It was bienvenue, bienvenido, and willkomen, when students from our school joined others from across the West Norfolk Academies Trust to test their skills at the Trust’s Languages Spelling Bee Final on Friday 30 June.

The Year 7 modern language students had previously won their way through the earlier stages of the competition, which had been held in class at the individual high schools.

It was the first time the event had taken place, with 18 students from Smithdon, Springwood, St Clement’s, and Marshland making it to the final, which was hosted by Marshland and supported by the school’s Year 7 cohort.

“The Department at Springwood High School have been running a spelling bee competition for a number of years, and the Languages Team decided this year to extend this to the rest of the Trust schools, and then to celebrate the successes of the students by have a cross-Trust final,” explained Leah Hawkins, Cross-Trust Lead for Modern Foreign Languages.

Languages tested in the contest included French, Spanish, and German, with vocabulary covering topics such as family members, numbers, colours, days, months, adjectives, and greetings.

“Students were given lists of 100 pieces of key vocabulary per language which they practised,” continued Mrs Hawkins. “They then had one minute to translate the English word they were given into the target language, and then spell it out using the target language alphabet, including any relevant accents.

“For the final, all 18 students had their one minute to spell as much as they could; the second round was the eight with the top scores; and the final four then spelled for a third minute to determine the winner of the competition.”

Coming out on top was Year 7 student Jasper Hawkins from Springwood, who correctly spelt 16 French words in one minute to take first place, beating classmate Anieshka Daniel, who came second with 12 German words in one minute.

Third place went to Patrick Roman, also in Year 7 at Springwood, who spelt 11 Spanish words correctly in one minute.

Each of the three won an Amazon voucher, while everyone participating received a certificate and commemorative blazer pin badge.

“The Spelling Bee has given us an opportunity to celebrate the students’ recollection and knowledge of key vocabulary, as well as increasing awareness of the phonetics of the foreign language being studied,” added Mrs Hawkins.

“In addition, it helps build student confidence in public speaking, and the overall profile of language learning in school.”

Two more of our students are heading for a career in medicine after securing places to study from this autumn.

A group of Year 8 pupils from all four high schools in our Trust joined forces when they were challenged to design the medal which would be cast in aluminium at a specialist company.

The secondary school students worked with SKF Cooper, a company in South Lynn with a long history of engineering and invention.

The students from Springwood, Smithdon, Marshland and St Clement’s High Schools used Computer Aided Design techniques to make a pattern using a 3D printer.

The teams then met at Smithdon, in Hunstanton, to cast the designs in aluminium, working with Nigel Willingham, Headteacher and Design and Technology teacher at St Clement’s High School.

“It was great to see students from across the Trust working together to create these products. Casting is not seen in many schools so we were delighted to be able to offer our students the opportunity to see this engineering process in action,” he said.

Prior to launching the project, teachers from the Trust visited the SKF Cooper site to see the casting process being used in an industrial setting. They also completed additional safety training to ensure they were qualified to teach the process to students.

“I’m grateful to Gary Hellard from SKF Cooper who has supported us throughout the project and came to work with the students and judge the outcomes on casting day,” said Mr Willingham.

All the students were rewarded with SKF water bottles and the four winners also received caps and chocolate bearings.

“The students have all been brilliant throughout the day and worked really hard. We hope to see some of them applying for our apprenticeships in a few years. Engineering skills are still very much in demand and it’s been great to see the design and technology teachers come together to deliver this project,” said Mr Hellard.

Cooper was established by Thomas Cooper, an inventor and brilliant engineer in 1894 in King’s Lynn. His first major invention was a revolutionary steam digger for use in arable farming. 

After his death and throughout the second half of the 20th Century, it has focused on the ground-breaking split bearing he designed in 1907.

Aspiring entrepreneurs at Springwood High School were put through their paces in a series of Dragons’ Den-style workshops which featured a ‘green’ twist.

A future on the big screen is in the sights of a student who has been awarded a place at London’s prestigious Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.