Successful (continued)
Submissions were then reviewed by the department, and credit was given for: • Written clarity, fluency and accuracy. • Creativity and adventurous vocabulary.
• Use of a range of sentence and paragraph structures for effect.
• Use of language to match purpose and audience.
Amy Wheeler 8.1 won the Junior Competition with a compelling and convincing argument to ban plastics; her entry is published below. Jessie Leech 11.4 won the Senior Competition. Both winners will receive an engraved fountain pen and certificate to mark their success and hopefully put to use in writing further wonderful creative articles and stories in the future!
ENGLISH ESSAY WRITING COMPETITION: KS3 WINNER
Our Plastic Planet: Ban Plastics Now Before It’s Too Late
Have you ever stopped to think how much plastic we as an ‘apparently’ civilised planet annually make? Nearly 300 million tons. A small car weighs around 1 ton, so the amount of plastic we make is equivalent to 300 million small cars. Atrocious. Abhorrent. An abomination to the civilised society we attribute ourselves as. What makes this so undeniably awful? It’s where the plastic ends up: in the oceans. Even if we put plastic in landfills, 80% of that leaks into the oceans, where innocent creature after innocent creature eats it and dies, eats it and dies, eats it and dies; dies because of our infatuation with plastic.
Imagine yourself as a seabird. You’re soaring above the ocean, with the wind in your wings, hunting for food that you can feed your new-born chicks with. Your soul mate is caring for them at home, keeping them warm. You see a dozen or so krill below you. You descend down, excited, and you rocket back home. Your chicks are dead. Why? Did you fail as a father? No, plastic killed your sweet, innocent chicks. Tens of thousands of marine creatures die every year from mistaking plastic for their prey. This needs to end. And soon.
Some people argue for an average human, plastic is compulsory. However, many countries already have bans on plastic, and are managing well. If these people can do it, then why can’t everyone? Since the 5p charge in Britain for plastic bags has been introduced, the UK has seen an 83% reduction on plastic bag consumption. This proves if we can’t get rid of plastic completely, we can at least make changes for the better.
Global warming. I know, you’re probably thinking ‘everyone always moans about global warming. I’ve heard it all before!’ Well, if that’s the case, then why
www.matravers.wilts.sch.uk
hasn’t anyone acted on it then? In order to make plastic, we use 12 million barrels of oil annually, just for plastic bags in the US. Eventually, this will run out and we will start digging up Antarctica. The ice there is already melting, and if we dig it up, it will melt faster. When it melts, the sea levels will rise causing the majority of the continents to flood. Act now. Ban plastic.
Surely a benevolent, beneficent and bounteous human like yourself can perceive that it is insane to continue making, selling or purchasing plastic. This is an inhumane thing to do, and with the risk that animals, humans and the environment could be permanently harmed, ask yourself: is plastic really worth all of this trauma?
We like plastics durability; the animals and the environment hate it.
Ban plastic. If you can’t see this must be done, then you are a selfish, narrow-minded coward, afraid to act because you don’t like change. Pathetic, piteous, preposterous!
You can make a difference. I need to act. You need to at. Anyone who has a strip of sense in them needs to act. You know I’m right. Ban plastic.
Amy Wheeler (8.1)
ENGLISH ESSAY WRITING COMPETITION: KS4 WINNER
Of course, I never meant to end up here. A literal cliff- hanger; it would be comedic if I were in a little less pain. Just seconds earlier I was fine. If only I’d seen the damn edge.
My fingers were curled over the rock that jutted out. I couldn’t stay here much longer but there was no obvious way out. Screaming would have been futile, regardless. This place was uninhabited for at least a five-mile radius. If only I’d told someone where I was headed, if only I weren’t so alone.
Maybe acceptance was the way to find peace in this situation. There was no escape and I had to accept that. The pain of holding on was exhausting. Letting go was inevitable nonetheless. The blood that had spilled over my knuckles told me so much.
One hand slipped; the water below stained red.
The sea air flooded my senses, bombarding me with childhood memories of euphoria and bliss; the pure joy that could only be captured through the eyes of someone so naïve to the adult horrors of the world. The harsh, destructive world that was now soon to end my life. Violent waves struck again and again the same sharp rockface I clung to with the desperation of caught prey.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56
