Bethany Grech, 13, is dedicated.

The bright young girl cannot stand the idea of missing school, seeing her attendance drop and falling behind her classmates.

That’s why when she was given two weeks off school to heal from her tonsillitis operation, she reluctantly agreed to stay at home for one week.

She has suffered badly with her tonsils, often going to school while ill to make sure she could keep up.

So when she took time off, she had one condition: that her school, Wimbledon’s Ricards Lodge High School, would send over her homework every day.

Since then, she has fully dedicated herself to getting back on track, giving up all of her play time to focus of her work.

She was nominated in the Young Person's Achievement category by her family. 

Bethany, who lives in Mitcham, said: "I was really happy my mum nominated me. "It’s really nice, because I never got recognised for my work."

Her dedication has already been acknowledged with a Jack Petchey Foundation award.

She was nominated by the Wimbledon Woodcraft Folk Club.

The award rewards young people’s achievements with the ultimate aim of increasing their aspirations.

She received a medal from her win and some grant money which she could either use to buy equipment for the club or go to another organisation she likes.

She chose to give it to adventure group Go Ape! based in Surrey.

She said: "I gave it to Go Ape! because as a group we are really adventurous and it’s something we do often, we go camping and it’s really fun, and it’s also something we can do as a community."

There is still time to nominate someone special for a Merton Civic Award.

Nominate them here www.wimbledonguardian.co.uk/mertoncivicawards/ or fill out a form in the newspaper.