Congratulations to Tubman House for their hard fought victory at the Leighton Park inaugural House Spelling Bee which took place on Thursday 22nd June in Main Hall.
The origin of spelling bees is somewhat opaque with the first and last national spelling bee in the United States in 1908 being attended by the President. North America still leads the world in their enthusiasm for spelling competitions but many other countries, primarily those whose native language is English, have taken on the intellectual challenge.
At Leighton Park each House put forward a team with a student from Years 7-10 plus a Lower Sixth Former and a member of staff. The students faced spellings of increasing difficulty by year group whereas the staff were confronted by a lucky dip of spelling roulette where some of the words were easy and others incredibly difficult!
Tubman delivered an impressive win, hanging on to the final round, with Tubman’s spelling superweapon, Max (Year 7) being awarded man of the match! House Clerk, Ellie Smales, commented, “Tubman are delighted to have won the first ever house spelling. It took a lot of confidence to do this, so a huge thank you to Max, Kimberly, Daisy, Clem, Natalia and Greta for stepping up to the challenge. I am very proud of the family community we are building in Tubman! I have loved my first year as House Clerk with this group of students!”
Organiser and Head of English, Matt Taylor, reflected: “As the first instalment of the House Spelling Bee, we couldn’t have asked for a better start. The competitors were fantastic, and any trepidation was swiftly rebuffed by the warm reception of the crowd and the very evident house support. There is already a buzz amongst some of the students about who might be participating next year.”
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