam Sandler (Hotel Transylvania), learns he has a year left to live, he cries “I wasted my life!” He vows to escape and have adventures, such as eating fresh algae. His chance comes when the students must take it in turns to look after him during the school holidays. Although Leo manages to escape his glass box, his dreams of adventures soon turn into helping the pupils with…

Akeelah and the Bee (PG) Apple TV, Prime Video, Google Play Akeelah and the Bee follows 11-year-old Akeelah Anderson (played by Keke Palmer) growing up in Los Angeles in the US. Akeelah isn’t doing very well at school and is on the verge of failing her classes. However, when she is given the chance to take part in a spelling bee (a competition) she discovers how good she is at spelling. In the film, from 2006, Akeelah overcomes lots of challenges as she competes in spelling competitions. Akeelah’s mum, Tanya, is played by Angela Bassett, who also plays Queen Ramonda in Black Panther and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Akeelah and the Bee is a lovely family film that shows the power of learning and of not giving up.…

by David Almond. Illustrated by Tom de Freston (Hachette Children’s) Michael has just moved house. His baby sister is very ill and he feels anxious and lonely. One day he finds something strange hiding in a dilapidated garage at the bottom of the garden. “Who are you?” Michael asks. “Something like you, something like a beast, something like a bird, something like an angel,” says the creature, which needs Michael’s help if it is going to survive. With his neighbour and new friend Mina, Michael nurtures “Skellig” back to health but it soon becomes clear that the creature is more than he appears. This story of friendship, kindness, hope and bravery is a classic – it has won lots of awards and been turned into a stage play and a…

Naomi and Natalie Evans have always wanted to write the sort of book that they wished they could read when they were younger. Everyday Action, Everyday Change is that book. It’s a guide for children, featuring advice on the small actions that can be taken each day to try to make the world a fairer and more equal place. The sisters are mixed-race, with a black Jamaican father and a white British mother. They grew up in a town where most other people were white and they often had to challenge racism. This is when people are treated badly or unfairly because of their skin colour, culture or nationality. During Naomi and Natalie’s childhood, their mother played a big role in educating them about important issues. However, they know that…

Crossword Read the clues carefully and write the answers into the grid. Across 1 Santa’s big bag (4) 3 Breakfast-table food holder (3-3) 8 Floating frozen block at sea (7) 9 Contents of a balloon (3) 10 Small, slender, green vegetable (6,4) 13 Collapsible climbing aid (4,6) 17 (Of a number) not even (3) 18 Dispenser of medicines (7) 19 Protective hat (6) 20 Grizzly or polar animal (4) Down 1 Cloth hauled up a boat’s mast (4) 2 Trunk, large storage box (5) 4 Choke (3) 5 Building-site hoist (5) 6 Mum or Dad (6) 7 TV antenna (6) 11 Clever device (6) 12 Jewellery piece which is pinned on (6) 14 Bicycle’s foot lever (5) 15 Best of the bunch (5) 16 Distant twinkler in the sky (4)…

When is a hill not a hill? Researchers on page 14 say when it’s a pyramid. That report reminds me of those legends about sleeping giants turning into mountains. The team can’t yet say for sure if the hill is natural or was built, but curiosity is driving them on. Curiosity is a powerful force. Do you ever look at things and think, “I wonder…”? This week, we’ve got lots of stories about people who did that and found something exciting. What about the echidna that everyone thought was extinct (page 7) or the crab study revealing the secrets of evolution (page 10)? The scientists using warm waste to heat homes or the power of waves to make drinking water (page 15)? Whatever you are interested in could fascinate future…

Kay’s Incredible Inventions competition Are you a budding inventor with a wonderful idea for a crazy contraption? The author Adam Kay and museum Young V&A have teamed up to help bring your idea to life. This brilliant competition has been launched to mark the publication of Kay’s Incredible Inventions. In the book, learn all about inventions and imagine creating your very own incredible inventions. Enter this competition and you can have your invention built as a model and featured as a drawing by illustrator Henry Paker in the paperback edition of the book. Visit kays-incredible-inventions.littleinventors.org and submit your entry before 23 December. 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 badge if…

Teacher’s name: Mr Mann School: Norbury and Stiperstones Primary School, Shropshire “Learning with Mr Mann is always fun. He runs after-school clubs including Rock Band. He is very musical, he plays guitar, piano and a bit of drums and hosts our singing assembly. When it is someone’s birthday we sing ‘the cat licked my birthday cake’ (which is really funny). He often has funny surprises for us and is really kind.” Laurie 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 fireworks should be banned… “Only experienced people should be allowed to use fireworks and they shouldn’t be sold to the public.” “Fireworks are cool to watch, and in my opinion it would be a shame to not have them.” “They scare some people, dogs and cats, so yes.” “No, fireworks are part of many big occasions.” Tell us what you think of this week’s issue and we’ll print some of the best comments here.…

1 True or false? The UK’s tallest living Christmas tree is 37 metres high. □ True □ False 2 In which film series did the Glenfinnan Viaduct feature? □ a) Harry Potter □ b) Lord of the Rings □ c) Star Wars 3 Which country has declared 13 November a national tree-planting holiday? _________________________ 4 How many animals are named after specific people in history? □ a) 5% □ b) 10% □ c) 20% 5 True or false? The Japanese spider crab is the world’s largest crab. □ True □ False 6 Which island does the ’akikiki bird live on? _________________________ 7 What kind of alien is the Doctor from Doctor Who? □ a) Judoon □ b) Dalek □ c) Time Lord 8 True or false? All of the Earth’s…