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High school hours for many years in Australia have conformed to six hours per day between the hours of approximately nine am to three pm, five days per week. Australian lifestyles have changed. It is time to change school hours so that school both commences and finishes later in the day.

Thirty years ago shops were not open all weekend and there were not as many fast food outlets. Many high school students now have part time jobs in the evenings and at weekends. They work longer part time hours than their parents did when they were at school because retail opening hours are longer. Teenagers today regularly go to bed at a later time than their parents did at their age but they still have to get up at an early hour to go to school. This causes students to be tired, less focused and easily distracted at school.

Secondly, students in high school are growing and developing, going through puberty. This can be compared to the extreme development that babies go through in the first year of their life, when they are encouraged to feed and sleep. Why aren't teenagers encouraged to sleep in and then commence school later in the day?

Many high school students also play sport out of school hours. It is well reported in the media that exercise is very important. Some students are in representative teams, therefore they have more demands placed on their time. Training and playing are tiring. Students should be given more time to sleep in and to recover.

High school hours should be changed because our lifestyles have changed. Young people need time not only to sleep and to grow but so that they can be alert at school and learn. Isn't this why we go to school? It is obvious that the hours need to be changed.

Tom's eyes were lowered under the rim of his cap. It was the last game of the season at Shylie Park but this was the most important game of all. His team, the Slammers, had won twelve of their fourteen games this season and now, here they were, ready to play their greatest rival, City Metro. Tom looked at his team mates, Josh and Ben, trying to gauge how they were feeling but their stony faces gave no indication of their emotions. He thought of his father and how excited he would have been at their success this season.

The crowd cheered wildly as the two teams ran onto the field. The hot sun beamed encouragingly down on the boys as they began to warm up, pitching, throwing, catching and swinging at the balls. Suddenly Josh fell to the ground. He had been walking behind one of his team mates when a swinging bat hit him across his knee. He curled up in pain. The coach and manager, fearing the worst, rushed to his side.

Tom ran over with the other boys. It was obvious that Josh wouldn't be playing today. Josh was carried from the field. He was their star pitcher and suddenly their hopes for a victorious grand final were slipping away.

Tom thought of his dad. He had promised himself that he wouldn't but baseball always seemed to make him think of his father. One sunny Saturday afternoon two months ago they left the baseball park in high spirits and began the drive home. A truck came from nowhere, through a red light and rammed straight into them. Tom's dad had been killed instantly. Tom hadn't played since. He thought that if they hadn't been driving home from the baseball park his father would still be alive. The only reason that he was at the ground today was because his mother had pleaded with him to go with her.

The loud speaker rattled as it always did just before an announcement was made. "Welcome everyone to Shylie Park," the announcer's voice beamed out from the speakers around the ground. "This afternoon we have the Under 13 Grand Final between the Slammers and City Metro. I'm sure that this will be an exciting game! Let's play ball!"

Tom felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned to see his mother. He was taller than she was now and it was strange looking down into her beautiful blue eyes. "What will the Slammers do now Tom?" she asked him with concern in her voice.

Tom knew that his team only had one other pitcher as good as Josh and that was himself. He had played enough games to qualify for playing in the finals series. Suddenly he turned to see all of his team-mates anxiously gathered around him. "Your dad loved baseball Tom," Ben pleaded. "He'd want you to play, to win a Grand Final." Tom looked down at his mother smiling at him through tear filled eyes. "Your gear's in the car, Tom," she said quietly.
"Can I have the keys Mum?" he replied. "This one's for dad."

Ingredients

1. 5 sheets of filo pastry (defrosted)
2. 4 eggs
3. 1 onion
4. 3 strips of bacon chopped
5. 3 tomatoes sliced
6. 1 container of sour cream
7. 150 grams of light shredded cheese
8. a pinch of paprika
9. a pinch of fresh parsley

Method

1. Spray a flan dish with cooking spray.
2. Place the filo sheets into the flan dish. Trim to fit.
3. Chop the bacon and onion into small pieces and fry for a couple of minutes in a fry pan.
4. Remove the bacon and onion and add to the flan dish.
5. Top with the shredded cheese.
6. Break the four eggs into a bowl.
7. Add the sour cream.
8. Stir to combine.
9. Pour the mixture into the flan dish over the bacon and onion.
10. Place the sliced tomatoes on top of the mixture.
11. Sprinkle the paprika and parsley over the mixture.
12. Place in a moderate oven and bake for approximately 30 minutes or until the mixture is cooked.

In the holidays my family went to the snow. The last time I had been to the snow I was a baby, so I was really looking forward to this trip.

We got up early on the frosty morning that we were leaving and packed the car. The car never seems to be big enough for our holidays but we managed to fit everything in.

We drove to Cooma where we hired some cool pants and some snowboards.

We arrived in Jindabyne about an hour later where we checked into our accommodation. It was lunchtime so we ate some lunch before we drove on to Perisher. The other ski resorts were not operating because it was the end of the ski season.

When we arrived at Perisher my brother and I could not wait to get on our snowboards. We thought that we would get used to them and have a lesson the next day. We also had fun running up and down the white hills and throwing freezing snow at each other.

The next day we had a two-hour group lesson. It was a lot of hard work but at the end my brother was catching the chairlift up the slopes and skilfully snowboarding down. He is older than I am. I spent my time on the pommel coming down the gentle slope.

I can't wait for next year!

Earth's closest neighbours are Mercury, Venus and Mars. These planets and Earth are all composed of rock. These four planets are the closest planets to the sun.

Mercury
Mercury is the second smallest planet in our solar system, orbiting very closely to the sun. Its surface is covered in craters because falling meteorites have dented it. It does not have any atmosphere. It has extremely hot and cold temperatures.

Venus
Venus is composed mainly of rock with an atmosphere of carbon dioxide. Venus is similar in size to Earth. It rotates slowly on its axis; consequently the length of one day equals 224 Earth days.

Earth
Earth has water in a liquid state and oxygen in its atmosphere, which has resulted in the evolution of different life forms. It is the only planet that supports life. Two thirds of the Earth's surface is covered in water.

Mars
Mars is an orange reddish colour. It surface is composed of flat plains, rocks and volcanoes. Its surface temperature is usually extremely cold, therefore Mars has icecaps at its north and south poles. Its atmosphere is made up mainly of carbon dioxide.

These four planets although composed of rock, posses many different features.

Alcohol has been embedded into our culture from our earliest colonial days when British officers began trading in rum because notes and coins were in short supply. Current scientific research provides evidence of the negative effects of alcohol consumption on the development of a teenager’s brain. We often drink to celebrate events, while watching sport or to relax. A person is considered an adult at eighteen years of age but excessive alcohol consumption at a young age can have long term effects on the development of the human brain.

A teenager's brain is still developing and growing and current research indicates that this process can be severely affected by the consumption of alcohol. The hippocampus is an area inside the brain which is responsible for learning and memory acquisition. "Alcohol can damage or even destroy the cells that make up the hippocampus, which is why some people experience fuzzy memories or 'blackouts' after drinking. Because an adolescent brain is still developing, this damage can be particularly dangerous." (Queensland Health Department, The Effects of Alcohol on the Adolescent Brain) Acquiring dangerous and irreversible brain damage is not, what we as a society, should be assisting our teenagers to achieve.

It would be extremely difficult to reverse entrenched patterns of access to alcohol in Australian society. An eighteenth birthday party is often a cause for celebration and it is celebrated by some people by consuming copious amounts of alcohol. In addition, some parents often enjoy drinking with their adult children. They may have been consuming alcohol themselves for many years. Some people may argue that if a young person has the right to marry at eighteen surely they have the right to consume alcohol at that same age. In addition, some people may propose that if a young person has the right to vote in state and federal elections at eighteen then surely they have the right to consume alcohol at that age. Do these "rights" outweigh current scientific research on the effects of alcohol consumption on the development of a teenager's brain?

The pre-frontal cortex is the part of the teenage brain that is still maturing. It may become damaged when a teenager comes into contact with alcohol. As stated in research conducted by the Western Australian Government: "Heavy drinking adolescents have smaller prefrontal lobes than young people of the same age who do not drink." (Western Australian Government, Alcohol Think Again) This damage is irreversible. We need young people in our society who are articulate and who make good decisions.

In the late 1960s Australia was at war with Vietnam. Young Australian men were, unbelievably, conscripted at the age of eighteen to fight overseas. The legal voting age at that time was twenty one, hence, teenagers were considered old enough to be conscripted to fight and to die for their country but not old enough to vote for the government who made the decisions regarding government policy, such as conscription. In 1973 the voting age was lowered to eighteen and during the Vietnam War the legal age for drinking alcohol was also lowered to eighteen. Thus, the decision to lower the legal age for the consumption of alcohol was made when Australia was at war and when emotions were high. It is over fifty years since the Vietnam War ended and we are now well informed by scientific research on the effects of alcohol on the brain.

Many teenagers cannot wait to become independent, to reach those adult milestones which they believe signal their rite of passage to adulthood. Society needs to ensure that teenagers reach these milestones successfully. Teenagers should be well informed about the harmful effects of excessive alcohol consumption. Some people disagree with the idea that the legal age for purchasing and drinking alcohol should be raised from eighteen to twenty one but rigorous scientific research indicates that we must ensure that this occurs.

Bibliography

Government of Western Australia, 2014, Alcohol think again, accessed 29 July, 2018, https://alcoholthinkagain.com.au/Parents-Young-People/Alcohol-and-the-Developing-Brain/Impact-of-Alcohol-on-the-developing-brain

Queensland Government, Queensland Health, 2017, The effects of alcohol on the adolescent brain, 20 April 2017, accessed 29 July, 2018, https://www.health.qld.gov.au/news-alerts/news/the-effects-of-alcohol-on-the-adolescent-brain