To mark the Queen's Platinum (70th) Jubilee this month, PGS pupils were invited to take part in a competition, either writing an analytical piece about the most significant event/change that has taken place in Britain since 1952 or creating a piece of art, drama, music or creative writing relating to the Queen. We were impressed by the excellent work submitted by so many PGS pupils. Here are the winning entries:
Year 10 (Analytical): Theo Leonard
I think that the most significant event in Britain during the last 70 years was the invention and introduction of the contraceptive pill. This is because it has allowed women to live life far more freely and changed the way women act in relationships and further life forever.
One reason I think that the invention and introduction of the contraception pill was the most significant event in Britain during the last 70 years is because of its great effect on the demographic state of Britain. The birth rate at the moment is at an all time low, in 2020 in the UK it was 10.2 per 1,000. This is still higher than our death rate and our population is still increasing, which means we are in the fourth stage of the DTM. In the past 70 years the DTM of the UK has changed dramatically due to the birth rate dropping. This change is mainly caused by the improvement and availability of contraception. This is shown by between 1964 and 1977 the number of births/1000 women of childbearing age declined from 93.0 to 58.7. The contraception pill was introduced into the UK in the 1960s and for the past 70 years has been the most used type of contraception. From 2017 to 2018, 3.44 million women took the pill from GPs or pharmacies in the UK. Overall, the pill has given the women of the UK to not get pregnant and thus it has helped dramatically decrease the birth rate and pull the UK into a new stage of the DTM.
Another reason why I think that the invention and introduction of the contraception pill was the most significant event in Britain during the last 70 years is because of how it has changed the way women live their lives forever. As I said before, from 2017 to 2018 in the UK, 3.44 million women took the pill from GPs or pharmacies. Before the pill, girls of the age 16 could get pregnant as there were not as many types of contraception and not as available, they would then be forced to marry them and look after a child. This takes away all their freedom and their chance to live their life freely without a child and not being stuck with the first person they got with. This was the case for many women as they ended up with children and having to sacrifice their job and life. This all changed after the pill was introduced and made widely accessible.
It allowed women to live life more fully and changed the way women acted and lived forever. It meant if a woman was with someone they didn't have to worry about getting pregnant and having to marry them, they could choose when they wanted to have children and with whom. This is again shown by how at the moment the number of pregnancies of women under 20 is at an all time low. Moreover, the introduction of the pill has given women the chance to live life more fully like not having to worry about having to give up their job and changed the way they act in the wider world like in relationships.
In conclusion, I think that the invention and introduction of the contraception pill was the most significant event in Britain during the last 70 years as it has changed the whole structure of the UK population and dramatically reduced the birth rate of the UK. Furthermore, it has also given the women of the UK, a substantial amount of freedom and choice in their lives and for the lives of the women to come.
Year 10 (Creative): Tom Clarke
Year 10 (Creative): Sabiha Sabikunnaher
Year 8 (Analytical): Attish Das
England’s Queen Elizabeth II was born in Mayfair, London as the first child of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. She was the heir to the precious English throne after her beloved father took it after his brother passed. She was home-schooled as a child and later initiated public duties around the time of the menacing Second World War (1939-1945). Two years later after the Second World war, in 1947, she married Philip Mountbatten. Their marriage lasted 73 years until Philips death on April 9th, 2021.
Queen Elizabeth is the current queen of the United Kingdom and 15 other commonwealth countries including Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, The Bahamas, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, New Zealand, Papua new Guinea, Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, the Solomon Islands and Tuvalu.
One of the most considerable changes to the United Kingdom during her rein was the transformation from the enormous British Empire to The Commonwealth. Great Britain became utterly bankrupted at the time of the end of WWII. The nation’s debts were soaring, and it was necessary to get gargantuan loans from the USA to get back on its feet. By the closing of WWII, most British people thought that renovating their own country was more important than holding onto faraway lands. Simultaneously, Britain’s economy was also altering. Trading with Europe and Africa became far more crucial than trade within the empire.
Nevertheless, Britain did not lose all links with its former colonies. The British Empire gradually evolved into the Commonwealth, with the help of Queen Elizabeth being the head of it. All of the former colonies of the British Empire were encouraged to become members of the Commonwealth. The great majority did, although Ireland did not, and South Africa left the Commonwealth for many years. The Commonwealth was a voluntary organisation mainly aimed at promoting friendship and harmony between the nations of the former empire. However, there were other benefits such as sporting and cultural links, and special agreements in terms of trade and security as well.
The Commonwealth evolved out of the British empire, and Elizabeth became its head in 1953 when she became queen, three years after the London Declaration formally created the voluntary association in its current form. Now it is one of world’s biggest international organisations, made up of 54 countries, almost all of which were former colonies of the United Kingdom, covering some 2.5 billion people or about one third of the world’s population. The Queen displays her admiration for being the longest reigning queen and the mighty commonwealth is and will stay a strong association throughout the world.
I think the most significant change during the Queen's reign was the equality and rights for women.
Today, women have just three-quarters of the legal rights of men. In 1970, it was less than half. The Women, Business and the Law 2020 Report presented results from recent efforts to document how laws have changed since 1970. This exceptional dataset has already facilitated ground breaking research that shows a country's performance on the women, business and law index is associated with more women in the labour force, a smaller wage gap between men and women and greater investments in health and education.
Analysis of 1,518 reforms across 50 years and 190 economies yields some interesting insights. First of all, significant progress has been made around the world. Second, the place of reform has varied, across regions. The high income OECD and sub-Saharan Africa regions have noted the biggest progress both in terms and in volume of reforms and improvement in their average WBL index scores. The third interesting finding is that progress has been uneven across eight different areas of the law, measured by women, business and law. Most reforms were recorded in the areas of workplace protections and laws dealing with working parents. Despite the progress that has been made, more work remains.
This event is significant as the change of women's equality now has a very strong impact on society.
Year 7 (Creative): Amir Owino
https://soundcloud.com/pgs1732/ashes-of-old-by-amir-owino
Year 7 (Creative): Nathaniel Gingell
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