On Tuesday 5th July, six girls from Year 7 represented Howell’s at the National Final of the "Routes into Languages" Spelling Bee held at Aberystwyth University. The girls were amongst the 76 students to have got through to the final, out of a total number of 3,500 contestants. Saffron B. and Ellora M. competed in the first round for Spanish with both girls getting through to the stage round. There were 47 contestants in French and hence there were 2 elimination rounds before the stage round. Abhavya A. and Aparna C. did extremely well to get through to the 1st round against very fierce competition. Abhavya was successful in the 2nd round, with Aparna narrowly missing a place on the stage. Finally, in the Welsh section Eleanor J. was eliminated in the 1st round, despite a commendable effort, and Siya G. won a place in the stage round.
The final Howell’s results were:
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French
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2nd
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Abhavya A.
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Welsh
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2nd
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Siya G.
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Spanish
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2nd
3rd
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Saffron B.
Ellora M.
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In addition to the competition there were a number of high profile speakers who commended the contestants on their performance and who spoke about their own careers and how the knowledge of a language had been a huge asset to them. The event not only helped the entrants to develop their knowledge of their own chosen language but it also helped to raise the profile of language learning in general. The girls were a credit to the school and they deserve to be very proud of their performance.
