Posts

Winner

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  What do you see here? What do you think is happening, who do you think they are, what have they just done, what is the story here? This photo went viral over summer. It shows a boy standing on the winner podium and wearing a medal after wining a race.  But there is something unusual about the photo and what the boy is doing; can you spot it? There are three people on the winners podium. Why do you think this is, can you think of an explanation? After his race the boy was awarded first place and two other boys were awarded second and place. They each had a podium to stand on showing the first, second and third place. But the winner did something different; what did he do? The winner invited his competitors to stand with him on the top place and put his his arms around each to make sure they didn't fall off. Why did he do that? Should you stand on the winners podium if you came second or third? Is that fair? One comment said, "This simple but powerful gesture showed that for h...

Mountain

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  https://thedailyguardian.com/world/japan/the-102-year-old-who-dared-mount-fuji-but-did-he-truly-conquer-japans-tallest-peak-649904/ What do you see in the picture? Do you know the name of this or where it is? What might the story be here? This is mount Fuji in Japan. Mount Fuji is 3,766m tall and one of the tallest mountains in the world.  What kind of person do you think you have to be to climb this mountain? What does a mountaineer look like? This year Kokichi Akuzawa broke a world record to become the oldest person ever to climb Mount Fuji.  Thinking about how fit you have to be to climb that high and that far, how old do you think Kokichi was? Kokichi was 102 years old. Kokichi says, "I was really tempted to give up half way through  but my friends encouraged me. I managed to get through it because  so many people supported me." How do you think his friends supported him? What might they have said when he wanted to give up? Kokichi trained for 3 months to ...

super diversity

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                                    https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/white-handsworth-trader-blasts-derogatory-32628305 What do you see in the picture, who do you think this is? What is he doing, what do you think this story might be about? David Volante is a store manager in Handsworth, Birmingham.  Where is Birmingham? Birmingham is one of the most diverse cities in the UK, which over one million people call home. It is known as an area of super diversity. What does diversity mean? What do you think super diversity means? Many of those people were born in Birmingham, some moved here. Every single resident is unique. What does unique mean? The photo shows David Volante outside his store in Handsworth, a part of Birmingham where there are many different ethnicities living together.  David says he has encountered "nothing but respect" from the residents of Handsworth sin...

running shoes

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                                                       https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cewnje717rqo What do you see in the picture? What do you notice? What do you think this story might be about? The picture shows Stef Reid who is a world champion Paralympic long jumper and sprinter for Canada and Great Britain. She is a multiple medal winner and also has a MBE. What are the Paralympics? How does Stef run?  Today Stef campaigns for Nike, Adidas and Puma to do something different... What do Nike, Adidas and Puma sell? What do you think Stef is asking them to do differently?  Lots of stores proudly display models with blades in their shop windows. Stef thinks this is great and wishes she had seen these in shops when she was little. What is a bladed mannequin? Why do you think Stef wishes she had seen these when she was little? How do yo...

Ice skating

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                                    https://euroweeklynews.com/2025/09/16/same-sex-ice-dancing-team-breaks-new-ground-in-finland/ What do you see in the picture? Where are they? What sport is this, what do you notice about the two people? What do you think this story is about? The photo shows Millie Colling and Emma Aalto (both 19 years old) who are competing in Finland this year in the ice dancing championship. What is ice dancing? There is something different about this championship - a rule has been changed this year to allow something for the first time.  What rule do you think has been changed? This year for the first time ever, skaters can compete in pairs that are the same gender. What does that mean? Millie says she and Emma are best friends that want to skate together. Usually skaters have to be a man and a woman but this year skaters can be called Skater A and Skater B. Why do you th...

Bookshop

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                                  https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/oct/29/southampton-bookshop-october-books-enlists-human-chain-to-move-to-new-store?fbclid=IwAR3rBnVJwORIgsQex1UppYr14d9Z3EkK_W9Gd3cyXwdNSlSWnqmbUMNu1s0 A community bookshop in Southampton had to move because the rent went up and they could not afford to stay in their building. They managed to raise funds to buy an old building 150 metres away but had to find a way of moving their 2000 books. How would a shop usually move 2000 books? The bookshop couldn't afford to rent a van so had to think of another idea. Looking at the picture, how do you think they moved the books?   The local community came to the rescue, lots of people turned up on the day and stood in a line stretching from the old shop to the new shop.  Once everyone was in the line, what did they do? A human chain from the old bookshop to the new bookshop passe...

Trousers

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     https://www.amightygirl.com/blog?p=33531 What do you see in the picture, what is this person doing, can you guess what this story might be about?  This girl has her hands in her pockets. Why is that a story? 8 year old Georgia is from Ipswich, UK and was shopping in Sainsbury's for trousers. She was shocked to find all the girls' trousers has fake pockets. What does fake mean? The pockets were all sewn up. It was like girls don't really need pockets. But when Georgia went in to the boys section, the pockets were real.  What do you think Georgia did? Georgia bought boys trousers instead. Is it ok for Georgia to wear boys clothes? Do girls need pockets? Do boys need pockets? Do you agree or disagree? Georgia wrote to Sainsbury's and received a reply thanking her for her letter and agreeing that girls needed pockets too. But the letter didn't say they would change the trousers. So Georgia started a petition at her school and sent it to Sainsburys. What is a pe...