Members of the Writing Emporium (creative writing club) at Holy Family School, Keighley, entered the Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition.
Congratulations are due to Year 9 pupils Zoya Hussain, Matthew Lorge, Allarna Ali and Tyra-Lei Wilson, as well as Leigh Smith in Year 8, Klaudia Cioch in Year 11 and Ruqayyah Iqbal in hfs6 (Holy Family Sixth Form). They all received awards, certificates for gold, silver and recognition.
English teacher Nazia Koser said: “With thousands of young people having taken part across the Commonwealth, it is a remarkable achievement for our students to have had their work selected and to gain so many awards for a single school.”
The challenge of the competition was to produce a piece of writing about someone who inspired the writer.
Allarna Ali is inspired by her English teacher Miss Meenagh. Allarna aspires to be an English teacher and wants people to quote her when she is a famous writer.
Zoya wrote about J.K Rowling, whom she adores, together with the Harry Potter series of books.
Klaudia opted for a theme of ‘One community, one unlimited family’ with an exposition of how to serve her community in a positive way.
Kadie wrote about her favourite singer Ariana Grande, and how she is so strong especially after the Manchester attacks.
Matthew wrote about the aftermath of COVID and local boy Sir Captain Tom Moore’s inspiration to the nation.
Ruqayyah wrote about the impact of covid on the community.
Rebecca Meenah, English teacher and co-leader of the Writing Emporium, spoke of the writers’ ‘confidence’ and how they ‘inspire each other.’
“The club has been running for just under a year now. Our writers have grown in numbers and confidence,” she said.
“Granted-there are buns and relaxing music, as well as the writing, but they inspire each other and help to develop ideas. We have had a lot of amusing and moving pieces composed by these young people. They inspire us as much as they inspire each other.”