Hibah Munir, Hannah Shahzad and Iqra Mehmood all from Year 7 took part in the Northern Schools STEM spelling bee. Literacy is a key factor in an individual’s success in science exams and during a pupil’s journey learning science, they encounter a huge number and variety of new words. These words may not be commonly used outside of the science classrooms, therefore, pupils may get fewer opportunities to practise the accurate spelling of such scientific words.
This spelling competition aims to raise the profile of scientific vocabulary through competitive spelling and is based upon the format used in foreign language spelling bees. The first round took place in school on the 21st December with 36 pupils taking part to compete for a place in round two. In each round pupils were given lists of words to learn, exposing them to new vocabulary beyond that they would meet in the usual school curriculum.
The North West regional competition took place at Salford University on 26th February and was an extremely fiercely contested event with thirty schools taking part. The pupils had to take it in turn to spell as many of the 80 words from the list as possible, in one minute. They managed a total of 46 words between them and finished second which was a fantastic achievement. They each received a science dictionary, a water bottle, some sweets and a mystery book. The school also received two boxes of science dictionaries, which have been placed in the school library for all of our pupils to benefit from.
Well done girls, we wait now with anticipation to hear if the group progress to the Northern final which takes place in the Trinity term.