Heacham pupil creates a buzz in spelling contest

A pupil from Heacham Junior School showed off his English skills when he came top in a spelling competition, beating entrants from five other schools.

The West Norfolk Academies Trust Primaries Spelling Bee included children in Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 at the Trust’s six Key Stage 2 primary schools, who competed across three rounds – the first held in class, the second in school, and the final across the Trust.

Daniel Tansley, who is in Year 5 at Heacham Junior School, won first place, after the nail-biting final round exhausted the list of learnt words and went to extra ‘unseen’ words, where Daniel successfully spelled ‘adolescent’ to take the title.

Other schools taking part in the inaugural event, which was introduced following the success of a version for WNAT’s four high schools, included Snettisham Primary, Clenchwarton Primary, Walpole Cross Keys Primary, West Lynn Primary and Gaywood Primary.

“The Spelling Bee is going into its fourth year in secondary schools in the Trust, but this was the first ever primary one,” said Heacham’s Deputy Headteacher, Emma Hunt.

“All children from Key Stage 2 took part in the Spelling Bee, which had three rounds – Round One was a class round, Round Two a school round, and Round Three was the Trust Round. The top three children from each round went through to the next.”

Amanda Wright, English Lead at Smithdon High School, another WNAT member, read out the words at the Spelling Bee, which was held at Heacham Junior School, in front of an audience of Year 4 Heacham pupils and parents from all six schools.

WNAT Trustee Kevin Baldwin was on hand to give out the prizes, awarding Daniel an Amazon Kindle Fire, while all the finalists – three from each participating school – received a bar of chocolate and a certificate.

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