During the summer term of the last academic year, some of our Key Stage 3 students crafted entries for The Queen's Commonwealth Essay Competition (QCEC) which is the world's oldest international schools' writing contest, established in 1883.

Each year, entrants to the competition write on a theme that explores the Commonwealth's values, fostering an empathetic world view in the next generation of leaders and encouraging young people to consider new perspectives to the challenges that the world faces.

This year, the competition theme was 'Our Commonwealth', reflecting on the Patron (at that time) Queen Elizabeth II's seven decades of service to the Commonwealth as an inspiring example of the steadfast commitment and important contribution we can all make to our societies.

There were a record-breaking 26,322 entries to the competition from every Commonwealth region. There are two sections for the competition: senior (up to 18 years of age) and junior (up to 14). For each section, judges select one winner and one runner up, with the next prize tier being a Gold Certificate.

We are very proud to announce that Ellen (now in Year 9 but in Year 8 when she wrote her entry) was awarded one of these Gold Certificates, therefore placing very highly in what you can see was a serious competition. Her entry was thoughtful, ambitious, and entertaining and we are thrilled to see her efforts recognised in this way.

Ellen Said:

I heard about the Queen's Commonwealth Essay Competition in my English class last year. I have always really enjoyed creative writing so thought I might give it a go. I wanted to write something light-hearted and (I hope) relatively entertaining that Plymouth High students would recognise.