St Thomas More Catholic School, in Wood Green, launched their very own Spelling Bee Championship this month. Over 200 enthusiastic Year 7 spellers took part in a gruelling qualifying round which resulted in 16 pupils buzzing their way to the final. In true X-Factor style, the school’s three judges Mr Rowland, Head of School, Ms White, Head of English and Ms Clifford, Second in English, took to the stage as the audience cheered (and booed) appropriately. The stage was set and the teams, Speedy Spellers; The FlyBees; The I Before Es; and Cast A Spell On You, were all sitting anxiously for their moment in the spelling spotlight. Contestants cautiously took to the microphone and were challenged with a variety of complex words such as ‘conscientious’, ‘necessary’ and the dreaded ‘onomatopoeia’.
After two testing rounds, it was neck and neck at the top of the leader board between The Speedy Spellers and The Flybees. The final round, Speed Spelling, required each contestant to spell as many words as they could in just 30 seconds. Contestants from all teams upped their spelling game but it was the team captain of the I Before Es, Emika Jogo Paul, who stormed the stage and brought her team to the top of the leader board as she spelt an incredible eight words correctly! The audience roared to applause as Emika and the I Before Es took the stage one last time to collect their trophy and be declared St Thomas More Spelling Bee Champions 2016.
Head of School and one of the spelling bee judges Mark Rowland said, ‘It was marvellous to see the students competing with each other in a fun yet academic contest. Spelling is a fundamental part of literacy and it was a fantastic opportunity for our pupils to demonstrate their literary skills in front of their peers.’
