The Spelling Bee was a jointly organised event by Mrs Caulfield, Library resource Manager, and Miss Thompson, English teacher. The aim of the event was to promote the necessity of good spellings; that learning your spellings is not a chore, but something that can be enjoyable. It was very enjoyable and both contestants and audience were fantastic.
The preliminaries to the Spelling Bee were held during tutor time. The Year 7 students had two weeks to learn 25 spellings at home. They then had to spell these words, plus five mystery words, during a tutor period. The girl and boy who gained the most spellings went on to represent their tutor group in the Spelling Bee competition.
The Spelling Bee was held in the Auditorium. The whole of Year 7 were there, both participating in the event and supporting their team. Contestants could use Joker cards and ‘Ask the Audience’ at various points in the challenge. There was also an opportunity for different members of each tutor group to gain extra points with an obstacle course/anagram challenge. The atmosphere was electric due to the great enthusiasm and teamwork of the Year 7 students.Â
The worthy winners were Katie Dutton and Declan Winslade who represented 7EC. Well done to them both for winning a beautiful trophy and some other goodies. The Spelling Bee raised over £500! Half of this money will go to the charity Mencap, which helps children and families with disabilities. The rest of the money will be used to plan events and workshops for Year 7.
Many thanks go to Mr Mountain for his fabulous scoring system which added a real sense of excitement to the day.