CULTURE

For the second year running, Roe Green Juniors have taken part in the 500 word story competition. The competition was all about creativity, never mind spellings and grammar! It was open from October 17th to November 7th, almost a month full of imagination! The stories (like it says in the name ) were 500 words long and the winners  receive amazing prizes;

Bronze winners: a tower of books the average size of a child their age

Silver winners: the height of Her Majesty, Queen Camilla in books

Gold winners: the height of Sir Lenny Henry in books and 500 books for                                                                                                                    their school library

50 finalists will be invited to a glittering grand final, hosted by Queen Camilla herself! Six winning stories  are going to be read out by celebrities and illustrated by famous illustrators. The winners get crowned at Windsor castle and members of Roe Green still have their fingers crossed to see if they're a lucky winner, as the finale is in February 2026!

The 500 word story competition encourages literacy and language development for children. BBC presenters encourage parents to tell their children about the competition and to tell their kids to take part. They say that children should have fun entering the competition and should let their imaginations go wild. After reading this, do you think that you might want to take part next year? 

Black History Month is a really special time because it reminds us to slow down and actually think about all the amazing achievements Black people have made, even when the world tried to make things harder for them. It’s a month where we look back at history and realise how many brave, talented and determined people have shaped the world we live in today. From leaders who fought for fairness, to inventors who created things we still use, to writers, musicians and artists who changed the way we see life - their stories show strength, courage and hope. Learning about them helps us understand that change doesn’t happen all at once, but through people who keep going even when things are tough.

But Black History Month isn’t only about the big names we already know. It’s also about the everyday people who stood up for themselves and for others, even when no one was watching. It makes you think about how much strength it takes to keep going in unfair situations, and how powerful it is when people choose kindness, unity and truth. When we learn their stories, we start to see the world differently - like noticing the things we take for granted now that someone else had to fight for before.

Overall, Black History Month teaches us that everyone’s story matters, and that each person has something important to bring to the world. It encourages us to be more understanding and to stand up for what’s right, even in small ways. It’s a reminder that history isn’t just something that happened a long time ago - it’s something we’re all a part of today.

Halloween is some people's favorite holiday because they get to carve pumpkins and go trick or treating. However, most people don’t know how Halloween originated. Some people don’t know how an ancient festival of the dead became a well - known celebration of Halloween.

Where Did Halloween Come From?

 Halloween dates back to more than 2,000 years ago and comes from the pagan festival Samhain. Paganism is a set of spiritual beliefs of which nature is an important part of and there were many gods and goddesses. Samhain is celebrated on 1st November and its name means “summer’s end”. It marked the end of harvest season and beginning of winter. A group of people called Celts - who had been living in Britain since 750BC - believed the gap between our world and the dead was thinnest so spirits could pass through.  

How Was Samhain Celebrated?

Celts believe on the night before Samhain, on 31st October, souls of the dead, Aos si, roamed on the Earth. People lit ‘Bone Fires’ to scare bad spirits away and left food and drink outside their houses to keep the bad spirits happy.People put bones on fires called ’Bone fires’ which eventually became ‘bonfires'. They also dressed in costumes to hide themselves from the spirits too.

How Halloween Got Its Name

After a while, Christianity, a religion based on Jesus Crist’s teaching, began spreading across Celtic land. Paganism and Christianity began merging and by the 9th century the church moved All Saint’s day, or All Hallow’s Day, to 1st November instead of 13th May. It was part of a 3 day period remembering dead people with All Souls Day on 2nd November and All Hallow’s Eve on 31st October which, in the end became Halloween.

How Did We Get Halloween Tradition?

In the 11th century, children went out and went ‘souling’ where they asked for a ‘soul cake’. The cake was a sweet cake with a cross on it and by the 19th century, it became ‘mumming’ or ‘guising’ when children would dress up in costumes and would sing or dance in return for either fruit or money. Trick or treating came from a traditional Irish story called ‘The Story of Stingy Jack’ about a man who tricked the devil and was punished to walk around the world with only some hell-fire to light his way. ‘Jack of the Lantern’ eventually became Jack ‘o’ lantern.

Halloween Today

Today, we celebrate Halloween by dressing up in costumes, carving pumpkins and going round to people’s houses and collecting sweets. Sometimes, people still celebrate Samhain and make Soul cakes and carry on Pagan traditions. When people carve pumpkins, they are carving Stingy Jack’s face, but people used to carve them out of turnips until they went to America taking Halloween traditions with them, did  they find that pumpkins were easier to carve.

That’s not all!

The Story of Stingy Jack

This story starts with a man called Stingy Jack. To be stingy means to never want to give away any money and that was exactly what Jack was like. One day the devil came knocking on Jack’s door and he ordered, ”It’s time to go to hell, Jack.”

Jack was very clever, so he replied, “Ok but first we will go get drinks and I will pay for them”

So Jack and the devil went to the inn to get drinks and they ordered the drinks and after a while the devil got a bit drunk.

“I don't have any money with me,” complained Jack, so the devil replied that he would pay and turned himself into money.

Jack snatched the money and put it in his pocket where there was a cross in it so the devil couldn't escape and he whispered, ” Look devil, I will let you go if I can keep living and go to hell when I am older.” 

The devil agreed so Jack let him go and after a few years, Jack went to heaven.

The people in heaven insisted, “You can’t come here Jack, you’ve got to go to hell.”

Jack went to hell and went up to the devil.

“You can’t come here Jack because you tricked me.”, the devil confirmed, “You must stay on the earth and I will give you some hell-fire to light your way.”

The devil gave Jack some hell-fire and Jack carved a lantern out of a turnip, because in Ireland there were no pumpkins. Now ‘Jack of the Lantern’ roams the earth with nothing but hell-fire to light his way.

What is UK Parliament week?

UK Parliament Week is an annual event that encourages people across the United Kingdom to learn more about the work of Parliament, how democracy functions, and how they can get involved in political life. It’s an opportunity for schools, community groups, and organizations to host activities, debates, and discussions about issues that matter to them. The week aims to inspire people of all ages to engage with the democratic process, understand how decisions are made, and have their voices heard in shaping the future of the country.

Remembrance Day is celebrated annually on November 11th. At the end of World War I we honour all those who have died in conflicts since. It's marked by a two-minute silence at 11 a.m., symbolizing the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918 when fighting came to an end. In the UK, a separate Remembrance Sunday is held on the second Sunday in November for larger services, featuring the Poppy Appeal and wearing poppies as symbols of remembrance. 

Typhoon Ragasa, also known in the Philippines as Super Typhoon Nando, was a destructive, dangerous and powerful cyclone destroying many places in the Pacific ocean. 

Preparations 

The Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency asked that people were to not visit forests and hiking trails were closed.

On 21st September, the  Central Weather Administration (CWA) issued land and sea warnings and forecaster Liu Pei-teng warned people of Hualien and Taitung to get ready for heavy rain and winds from the 22nd to 24th of September. The warnings were issued at 08:30 and 17:30 on the same day and 300 people were evacuated.

Impact

All across Taiwan, 8000 people were and parts of Hualien County recorded 700mm of rain and parts of southern and eastern Taiwan recorded 500 to 600mm.11,363 houses had power outages and a tornado blew off roofs and road signages in Taitung. 160 flights at Taoyuan International Airport were cancelled.

The Matai’an Creek Barrier lake overflowed, followed by a landslide because of Tropical Storm Wipha in July, taking with it bridges and vehicles. Wipha also  caused floods and was buried in mud.  107 were injured, 18 were killed, 6 were and 300 stranded.