Houses Buzzing from Spelling Bee!

Leighton Park’s House Spelling Bee has been running for three years and according to event organiser and Head of English, Matt Taylor, it’s the one best yet! “The competitors got through the early rounds almost unscathed which is exceptional. And there was some very impressive work from the Juniors. The Fryers, in particular, were able to spell out words that would have challenged many of our Sixth Formers!”

William representing Year 9 for Bentsi-Enchill was delighted to participate: “It’s one of the most exciting events for me in the year, even though I haven’t made it past the second point yet in the two years that I’ve done it! It’s incredible to see the skill and talent that people show in such a niche subject, in English.”

Each House puts forward a team with a student from Years 7-10 plus a Lower Sixth Former and a member of staff. The students face spellings of increasing difficulty by year group whereas the staff face a lucky dip of spelling roulette! This year our Librarian Grace Ritchie, and Leni Samuels, Head of Maths, were appointed the task of judging and did an excellent job checking the contestants’ progress.

2025 is the first year that all the candidates have made it through the first round of the competition and there were some impressive individual performances, notably from Becca (Lower Sixth) who appeared for Bentsi-Enchill in most of the later rounds, and the double act of Annabel and Hugh, keeping Cadbury in rounds 14 and 15 after the rest of the players had been excluded.

The origin of spelling bees has been obscured in history but it is recorded that the first and last national spelling bee in the United States in 1908 was attended by the President. North America is still a leading advocate for oral spelling competitions and many other countries worldwide have adopted the concept, particularly in those whose native language is English.

The winners for this year’s House Spelling Bee were:

Cadbury (70 points)
Tubman (55 points)
Fox (51 points)
Bentsi-Enchill (36 points)

Congratulations to everyone who took part!

See more pictures of the spelling in action!