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More Scots plan to watch this year's Olympics because they're being hosted in UK. Pic: LOCOG
Olympic rings in Edinburgh - bagpipes
Update by news editor   22-06-2012

Scotland gets set for the Olympics

Olympic viewing figures set to double, survey finds

More Scots will watch the Olympics this summer than they did the last time the games took place because they are being held in the UK, a survey has found.

Even though most of the Olympic events are to be held in England, Scots will still watch the games. In fact, a survey carried out by pupils at St Ninian's Primary in Dumfries found that the number of Scots planning to watch the Olympics has almost doubled compared to Beijing's 2008 event.

Of the people questioned, just 44% would normally watch the Olympics. But because they are being held in the UK this figure has risen to 81%.

When asked if she would normally watch the Olympics, Nicola Limond from Dumfries said, "No, but I will this year".

The survey of 36 children and adults also found that 82% of Scots are happy that the Olympics are being held in London and the same number feel that the event will benefit the country through tourism.

A total of 64% of females and 86% of males said they will be inspired by the Olympics.

Ian Aitchison from Annan said he likes the Olympics because "it brings all the countries of the world together to do their best and if they win they are heroes for years to come."

Lynn Smith from Dumfries said she thought it was great that the Olympics were being held in London. "Really excited about our country hosting such an historic event," she said.

Most other people surveyed were equally enthusiastic about the games.

"It gets me interested in activities and inspires me," said Harley Kirk, aged 11.

Ali White, also 11, agreed, saying: "The Olympics are great and they will help Britain's economy".

But 18% of people surveyed were not happy about the Olympics mainly being held in London as opposed to being spread around the country more.

Marean Dickson from Dumfries said, "Britain is more than London alone and as such the whole country should be able to get involved.

John Storey, 60, thinks, "It's a pity they are not in the middle of Britain, say Manchester, so more Northern people could go".

Scottish people who can't see the events in London have at least been able to see the Olympic torches in Scotland this month.  After the torch has finished its mammoth journey to all corners of Great Britain, it will arrive at a massive opening ceremony on 27 July in London.

Famous Scottish torchbearers included the singer Emeli Sande, the golfer Colin Montgomerie and TV presenter Jenni Falconer.  Scot Andy Murray will carry the torch near Wimbledon.

Thanks to the primary 7 pupils from St Ninian's Primary School in Dumfries and their teacher Miss Aitchison for writing this story for the Daily What News. If you would like to write a story for us please get in touch using the Contact link at the bottom of this page.

 

Click here to try our Olympics quiz and here to get some tips for writing your own news story.

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Scotland gets set for the Olympics

'I felt like we weren't doing work anymore' - Primary 7 pupils on their day in the life of a news reporter

Today's story was written by the primary 7 pupils of St Ninian's Primary School in Dumfries. Click on the What tab above to read their report. They told the Daily What News what being real news reporters was like.

Writing an article is very stressful!  It takes teamwork, effort and concentration - something which we struggled with at the end of the year!  However we conquered it in the end and we enjoyed it so much. 

First of all, we decided what we were going to write about.  Our whole school was doing a topic on the upcoming Olympic games and so we decided to base it on that.  Next we made up questionnaires to try to find out what people thought about the games.  We worked in small groups of 4 or 5 and worked out what questions to ask people.

We decided to ask people from different catagories:  gender, age, nationality, sporty or not sporty.  From the questionnaires, we got a lot of good quotes for the article.  But the problem was that each group had asked different questions and so it was hard to compare them to get an accurate percentage.

So we went back and re-surveyed the same people but this time asked closed questions (with yes or no answers).  This was simpler to understand and made the statistics easier to understand.

We analysed our results to come up with the main idea for the article.  Then we picked the best and most appropriate quotes for the article.  After all this work, we finally started to write.

We had a Glow meet with Louise from the Daily What News, who taught us about the five w's and how to include the most important points in the first line.

Then we put pencil to paper and wrote our ideas down in our groups.  All of our work was collated by Miss Aitchison, our teacher, and she amalgamated our work to make our final report.  We then used the data to make pie charts in maths.

When we finished, we felt like successful learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens and effective contributors.

Declan - "I felt like I was a part of something big."

Levi - "I was exhausted but proud."

Bethany - "It took a long time but I took my time so it would be perfect."

Lauren - "I was glad when it was over."

Kallum - "It was slow going and I'm surprised we survived it!"

Ali - "I felt great because it took a lot of time but we finally finished it."

Casey - "I felt like an adult."

Morven - "It felt like we weren't doing work any more."


Marley - "I liked asking the questions."

Morven - "I liked making the pie charts afterwards."

 

Thanks to the primary 7 pupils from St Ninian's Primary School in Dumfries and their teacher Miss Aitchison for writing this story for the Daily What News. If you would like to write a story for us please get in touch using the Contact link at the bottom of this page.

 

Click here to try our Olympics quiz and here to get some tips for writing your own news story.

Lesson ideas and suggestions

Join the Daily What News Facebook group

Watch us LIVE on Glow TV


Experiences & Outcomes

  • I have investigated the role of sport and the opportunities it may offer me. I am able to access opportunities for participation in sport and the development of my performance in my place of learning and beyond. HWB 2-26a / HWB 3-26a
  • I can explain the role of sport in cultural heritage and have explored the opportunities available for me to participate in school sport and sporting events. I make use of participation and performance pathways that allow me to continue and extend my sporting experience in my place of learning and beyond. HWB 4-26a
  • I can use my notes and other types of writing to help me understand information and ideas, explore problems, make decisions, generate and develop ideas or create new text. I recognise the need to acknowledge my sources and can do this appropriately. LIT 2-25a
  • I recognise when it is appropriate to quote from sources and when I should put points into my own words. I can acknowledge my sources appropriately. LIT 3-25a
  • By considering the type of text I am creating, I can select ideas and relevant information, organise these in an appropriate way for my purpose and use suitable vocabulary for my audience. LIT 2-26a
  • By considering the type of text I am creating, I can independently select ideas and relevant information for different purposes, and organise essential information or ideas and any supporting detail in a logical order. I can use suitable vocabulary to communicate effectively with my audience. LIT 3-26a/ LIT 4-26a
  • I am learning to use language and style in a way which engages and/or influences my reader. ENG 2-27a
  • I can engage and/or influence readers through my use of language, style and tone as appropriate to genre. ENG 3-27a / ENG 4-27a