Spellbound at Hampton Academy...

It was a tense and exciting day on the 27th April for five Year 7 spelling bees (Tilly Nixon, Kieran Peckett, Victoria Burn, Fahad Choudhury and Henry Newton Savage). All took part and represented Hampton Academy in the local heats of the Times Spelling Bee Championships. Ten other schools participated and travelled from as far as Farnborough and Guildford.

The day consisted of two gruelling challenges. The first was by process of elimination and Hampton Academy won more points than the other schools for this. The second half was a ‘quick fire´ challenge where participants had to accumulate as many points for their school as they

could. Tricky words included ‘antediluvian´, ‘miscible´ and ‘quixotic´, which even I struggled with! Overall, our spelling bees achieved an impressive third place — not bad considering this is the first year Hampton Academy have taken part. Each student received a ‘goodie bag´ and certificate for their contribution to a great day.

Special thanks to Kieran for his moral support and team management on the day.

I look forward to organising a staff spelling bee competition in the summer whereby students swap places with teachers and staff and challenge their spelling prowess.

Well done year 7 — we´re very proud of you for taking part.

Miss Stanbridge, English teacher