On the 7th November, 21 Vietnamese migrants — 11 of them children, many as young as 12 — have been found in the back of a refrigerated lorry in the British port of New haven, East Sussex. They had been smuggled across borders, hidden between cases of sparkling water. Investigators believe a Romanian man was driving the lorry and he has been charged for entering the UK illegally. Vietnam consistently ranks as one of the top countries for potential victims of trafficking, abuse and and modern day slavery in the UK. The UK's leading children charity NSPCC reports that over 2100 children were identified as potential victims of trafficking last year. Child trafficking and modern slavery are child abuse, says the NSPCC. "Children are recruited, moved or transported and then exploited, forced to work or sold". But is still unknown what the exact number of children being trafficked per day in the UK is. The charity said that is because "trafficking is a hidden crime and recorded statistics are almost certainly an under-estimate". But their staggering evidence suggests that 2 out of 5 potential victims of modern slavery found in the UK were children. The most common cases to be trafficked into the UK are people from Albania,Vietnam, Afghanistan and Eritrea. It is important to stay alert: children can be very blind when it comes to this matter and are easily targeted because they are so vulnerable. Human trafficking is around us but hardly ever seen with a naked-eye. So we need to beware of its dangers, keep a close eye when we are alone or with friends, and never talk or go with a stranger. By : Delfina

On 29th October, Chancellor Phillip Hammond, who controls how the UK Government spends money and how they raise money, revealed his idea for the budget for the year ahead. The budget is announced every year and decides what people and businesses need to pay the Government and how all this money will be spent. One of Hammond's decisions was to give English schools a one-off payment of £400 million to "buy the little extras they need". Many parents and teacher were really angered by his choice and how he called it "little extras", saying that schools need  more money to pay for staff. He also reminded MPs of previously announced Government plans to give more money to the NHS, stating the health service was number one priority of the British people. Mental-health funding will be increased by more than £2 billion each year. Some of this money will pay for a mental-health expert at every school. The Chancellor is also in charge of deciding how to raise this money so that he can progress his plans. He will collect money in several different ways, including taxes and fundraisers. Hammond said that a new tax on big tech companies such as Google, this could give the Government an extra £400 million a year. He also announced plans to tax companies that make or buy packaging from other countries that contains less than 30% recycled plastic. He proved that this would encourage businesses around the world to use mor environment-friendly materials and as a result would save all the oceans and all sort of sea-life. Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn told us, “What we’ve heard today are half measures and quick fixes, while austerity grinds on.” He also said the money for the NHS wouldn’t make a difference.

Simon Cowell , the celebrity, ditched his mobile phone ten months ago. He has declared that he is now feeling happier since then, even though it was strange at first. The X Factor judge has said that he is very annoyed about adults being on their phones all the time.  "It has been so good for my mental health," he said. "It's a very strange experience but it really is good for you and it has absolutely made me happier. The thing I get irritated with is when you have a meeting - everyone's on their phone - and I was probably in that place. You just can't concentrate." Children and  teenagers are often accused of being on their phones too much. In America, there are health clinics for young people who are addicted to their phones. Also, in the UK there is an app that rewards you for being away from your phone. Could you do that? Who knows? However, it's not just kids. It's also adults. A 2017 survey told us that just over half of adults check their phones within 15 minutes of waking up. Now other celebrities are dumping their phones. The question is, could you do that?

On Wednesday last month, Theresa May boogied along to ABBA's Dancing Queen for the entrance to her speech at the Conservative Party Conference. She is the first prime minister to show off her fancy footwork at a party conference. She did this dance to show her confidence as a prime minister. But some people weren't impressed. The Guardian described her as a dead cat moving! She did the same thing in South Africa and Kenya. Pretty funky, right!

The magic of Harry Potter is being depicted in a new set of stamps to celebrate the popular films. The 15 stamps feature characters including Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Ginny Weasley and Neville Longbottom. Modes of transport from the films such as Hogwarts Express, Hadgrid's enchanted motorbike, the flying Ford Anglia and the Knight Bus are also included. The stamps include hidden details that are only visible under ultraviolet light. The style of the “1” depicting the value on each of the stamps will mirror the font used for the films. Philip Parker, of Royal Mail, said: “The Harry Potter movies continue to thrill and delight audiences of all ages. The goal with our stamps is to capture the excitement of the wizarding world and the heroism of the students of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.” Letters are delivered by owls in the films, but the new stamps are available in post offices from October. If you're a fan of a good old themed stamp collection then the Royal Mail website is the place to be. There’s a whole bunch of other stamp options on the Royal Mail website, ranging from professors (including Snape!) to individual characters and even envelopes and postcards. Take a look at some of the options.  The new set of Potter stamps will be released by Britain’s Royal Mail on October 16. These are no ordinary stamps – they have secret details that require the touch of a wizard to uncover. Each stamp will include hidden details that will only be revealed when it is placed under ultraviolet light.

This year it was the largest ever CircusWorks children's festival. There were six days of circus performances, workshops and masterclasses. There were 15 circus's attending for six days of non-stop circus. It took place in Newcastle-under-Lyme, the birthplace of Philip Ashley, inventor of circus in Britain.  There were three big tops in 'the circus village', and four shows took place including: The youth show, The gala performance, Lexicon and the fire show. There were children from eight to 18 all learning and performing in the same tents. Also, the circus olympics took place in the circus village with many very silly, random and skillful games.  There was: Hula hoop gladiators, diablo throwing, sock, shirt and five pence juggling.  On the final day there was a parade through the town on stilts and using handheld equipment.

On the 26th September, a beluga whale drifted up from the Arctic and was found swimming in the river Thames, in Gravesend near Kent. It's the most southerly sighting of a beluga ever.  Rescue teams from the Port of London Authority (or PLA) are on permanent standby in case the whale, who seems to have lost its way 1500 miles from its natural habitat, gets into any danger. Martin Garside of the PLA  said there had been many discussions about rescuing the beluga and ferrying it out to sea, but it would be a very distressing task for the animal. He said it would preferable if it could make its way out to the ocean naturally. Mr Garside also warned: “the many onlookers who circle around in boats, fly drones over the whale’s head and gather in droves along the river banks should leave it in peace”. This is not the first time a whale has swam up the Thames. In 2006, 2013 and 2016, whales have been washed up into the river but none of them were a beluga. Belugas are the smallest of all whales. They look like large dolphins, reaching 4 metres in length. They are easily recognized by the white colour of their skin and bulbous foreheads (called "melons"). They are also known as ‘the Canaries of the Seas” because of their very distinctive voices. There is a natural concern about plastic pollution levels in the Thames. Would the beluga eat well, and would it survive? New reports from the 6th October suggest it is ‘foraging normally’ and Martin Garside stated that: ''This whale has stayed in the same spot for more or less six days, which is a relief. Other whales have been in a hurry to get back but this whale has got comfortable.” Most of the whale’s movements are being tracked by experts of the PLA from a boat moored to a barge which causes minimum stress to the whale. It has now been nicknamed Benny the Beluga. As this article is published, Benny appears to be in no hurry to leave the river and return to the sea and experts warn he could stay there for months. If it still here by spring, and the Thames warms up, Benny could be airlifted from the Thames and flown 1,150 miles to Iceland in an extraordinary "Free Willy-style" rescue mission. We will of course keep you posted. In the meanwhile, we wish Benny good luck and to stay safe! By: Elise, Eve and Florence  

Ministers have marked a third runway as being an ''historic moment for the UK ", but many people disagree with the cabinet. You may be thinking what is the point of a third runway after all pollution is already bad in London. True pollution is not brilliant in London but their are plus sides too for a third runway at Heathrow airport. First of all, Heathrow is already falling behind other airports due to it only having two runways which means delays are more common because if one fails there is only one which is nowhere near enough to keep one of the world's busiest airports running smoothly. They are also proposing to add a sixth terminal which would increase Heathrow's capacity by 50 million annually. With other airports having 3-8 runways it is no wonder Heathrow is struggling to keep up with  other airports. Another plus side of the Heathrow expansion plans are that customs will be quicker and it is possible that  ticket prices might get lower. For airlines like British Airways, their landing tax will be cheaper, delays will become less and less frequent and with the increase in amount of gates BA will be able to fly more flights daily with cheaper prices which means London will be accessible to more people which means more money for shops and of course the government which will mean cheaper prices for everyone! You may be wondering why didn't Heathrow expand before. Well of course we would have done it before if there were no downsides. But there are several. Pollution is one and houses will be knocked down to make way for the expansion. Those locals are already living with atrocious noise and the government will rehouse them. Children living in the area will have to move and will have to get an education elsewhere which is bad for local schools but at least they would have moved away from noisy Heathrow. Unfortunately, moving schools is always a hassle and leaving home is always is always a sad and tricky time where things can get really upsetting. But this does not mean they won't settle and in 20 years if the proposal goes to plan maybe it will turn out that it was a good move. Heathrow's expansion has been debated for decades now and ultimately we won't know what the right decision was until the 2040s. There were of course other options. One was building a new airport on the Thames Estuary and closing down Heathrow. Another option was keeping Heathrow operational and making it a secondary International Hub and making the main airport Gatwick. The recent vote which was held on Tuesday the 26'th  June  was won by the government  415-119. This clearly shows that the MPs and the government are now backing the Heathrow plans. You may think public transport will get really busy on the underground but a new tube line going directly to Heathrow will increase the amount of space on the tube for people going to Heathrow. INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT HEATHROW: Did you know in 2015 alone over 75 million passengers passed through Heathrow? Did you know British airways operate over 40% of the gates at Heathrow and is the airline with the most gates at Heathrow. Second is Virgin Atlantic and third is Aer Lingus. Did you know that Heathrow has over 35 restaurants?    

At St Osmund's, our Primary School in South West London, we met the Whale Company. They held a very inspirational talk about their battle to combat Plastic Pollution.  Although plastic can be beneficial - only 24% is recycled, meaning that 76% ends up either in land fill or worse - our rivers and the ocean. There they never biodegrade. We are a school very close to the River Thames and what they said and showed us was shocking and made us really want to help. What does the Whale Company do? Carolyn and Carlos founded The Whale Company 12 years ago after realising that the amount of plastic in our rivers and oceans was rising and killing whales and other marine life. This was long before Blue Planet made us all realise how close we were to environmental catastrophe. They started making paddle boards using plastic bottles, and have done some very hard paddle marathons in many different countries across Europe. Their action have attracted media attention and changed how many of those countries deal with plastic recycling and use. They are currently paddling down the Thames from its source to the sea. Next week they will deliver messages and solution ideas to our Secretary of State for the Environment, Michael Gove, in Parliament. They hope, as we do, that this will help change the way Great Britain deals with plastic pollution What do they say? They told us:  " We know MPs are talking about plastic pollution a lot more today and it’s going in the right direction, but we need to take immediate action – not to just talk about it for years.” For Carolyn and Carlos, local government needs to be more active because “we’re all confused about how to recycle, it varies between boroughs and needs to be standardised and supermarkets and shops need to understand that we don’t want all this plastic". Some countries have already been great at banning plastic items,  and people's habits are changing, but now the rest need to follow and act fast. Raising Money for The Whale Company We also were proud that the small "charity" we founded at St Osmund's, H.A.N.D, was able to help raise some money for the Whale Company's amazing paddle marathon down the Thames. H.A.N.D stands for Helpless Animals Need Defence - and we are fighting to solve the problem of pollution, deforestation and poaching once and for all. We have the same ambition as all those animal charities fighting for wildlife to thrive again and the Whale Company really moved us into action. We were very proud to sponsor the Whale Company giving roughly 220 pounds from cake sale and speeches. We might not be able be right by the Thames supporting them by their side, but we will all be thinking of them and we know that they will have a great impact. We wish them a great marathon and best of luck at Parliament. By : Millie, Isla and Amelie      

The Government in Wales is to introduce a ban on people smoking outside hospitals and schools by summer 2019 in bid to cut passive smoking and ‘un-normalize’ the act. Look around. What do you see? I see a dog. I see a cat. I see someone smoking. Smokers are pretty rare. There is one smoker for every 100 smokers. The Cardiff administration brought in the ban on smoking in indoor public places in April 2007, ahead of schools and in hospitals in Wales. While most hospitals already have no-smoking policies in their grounds, it is difficult for staff to enforce this. The government said people who flouted the ban could face fines. This will reduce suffering for non smokers.