Spelling Bee 2015

Concurso de ortografía de 2015

Concours d’orthographe 2015

 

Miss Harwood with the help of Mrs Haigh, Miss Ashworth, Mr Eckersley and Mrs Basseux (Head of MFL at Barlby High) hosted an inter-school Spanish and French spelling bee at Selby High on the evening of Tuesday 16th June in the Learning Resource Centre.

Prior to the evening, the 12 finalists from both schools (6 from each school – 3 per language) had the task of learning a list of 50 words including translation from English to the target language and spelling - including accents and spaces.

The students were (L-R on the accompanying photographs):

From Selby High School – Amber Clayton, Paulina Cybartowska, Molly Noott, Eleanor Hughes, Wiktoria Rymarz and Carys Soper.

From Barlby High School - Chloe Meays, Elleicia Longden, Omar Kabani, Elise Green, Sam Redford and Jake Brownbridge.

The students were chosen to represent their schools after two gruelling rounds of spelling competitions – the knockout round which comprised a written test of 40 spellings involving the whole of year 8 in their lessons followed by the semi-final round involving those who had scored 36 or higher in round one. For the semi-final they were expected to learn another list of 40 words and had a written test of the same 40 followed by a verbal test of 6 which were randomly selected by Miss Harwood and Mrs Haigh who hosted the semi on lunch time of Thursday 21st May.

On the evening of the final in round one, each student from both schools had the task of spelling two words in their target language randomly chosen from the list they had learnt, saying all letters and accents in Spanish/French. At the end of the round both schools had scored 9 out of a possible 12 points. The tension was certainly mounting!

In round two, students were given the word in English first and were then able to confer as to who would come up to spell the word and in which language. It was a close fought round with Barlby scoring 4 out of a possible 6 points and Selby scoring 3 out a possible 6.

With just one point in it, Barlby High School carried off the 2015 Champions’ Cup. The teachers from both schools are eager to make this an annual event – especially the MFL department at Selby High who want the trophy in pride of place for 2016!

Well done to all students involved, you did both schools and your parents proud. It was an amazing feat to have been the final 6 from an entire year group. You are all winners to us!