Commonwealth Class Story Writing Competition

In her book, Your Child’s Writing Life: How to Inspire Confidence, Creativity and Skill at Every Age, author, educator and literacy expert Pam Allyn maintains that children must start writing early because writing helps to cultivate emotional growth, develop critical thinking skills and improve school performance. Writing features prominently in the Cambridge and International Primary Curricular and the International School of Ahafo continues to make strides at developing a culture of writing beyond the classroom. Since 2015, students have participated in the annual Commonwealth Class Story Writing Competition, an initiative of the Commonwealth Secretariat and British Council, and Eyako Eli Dzantor, a former student, was named one of the winners in the 2016 competition.

The Commonwealth Class Story Writing Competition is open to residents of a Commonwealth country aged between 7 to 14 years and the theme for 2017 was “Peace” in line with the Commonwealth theme of the year. The competition is a great way for students to flex their creative muscles and add their voice to the Commonwealth’s rich storytelling heritage.

Entries were submitted in the form of a 300 or 500 words short story or an illustration set in their own country. Prizes ranged from GBP 30.00 to GBP 100.00 book voucher and certificates. Eight of our students submitted entries and were awarded Certificates of Participation for excellent entries in both categories. Although we did not win, we are encouraged to keep writing and will definitely try again next year. Wish us luck!