Students had the honour of being flag bearers at the Commonwealth Day of Observance ceremony at Westminster Abbey on Monday.

Six pupils from Years Nine and 10 at Eastlea Community School in Canning Town carried flags of Commonwealth countries in a procession in front of 2,000 people.

Jade Mark-Ogunyadi, a student at Eastlea, said: “I got to carry the Nigerian flag and it made the day very special to me because my mum was in the audience and she was so proud of me.”

The students had spent the day previously preparing for the Enterprise Challenge next Thursday, run by the Prince of Wales’ mentoring initiative Mosaic, to recognise economic innovation throughout the diverse nations of the Commonwealth.

Alexandra Dingreville, a teacher at Eastlea, said: “It was an amazing learning experience on many different levels.”

After the ceremony at the Abbey, the students joined guests to listen to an entreprenurial speech from Sir Richard Branson.