By Kitty Sparrowhawk

Recent studies have shown

that IQ is rising in some parts

of the world but there is no

definitive answer as to why

this is happening. IQ

(intelligence quotient) seems

to be going up more in de-

veloping countries such as

China and India and there

are steady increases in the

US. One possible explana-

tion for our apparently im-

proved intelligence are the

changes in education. With people being in

school for longer and teaching methods im-

proving, it would be logical to think that the

better education is making us smarter, except

that there is no connection or correlation be-

tween the rising IQ’s and (as an example) US

exam scores. An interesting theory is that the

rising scores are a result of the spread of elec-

tric light. The theory says that the light may

have helped our intelligence, for example

when artificial light stimulates chicken

growth. This has yet to be investigated

though.

Are we getting smarter?

The

Highlights

WhatsApp! The campaign continues.

page 5

The May Election page 6-7

Gender inequality in

the spotlight page 11

page

4

Rock Challenge!

page 10

Make a dif-

ference and

micro-

volunteer!

page 3

Gemma’s story

page 10

2

Final goodbye to Nemstov By Saakshi Sharma

Thousands of Russians said their final fare-

wells to murdered Russian opposition politi-

cian Boris Nemtsov as his funeral took place in

the capital Moscow on 3 March. They queued

patiently to view his coffin before it began its

solemn journey to Troyekurovskoye ceme-

tery. Several EU politicians and Russian op-

position leader Alexei Navalny were barred

from attending the funeral. Hours later, Mr

Navalny accused the Russian authorities of re-

sponsibility for the murder. In a statement

from jail, where he is serving a 15-day sen-

tence, he said: "I believe that Nemtsov was

murdered by members of a government or

pro-government organisation on the order of

the country's political leadership (including

Vladimir Putin)." Alternatively, he alleged that

Nemtsov had been killed on the order of offi-

cials in Yaroslavl region, where he had been

investigating corruption. Nemstov was shot

dead on a bridge near the Krem-

lin .New CCTV footage of the presumed geta-

way car has been released by a pro-Kremlin

Russian news website, LifeNews. The video

shows a vehicle making its way along Moscow

streets but there is no close-up on the sus-

pects inside.

By Zara Hassan

Kristina Webb is an artist born on the 8th of

September 1995 and was born in New Zea-

land (Tauranga.) She is an inspiring artist and

has over a mil-

lion Instagram

followers. Since

she started with

her Tumblr and

Instagram, col-

our_me_creative

a c c o u n t s

(created in 2012)

Webb's artworks

have become viral. Her most popular art

piece has more than 10 million likes on Face-

book, Instagram, and Tumblr altogether. Re-

cently Kristina has been noticed by celebri-

ties and media. She often uses her reach to

speak about social issues, drawing on themes

of anti-bullying, self-harm and suicide pre-

vention. Her work has been recognised by

several celebrities including Ed Sheeran, Ty-

ra Banks, and actress Chloe Grace Moretz.

She was commissioned to draw Cody Simp-

son by his family and has drawn many other

celebrities. She is originally from New Zea-

land, but has moved to Los Angeles to further

her career as an artist.

T

The

People Page

Kristina Webb

How can you make a difference? By Abbie Armstrong

Doing something for a good cause has been stereotyped as a challenging task, however

times are changing and you no longer have to run a marathon or climb to Macchu Piccu to

make a difference.

And that’s where Microvolunteering Day comes in. It has celebrated the idea that easy ac-

tions can make a difference annually on 15th April since 2008. The concept is that if many

people do something small, it can have big impact and make good use of spare time. The ac-

tions are designed to be quick and easy, lasting on average 10 minutes and mostly doable

from your computer in any location

Proofread a book or verify its

details for up to 30 minutes for

Bookshare, an online library of

digital books made for people

with print disabilities. Proofread-

ing digital files of books im-

proves their quality, and verifi-

cation of its synopses and cate-

gories makes it easier

for members to locate

the books they want to

read.

http://www.bookshare.org/_/

volunteer/overview#sthash.

Make everyclick.com

your home page. It is a

regular search engine

but every time you use it to shop

online Everyclick gives money to

charity.

Download Cancer Re-

search UK’s ‘Play to

Cure: Genes in Space’

from the App Store to

your phone or tablet. Every

time you play, you’re helping

scientists spot patterns in DNA

data, which will help

them develop new

cancer treatments.

Write a letter. Use 20

minutes to put a smile

on a sick child’s face, encourage

a prisoner or let a senior citizen

know they are cared for.

http://www.postpals.co.uk/

#sthash.zXeOYHJg.dpuf

http://writeaprisoner.com/

#sthash.ryNcIYPz.dpuf

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/

Heart-4-Seniors/

#sthash.v3SHZZVQ.dpuf

Send your used stamps

to a worthy charity for

them to sell on and

raise vital cash. These

causes include Naomi

House Children’s Hospice-

a charity raising funds for

children’s hospices that

provide support to termi-

nally ill young people- or

the Royal National Institute

for the Blind, which helps

to improve the lives of

blind people.

http://www.naomihouse.org.uk/

how/fundraising/

recy-

cling.aspx#sthash.xBoXI9Mz.dpu

f

http://www.rnib.org.uk/

getinvolved/fundraising/recycle/

Pages/

used_stamps.aspx#sthash.9fxgeJ

u4.dpuf

Sign a petition. In less than five

minutes you can sign a petition

to help further a worthy cause,

like Ocean Conservancy, which

supports ocean conservation

work.

For more information, visit the ‘Help From Home’ website which has over 800 other ac-

tion ideas and easily allows you to find one to suit you, by choosing a type of action, a

cause to help and the amount of time needed.

Fun Run finished?

Comic Relief 2015

By Aman Hoonjan

Comic Relief, a charity

aiming to stop poverty

and injustice, have

done it again this

year with their massive

fundraising campaign.

They put on entertain-

ing shows, like Comic

Relief Bake Off and a

Comic Relief Strictly

special. The Bake Off

was hilarious as usual

starring some well-

known faces: Johnathon

Ross, Gok Wan and re-

nowned vlogger- Zoel-

la. They showed off

their talent (or not!) and they definitely con-

tributed to raise the awareness of the charity.

They sold a range of merchandise

from red noses to limited edition pin badges,

and the majority of the money went to a very

worthy cause. Many fundraisers were in-

volved including Toyota, Sainsbury’s and

Robert Dyas. Comic Relief have helped over

a million children in Africa and other poor

countries to at least get an education. Litera-

cy for adults in Uganda increased to 73% by

2010 and they have increased children going

to school in sub-Saharan Africa.

This year, they raised £78 million and

have raised over £1 billion over the course

of 30 years.

The Talk to Becky team

The one question that kept popping up in our

questionnaires this half term, was ‘when is the

Fun Run this year?’ As you may have now real-

ised, the Fun Run has been cancelled this year

and in its place, we came in to school wearing

an item of red for Red Nose Day. When speak-

ing to the Talk to Becky Team, Mr Cottman

said, ‘We have decided not to take part in the

Fun Run this year and will instead focus on

Red Nose Day and then the fundraising day in

the summer term.’

After raising over £1000 for Red Nose Day, we

feel as if we have played our part for charity.

But our question now is, will we have the Fun

Run next year or is it finished for good?

By Kavya Sharma

Here is my fourth article in my six article social

media campaign. This time it’s WhatsApp.

As you read this, just remember that the pur-

pose of my rant is not to force you to delete

your account, but just to make you all aware of

some dangers social media can have in general

- I want to make sure you are all as safe as you

can be when it comes to WhatsApp.

Similar to Kik, Whatsapp is a free messaging

app available on Apple and Android prod-

ucts, but is used as much as any other free

texting services and social media app. Com-

pared to Kik, WhatsApp is much safer and

there are a lot less cyberbullying cases and

explicit information. However, what I find

dangerous about WhatsApp is the lack of pri-

vacy and security detail. WhatsApp was not

built with encryption. All of you computer ge-

nius’ out there will know that this is a major

flaw. Encryption is when you encode messag-

es or information in a way that only authorised

people can read it. Therefore, messages were

going to people you may not have intended

the messages to go to. Because of this error,

WhatsApp was sucking up your address

books and storing your information to sell on

to other companies.

In 2014, Facebook bought WhatsApp for a

staggering $19 billion. This made Project

Neptune (a security testing group) leap into

action by testing WhatsApp. They then dis-

covered that there is also no SSL-pinning.

Simply, this means that there is no connection

between mobile applications (i.e contacts)

and web services. This then allows an at-

tacker to go between the connections and in-

tercept all of your information. Therefore,

they can take your user credentials, private

and sensitive information and use it for other

purposes.

My one last point is the growing popularity of

WhatsApp. In 2014, this app hit over 440 mil-

lion users. This popularity has made it a target

for hackers and attackers. If you do want to

use this app, watch out for tricks and jumps

between pages. If you ever see the ad

‘Balloon Pop2,’ then watch out! This copies all

of your data and moves it to private websites.

If this happens, delete the app from your

phone immediately or deactivate your ac-

count. If you still want WhatsApp after this,

then change your username.

Please make sure you are extra careful about

how you use this app. There are still flaws in

the system, so use this app safely and respon-

sibly. I don’t want to see the number of cyber-

bullying cases to rise, so please don’t abuse

your right to have a social media account. If

you ever need to talk to anyone regarding so-

cial media, don’t hesitate to go to the drop-in

or speak to someone you trust.

What’s up with WhatsApp?

5

The Election: May 2015

Party proposals and how they will affect you

By Kavya Sharma and Katie Gibson

The Tories

If you want to put your entrepreneurial skills

into practise and go into the business world,

maybe you should side with the Tories

(Conservatives) in this election. By cutting the

jobs tax, the Conservatives are planning to

save businesses up to £2,000, enabling them

to provide more jobs to workers. By scrapping

job tax for under 21s, they believe it will be

easier to give young people a start in life.

The belief that education will get us further is a

key change the Conservatives are willing to

make. They have plans to protect school

budgets and encourage people with high level

degrees to become teachers. There are also

plans to invest £18 billion in new schools - so

buildings and facilities match their ambition

for the next generation, while another £2 mil-

lion will be invested into new apprenticeships.

UKIP

If you’re planning to study a STEM degree

(science, technology, engineering, mathe-

matics) or medicine at university in the near

future, then UKIP have a proposal that may

interest you. Provided students meet certain

academic standards and work for five years

in the UK after completing their degree,

their tuition fees will be removed. For

courses that take five or six years, savings

could be as great as £54,000.

UKIP promise to scrap HS2 – the £50 billion

project has caused a huge amount of contro-

versy and will directly affect many residents

of the south Bucks area.

The party is in strong opposition of the plans

to introduce a scheme whereby patients will

be charged to see their GP.

If continued free healthcare and bringing

about an end to HS2 are your priorities, vote

UKIP, but bear in mind their aim to abolish

several key government departments, in-

cluding the Department for Culture, Media

and Sport and the Department of Energy

and Climate Change.

6

The Lib Dems By binning the “shares for rights” scheme along

with other several other tax breaks, the Lib Dems

hope to find an additional £1 billion for the National

Health Service. Their focus for the NHS is to create

targets for mental health, for example ensuring that

everyone diagnosed with depression receives ther-

apy in less than 18 weeks. Eating disorders will also

be prioritised if the Liberal Democrats remain in

government.

The Lib Dems have identified Bedfordshire, Buck-

inghamshire, Cambridgeshire and Oxfordshire as

ideal counties for the construction of 5 new garden

cities which will help meet their goal of building

300,000 new homes each year. Discounted bus and

coach tickets for students travelling to school or col-

lege are also part of the policy package offered by

the Liberal Democrats.

Labour By reducing tuition fees for universities

to £6,000 a year, Labour hope more peo-

ple will go into higher education. Labour

have said that they want ’a country

where the next generation can do better

than the last’. Like the Conservatives,

they are pushing apprenticeships. How-

ever, Labour pledge that they will guar-

antee an apprenticeship to every school

leaver who gets basic grades in their

GCSEs or A levels and they wish to re-

duce class sizes in primary schools so

that pupils will get all the attention and

education they need. As the party for the

workers, Miliband says he will tighten

border controls, but has said that people

who come here won't be able to claim

benefits for at least two years, and that

they will introduce fair rules making it

illegal for employers to undercut wages

by exploiting workers.

What do our teachers think will happen?

Many of our teachers think

that no matter who the new

party leading our nation is,

it will not make any great

difference, as most politi-

cians make similar deci-

sions.

Thank you to all members of

staff who took part in our

survey.

UKIP

Lib Dems

Tory

Labour

Coalition

7

By Laura Fearn

A good story starts with a great opening line and here are some of

my personal favourites.

A Tale of Two Cities – Charles Dickens

The language may be old fashioned but who cannot be impressed

with the opening "It was the best of times, it was the worst of

times…” It is certainly a novel worth reading. Spanning several dec-

ades it follows a series of characters and their struggles through the

French Revolution.

Rebecca - Daphne du Maurier

“Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again... “. It has to be the

epitome for a gothic- thriller –romance novel. It is hard to say more

without divulging the story. It may be “old” but don’t dismiss it be-

cause of its age – it is timeless. Read it and you will not be disap-

pointed.

Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy

"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its

own way." This has to be one of the most dramatic books ever and

was probably the East Enders of its day. Although it is a fantastic sto-

ry, it is a tough read in places but worth the effort if you are interest-

ed in Russian history.

The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald

“In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some

advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since.” A short

novel set in 1922 at the peak of the Jazz age; it captures the atmos-

phere of the wild parties and the eccentric personalities of the char-

acters. It tells of a society mesmerised by its newfound wealth and

the differences between the old aristocracy and the newly rich.

Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel García Márquez

“Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano

Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father

took him to discover ice.” One of Márquez’s most famous novels is

about the colonisation and development of Colombia. The story is

told through the eyes of several generations of the family. However

at times it can be confusing as nearly all the characters have the

same names. My edition had a family tree at the front and I needed

it.

The

Book Beat

By Ellen Carter

We Were Liars is E. Lockhart at her best. The story hooks you in from the

very first page and you can’t put it down!

A beautiful and distinguished family.

A private island.

A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.

A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destruc-

tive.

A revolution. An accident. A secret.

Lies upon lies.

True love.

The truth.

Read it.

And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.

Looking at the front cover of ‘We Were Liars’ and reading the blurb I didn't think it would

contain the kind of story that it does. The plot is a work of fractured art, twisting in all the right

places. Lockhart’s impeccable imagery and symbolism is mind blowing, creating a tale that is

both haunting and beautiful. The characters are written in such a way that you feel like you've

known them for your whole life, you are really able to form a deep connection with each indi-

vidual.

The way this novel tugs at your heart is incredible and it has so many valuable messages in-

between the lines.

A must read.

Are we liars? No, we were liars

By Sahar Mulji and Kyla Melville

World Book Day is a celebration! It’s a cele-

bration of authors, illustrators, books and

(most importantly) it’s a celebration of read-

ing. In fact, it’s the biggest celebration of its

kind, designated by UNESCO as a worldwide

celebration of books and reading, and

marked in over 100 countries all over the

world.

The main aim of World Book Day in the UK

and Ireland is to encourage children to ex-

plore the pleasures of books and reading by

providing them with the opportunity to have a

book of their own.

Thanks to the generosity of National Book To-

kens Ltd, publishers and booksellers, World

book day can send millions of book vouchers

to children and young people (more than 14

million, in fact: that’s one for nearly every

child aged under eighteen in the country).

You can take your voucher to a local

bookseller and can use it to pick one of TEN

(exclusive, new and completely free) books.

Or, if you’d rather, you can use it to get £1 off

any book or audio book costing over £2.99 at

a participating bookshop or book club.

In BHS we have had the honour of welcoming

Holly Smale and Sarah Crossan to our school.

They gave inspirational talks.

Rock Challenge

Helping the Little Princesses

By Kavya Sharma

This year, Beaconsfield High School is taking

part in it’s very first Rock Challenge event.

Miss Lasocki, Joanna Walker and Hazel Sutton

have choreographed a post-apocalyptic

dance which explores the place of violence

and social structures inspired by the Diver-

gent trilogy of books by Veronica Roth. The

different factions portray a different take on

society represented by the colours the stu-

dents wear. Overall, 64 students are involved,

through dance, design and stage crew and

have all stuck to an intensive rehearsal sched-

ule, which is shown in the high level of skill

on stage.

Rock Challenge is a performing arts competi-

tion that shows young people how they can

achieve a ‘natural high’ through life rather

than through the use of tobacco, alcohol and

other substances. The competition is taking

place in Portsmouth on the 23rd March,

where many different aspects of the perform-

ing arts will be explored.

In order to raise funds for this event, Miss

Lasocki hosted a Zumbathon, which raised a

brilliant £640 which has helped raise money

for costumes, set, and entry fees.

When watching the performance, I was

amazed by how the music helped portray the

story developed by the dancers and every-

one involved has contributed to making Bea-

consfield High School History.

Congratulations to all involved as they won a

total of 8 Awards out of 13.

Our

Community

By Gemma Davis

A small thing for me, may be a big thing for

someone else.

Last year I came across a video online intro-

ducing a little girl receiving a wig from a

charity. I went on to research and discovered

this charity, the Little Princess Trust. They ask

for hair donations that are made into wigs,

which are then given to children who have

lost their hair due to cancer treatment or other

illnesses.

Unfortunately they receive few hair donations

and a wig costs £350 to make. They also ask

for donations of money though you don’t have

to send money with the donation of your hair,

but it is suggested.

From that day on I wanted to cut my own hair

off and donate it, but I was afraid. After all I

had had long hair for four years straight and it

was quite literal-

ly part of me.

Anyway one day

I remembered

that there’s at

least one person

right now who

doesn’t have

hair in the world

and who really

needs a wig. At

the end of the day it’s just hair. My hair meant

a lot to me but it will grow back. And my hair

will probably mean a lot more to someone

else. It’s such a small thing for me to do. But it

can be such a big thing for someone else who

receives a wig made of real hair because of it.

Hopefully my hair will help someone and it’s

not so bad having short hair for a while.

Gender inequality:

exposed in the light By Eesha Makh

In the recent light and publicity that feminism has

been given, it’s no secret that gender inequality is

still a huge issue, impacting women in the household,

in the workplace, on the streets, and even on the red

carpet. Despite the fact that female actresses are

adored and admired on a global basis, the ladies are

still in the limelight, especially those working behind

the scenes.

Renowned star, Reese

Witherspoon launched

the #AskHerMore

movement, campaign-

ing for women to be

noticed for more than

their designer dresses

on the red carpet, for

them to be recognised for their work and their skills,

rather than their beauty. Although it has been argued

that they should not be complaining about their fortu-

nate lives, surely it is justified for women involved in

film to be appreciated just as much as men? Surely it

must be justified that all genders are equally appreci-

ated?

For every female director in the film industry, there

are 15 more men. Only four women have been nomi-

nated for Best Director at the Oscars in the last 85

years, and Katheryn Bigelow stands as the only wom-

an to ever have won that particular Academy Award.

These statistics and many more prove that women are

still unappreciated, undermined and unacknowl-

edged. Is it true that men are simply better at these

jobs? Or is it correct that only a small number of wom-

en wish to pursue a job in film? Or is the reality that

women are underestimated in this industry, and after

a male-dominated history, it is a tricky task for women

to break the glass ceiling into film?

Ask yourself, what could prevent a woman from being

just as talented, just as clever, just as ambitious and

hard working as a man? Nothing. That is the answer.

And this applies to you, to your family, to your

friends, to the public, to this generation. Make your

dreams a reality and work with men, work with wom-

en and work together to invite future generations into

a world where gender equality is the actuality. Banish

the gender stereotypes, and open doors for both gen-

ders. Encourage women to pursue their ambitions

and set yourself goals that you want to achieve. Don’t

let anything get in your way. It’s in your hands, and

your hands are capable of remarkable things. Sketch

it, draw it, paint it, colour it in and make it the face of

the future.

The steps to success are not as balanced as they seem...

Another issue gone, and I would like to

thank everyone involved. Thank you to Ee-

sha Makh and Kitty Sparrowhawk.

I would like to thank Katie Gibson for be-

ing an amazing prefect for us, and we are

sad to see her go as she continues her stud-

ies elsewhere.

A special thank you to Hannah Ruby,

Georgie Cunningham-Walker and Ellie

Golden for helping with the general mainte-

nance of The Becky Highlights

Thank you so much for a great issue and we

really look forward to the next one!

If you would like some ideas on what you

could write, or any queries, please email

me at :-

thebeckyhighlights.editors@gmail.com

Issue 28 A Note from the Editor

12

“Don’t worry if plan A fails, there are 25

more letters in the al-

phabet.“

Anon.

“If you fall, I will be

here to catch you.

- With love, the floor“

Anon.

Kavya Sharma Editor of The Becky Highlights