Billie Eilish’s Big Win

Anisha 7K

Billie Eilish’s single ‘Bad Guy,’ was recently named the biggest global track of 2019 during the Global Awards 2020, on Thursday 5th March. The song was released in March 2019 but took the world by storm and continued to be one of the best selling songs of 2019 according to the IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry). ‘Bad Guy’ beat Lil Nas X’s ‘Old Town Road’ and ‘I Don't Care’ by Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber.

At only 18 years of age, Eilish has already won 10 awards, topped the charts in over 15 countries and is the first woman to get number one in the UK with a James Bond song - ‘No Time To Die’ - the new theme song for the 007 film and another big hit for Billie Eilish.

Now you’re probably thinking what makes Billie Eilish’s songs so interesting and popular? Well it’s her strikingly different voice and style. According to Frances Moore, IFPI Chief Executive, “Billie Eilish has taken the world by storm with her incredible voice and genre-defying sound”. 

Eilish also advocates for important issues like mental health within her lyrics that clearly resonate with her fans. The way she dresses not only differentiates her from other female singers but also has a deeper meaning. “If I was a guy and I was wearing these baggy clothes, nobody would bat an eye,” said Billie Eilish speaking about what she wears. Eilish has always wanted to be diverse and while doing so also inspired other women to follow in her footsteps. She believes that wearing baggy clothes means that people have no reason to judge her body as no one knows what's underneath. This movement helped fans and the public with mental health and self esteem issues.

Will Billie Eilish become one of the best female artists in the music industry? I think so.

Credits:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround 

https://www.buzzfeed.com/

https://global.com/awards/about/

Meeting the thirteenth Doctor!

Mohamed A 7K & Russell 7Y 

On 17th of November 2019 Alperton Community School students from year 7 and 8 were chosen to go to the BFI Southbank to watch the premier of Doctor Who (Series 12), which was later to be broadcast on the BBC on New Year's Day. The students were amongst some of the first people to watch the premier with some other schools. This year is the new series of Doctor Who starring Jodie Whittaker in her second series playing the lead role. 

We were all really excited to head to Central London and took the train to BFI Southbank. One of the students said “I was really excited and surprised to be chosen”. Once the students arrived in the bustling city, some year 7s were jaw-dropped and amazed by what Central London was like as they were not expecting the city to be full and busy! For some, it was their first time visiting the Southbank. There were colossal buildings towering over them as their eyes were fixed on the city. As we walked along we came across cinemas, monuments, The London Eye and plenty of shops and restaurants. 

Whilst we waited for the premier to start we got to wander around the BFI Southbank building, take photos and some students eagerly contacted their families by text telling them what they had done so far. 

We then watched the amazing new Doctor Who episode. After, we were told there was going to be a press conference with a special guest to come and speak to us, but we weren’t told who straight away. 13 is an unlucky number for some, but clearly not for us! Once the episode had finished, we heard a familiar voice from behind the screen. It was none other than Jodie Whittaker! Everyone was so shocked to find out they were face to face with the Doctor! Whittaker then went onto the stage so we could ask her questions and also to some of the producers of the show about the episode and what will happen in the other episodes of series 12. 

On the way home we were still so excited about the trip but we couldn’t talk about it too loudly on the train as we were under embargo - which means we’re not allowed to tell anyone about it until it’s been broadcast on TV! However, now we can finally talk to all our friends about this amazing trip.

Momo Challenge is a HOAX

BY SHREYA 7P

Parents have been incredibly frightened for their children, in fact absolutely terrified by the Momo Challenge. Many national newspapers covered this story and it was shared hundreds of thousands times on Facebook over a short 24 hour period. However, it has transpired that all of those rumours started as a result of ‘fake news’.

The Momo Challenge initially started to spread by parents and adults via social media. It was believed that a creepy looking creature popped up on the screen while children were watching videos, such as Peppa Pig, on YouTube. This creature has a distorted face, big bulging eyes and black hair. The image itself is genuinely terrifying to look at, especially for young children. Adults believed that this creature was telling their children to harm their family and themselves. A student in year 7 said, “I was horrified when knowing that false news spreads so easily.”

It is not the first time the Momo Challenge has been in the news. In August 2018, the Daily Mirror had an article about a boy’s apparent suicide as a result of the Momo Challenge. It has to be asked, why has the Momo Challenge resurfaced? It is a coincidence that the government are looking to try and put stricter controls on social media and the Internet?

As a school community it makes people feel scared as this kind of thing normally affects children. We should learn many things from this experience. We should not easily believe in things like this and research it before we start to share information so that we don’t become the distributers of fake news.

It is interesting to note that the NSPCC received more phone calls about the Momo Challenge from media outlets than concerned parents. The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport recently published a report titled ‘disinformation and fake news’ in which they recommend that digital literacy should be “a fourth pillar of education alongside reading, writing and maths”. Perhaps adults also need to be better educated so that they too are more media literate. If we all have a better understanding about fake news then we’d be less likely to fall into the trap of believing fake news stories.

In year 9 media studies students are taught a unit dedicated to media literacy and fake news.

Mind the gap

BY NIMCA 9V

The gender pay gap has been one of the most discussed topics recently. An article from the BBC states that across the UK men earned and still earn 18.5% more than women. Why is this?

Females all over the world have been standing together to make people aware of this inequality and stop the gender pay gap. Famous actress, Jennifer Lawrence, was absolutely appalled after finding out that she was being paid way less than her male co-stars. She said that the only way she found out about the pay gap was when a hacker hacked into Sony’s database. “I didn’t get mad at Sony. I got mad at myself. I failed as a negotiator because I gave up early…I was busy worrying about coming across as a brat and not getting my fair share.”

According to Forbes, in the year from June 2016 the world's 10 highest-paid actors earned more than double the amount that the 10 highest paid actresses made. $488 million compared to $172 million.

  

But this isn’t just happening in Hollywood. The UK government website has a report which shows that 74% of companies pay more money to male staff. The graph shows the information for just over a thousand companies and there are still 8,000 more companies who have to given in their information, so this data could show even worse pay gaps. How would you feel if your mum, sister, aunty or you were getting less money than men in the same company?

16,000 students skip school everyday due to being bullied

BY AQUILLA 10Q

Bullying, sadly a common occurrence in many schools worldwide, occurs in a number of forms: cyber, physical and verbal. This means that today’s youth have no escape as it can happen in school, out of school as well as online.

Cyber bullies, also known as ‘online trolls’, abuse people due to their own personal problems and low self-esteem. They aim to lower other people’s self esteem in order to feel better about themselves.

Image from BBC News

Statistics from the NSPCC website state that in 2016/17 alone there were over 24,000 Childline counselling sessions with regards to bullying. Plus, a staggering 16,000 students skip school everyday due to being bullied. By the time you reach secondary school, 30% of boys and 40% of girls would have talked to their friends or others about bullying.

A student who wishes to be unnamed gave their opinion on bullying. “No-one should go through that, it isn’t nice. If you don’t want anyone treating you badly why would you do it to others?” Most bullies don’t imagine that their victims would be frightened about this, but unfortunately sometimes this is what makes the bully feel empowered.

If you were a parent of the bully and you found out about this what would you do? If you were the parents of the victim and you found out, how would affect you? There are so many questions and answers about this, but there is one that would make you think. What would you do if you were the bully’s friend and you knew this was happening?

It’s very important to not let bullying get out of control. You have to think about the victims and how they might be feeling so that you can help to resolve it.      

If you or someone you know suffers from bullying, make sure you speak out. Teachers, parents and friends are there to help if you let them. For more information go to http://www.nationalbullyinghelpline.co.uk/ or contact them on 0845 22 55 787. Don’t suffer in silence.