Have a look at some of our team’s reports for this year.

Happy Reading!

Scotland has done exceptionally well in this 6 nations compared to last year where they did not win a single match. They have not won since 1998. They started off with an 18-38 loss against England but went on to have a 34-10 against Italy and 12-8 win against Ireland.

The first match of the season against England didn’t start very with a 20 point loss against England but their hopes weren’t put down as they were playing in England’s home ground Twickenham where England would not be eager to lose.

Even with that in thought Scotland still drove through against Italy. It all started off with Winger Tim Visser scoring the first try of the match it then went on to have full back Stuart Hogg scored an 80 metre interception try. Sean Lamont and Matt Scott went on to score two more tries and win the match.

Ireland was a much tougher match as Scotland only scored one try which was by Grieg Laidlaw. Ireland scored one try but missed the conversion and scored a penalty. By the end of the second half Ireland were battering into Scotland but Scotland were holding up an impenetrable wall.

After the match against Ireland Captain Kelly Brown said “The skills weren’t right but having said that the guts and fight we showed was very good”.

Scotland and Wales can both realistically win this year’s 6 nations championship. Scotland has an amazing comeback from their first 6 nations match this year against England at Twickenham. They have never had a back to back win against Italy and Ireland and there is hope over the orison if they can pull together against. Wales the score against Scotland was 18-26 wales won.

Against Wales Scotland put up a good fight but Wales managed to pull through and win. Wales’s hooker Richard Hibbard scored the only try of the match in a contest dominated by the right boots of Greig Laidlaw and Halfpenny’s kicks which meant that a world record for most penalties in one match was made there with 6 Scotland penalties and 7 wales ones. The final score was 28-18 to Wales.

For Scotland’s final match they played France. Scotland’s winger Tim Visser scored Scotland’s only try with Ruaridh Jackson converting it, the rest of Scotland’s points were through Greig Laidlaw’s right boot.

 In what was effectively the tournament decider, it was England versus Wales where Wales had to win with a 7 point lead to win. That score didn’t seem to be good enough for Wales so they beat England with a whopping 30 points to 3! 

Scotland have done well this year, they have put a lot of effort into their games and should be commended for that. Never before have Scotland come so close to victory in the six nations. It was a shame Scotland could not compete in this fantastic final but there is always next year.

Retailers suffer nightmare as horsemeat found in beef burgers!

by Jak, Connie and Kaitlyn

Many meat products have recently been under investigation for horsemeat. Many companies such as Spanghero, Tesco and Ikea have been found guilty for containing horse DNA. Spanghero denies passing off horsemeat in frozen meat products. Ikea have been guilty for containing horsemeat in their meatballs. However Nestle has been found negative for horsemeat. At this point 80% of the entire meat stock has been verified and the work continues for the remaining 20%.

In the UK, 3 people have been arrested on suspicion of fraud of selling horsemeat. 2 suspects were arrested at a meat production centre near wales and another person was arrested at an abattior in West Yorkshire. 2 German politicians for instance suggested over the weekend that one practical use for tainted products such as tens of thousands of packs of lasagne pulled from supermarket shelves because they tainted horsemeat.

Horse meat is proven to be tastier and healthier than normal beef.  Another meat supplier sodexo admitted that there may have been horse meat in products sold to schools, hospitals and the armed forces. Last week the second batch of test results admitted by the food industry. To date one in 80 beef products, tested, has been found to contain horse meat. Ikea withdraws all meatballs from UK stores but negative horsemeat for Nestle.

On a lighter note, recent jokes have appeared online such as:

“My doctor told me to watch what I eat, so I went out and bought tickets for
the Grand National.”

There are many potential problems with social networking sites and the people that use them. Social networking sites allow users to search and add friends and family send messages and comment on others profile pages including pictures and posts.

Social networking sites such as Facebook, twitter, instagram and MySpace have become a way of life for teens and adults today. While all of these sights are a great way to interact with friends and play games these types of social networking sites are not without danger.

26 million people in the UK use Facebook one of the most popular sites although there are many pros and cons to using these sites.

In terms of the positive aspects of social networks, it could be argued that they are a very cheap (in fact free) way of communicating. Therefore many teenagers use Facebook to contact friends and family if they don’t have a phone or another way to contact them. Also most way to contact people cost money. Also, law enforcement officers find it useful to catch criminals; it is a good way to contact friends and you can share your thoughts and interests with those with similar interests by joining the groups and forums.

However there are a number of disadvantages regarding social networking sites including: cyber bullying, addiction, no face to face chat. Therefore, there is no proof of who you are talking to. There have been many incidents regarding cyber bullying and criminal offences and involving the police because of how bad the incidents can be and even lead to suicides and death. Many people make fake profile pictures to draw young teenagers in and make them think that they really like them and persuade them to trust them.

An example; David Knight was oblivious to a website created all about him. For months, there had been a website that made fun of David and his family. They said things along the lines of that he was a paedophile, he’s gay and dirty. The website invited others to actively be involved with bashing this boy. Along with the website, people were sending him hateful emails telling him how much they don’t like him. Thankfully, David did not physically harm himself like others you will read about.

We asked a member of staff at Preston lodge high school what they thought about social networking sites, what they think about cyber bullying and how to prevent it. Here is a quote from a member of staff about how he feels about social networking. We asked him how he how he feels about the outcomes of bullying on social networking sites, his reply was “I think it’s a disgrace in the way people are targeted using social networking sites particularly. We often hear for example people who take on the role of somebody else because of course on social networking sites you can be anonymous if you want to and they will send abuse to people using social networking sites. I actually think it is really cowardly and as well it’s typical of bullies to be that cowardly in that way and how they do it anonymously”

We also asked him how he thinks the best way to prevent it from happening. This was his reply “I think the best way is to make sure they have effective monitoring of things like Facebook and twitter. It is not like you can shut it down or stop it in anyway”.

By Niamh, Niamh and Erin.

In 1985 Comic Relief was initiated from a refugee camp in Sudan live on BBC 1 on Christmas day, and is now at work in 70 countries around the world. The idea was Comic Relief would select a bunch of much-loved British comedians to make the public laugh while they raised money. On the first red nose day it raised a massive £15million.

This year, many television shows have been infiltrated by Comic Relief including Great British Menu, Let’s Dance for Comic Relief and the Great British Bake Off with well-known celebrities as the participants. Within the competitors were Olympic swimmer Ellie Simmonds, comedian Jo Brand and Canadian comedian Katherine Ryan.

Preston Lodge High School has been busy lately with a week packed with comic relief fundraising events. The S1-S6 charity committee planned the fun packed week, which included red noses and cakes for sale, a bake off, a sweepstake competition for every year group, soak the teachers in the stocks, a red rave and a dress down day in red.

Meanwhile, in Cockenzie, local Preston Lodge S1 students Katie & Rowan have done their bit for the charity by hosting their very own bake sale in the local pub’s lounge. On the 9^th and 10^th of March they presented a selection of treats including rocky road squares, truffles, and a variety of cupcakes for the community to purchase in aid of Comic Relief. All together they raised an outstanding total of £165.

By Katie and Rowan

Brussels Diamond Heist

On the 18^th of February at Brussels Airport, a massive diamond heist took place. There were suspected to be 8 individuals involved, using two black vehicles with police markings and also wearing police attire. The presumed total value of the uncut precious gems has been estimated to be around $50m (£32m, 37m euros).

The 8 burglars broke into the airport by cutting a hole in the fence that surrounds the airport. After breaking through the fence the burglars headed towards the Helvetic airways plane where the diamonds had just been put inside the cargo hold. The burglars were armed and threatened security with their weapons but no one was injured as no shots were fired. However they got past security with ease for they were armed. Once they had made it past security they headed straight towards the aeroplane which was just about to take off and they broke into the hold and quickly stole the load of uncut diamonds.  The burglars accomplished all this in just a matter of minutes. This diamond heist was one of the biggest in history. An unnamed spokeswoman from the Antwerp world diamond centre said ‘about 150m euros’ worth of stones move in and out of the city every day’ she also said that the thieves were ‘professionals’.

Diamond heists are getting quite common now a days, every couple of years a group of thieves get away with a diamond heist, others try but don’t succeed. There have been many successful diamond heists in history, some huge some not so big. Some of the most recent diamond heists were; the first took place at The Damiani showroom in Milan, Italy on February 3^rd 2008, approximately $20 million worth of diamonds were stolen. Also on December 4^th 2008 at the Harry Winston store, Paris, France, a group of thieves dressed as women stole around $107 million of diamonds. The most recent successful large diamond heist except from the Brussels diamond heist took place at Graff Diamonds, London, England on August 6^th 2009, a group of thieves stole Approximately $65 million of diamonds. To conclude diamond heists are the biggest thieving crimes ever and just now we have no way to stop them or know when and how people plan them.

By Ewan, Samuel and Liam.

As Jessica Cox goes through her hard, astonishing life she also inspires other disabled people to be the best they can be. Born on the 2^nd February 1983 with a rare disease; she was born without arms and doctors had never experienced this before. Over the years she has become a legend in the disabled world and she has achieved things that some fully abled people only dream of.

Jessica has abilities such as: playing piano, driving a car, being a pilot, surfing, diving and she has two black belts in taekwondo. She effectively achieved her goal to inspire disabled people to try and live a normal happy life. Jessica explains: “my message is that disabilities are not limited to physical; they shouldn’t stand in the way of success, there’s no handicap to success”.

Linked into this amazing topic the recent 2012 London Paralympics has also inspired other disabled people to try and step over big obstacles like amputation. It’s not just Jessica that inspires people, The Paralympics played a big role in the inspiration that encouraged the disabled to go out doors and try new things like swimming, running & cycling.

A demonstration of this success is a school girl called Angel Mills from Ports Lade has been inspired by the Paralympics. She completed a half marathon. The 12 year old mum said: “she was a fantastic inspiration to the public she would definitely put me to shame. I wouldn’t have been able to do what she does”.

According to the Scottish disability minister: “There have been a number of developments with regard to disabled people’s participation and involvement in sport over the past few years”. Their recent surveys have shown a rise in the number of disabled people in Scotland taking part in sports at local centres. The government’s strategy for inclusion stresses the need for ‘greater attention to access sporting venues for disabled people’ It is clear that the government are endeavouring to make it easier for disabled people in sport.

It cannot be argued that the level of support for disabled people in sport has greatly increased over the past few years.  However, we should continue to help the less abled people be involved in almost everything they are able to do; with our motivation and help this will happen.

By Jordan, Daniel and Sam

Students from this school will be making the news for real on 21 March 2013 as they take part in BBC News School Report. We aim to publish the news by 1600 GMT on the News Day, so please save this page as a favourite and return to it later.  In the meantime, take a look at what our students produced last year.