At 11, my poem, Incredible Me, won the 2015 PiXL poetry competition for the London and Surrey area.

It was my 11th birthday party at school when I was told that I won a poetry competition. I didn’t even realise my teacher submitted it to PiXL!

Just a year after winning the award for London and Surrey, I was in secondary school, in Lincolnshire. Compared to London, it might as well have been a different country!

During this time, the inner confidence mentioned in the poem was replaced with self-doubt, a fear of failure, and deep loneliness.

Secondary school can be a vicious battle. I have seen gentle-hearted boys lose their kindness in favour of becoming men, and confident girls forget there was even a spark to begin with.

Yes, we all need to become adults eventually. And true, naivety can breed vulnerability.

But I still don’t understand why in the process of “growing up”, we have to lose so much of our inner child, as if it’s no longer relevant to hold onto.

In pursuit of understanding the world, children are often told to cast aside their thinking, and often with it, their heart.

So, from my 10-year-old self to yours, don’t forget about that kid!