THE NEWSLETTER OF THE GREY COAT HOSPITAL COMMUNITY Issue 10: February 2011


The Times spelling bee comes to Grey Coat!


Mr. Walker, Head of Year 7, and Ms Bond, who is in charge of Key Stage 3 English, have had a wonderful time making sure that the whole of Year 7 is growing; instead of vitamins and vegetables, they are using words! The Year 7 girls, their tutors and their English teachers have joined forces to improve spelling, expand vocabularies and encourage independent study. Not only will GCH send a capable team to the regional competition but we have also planted a growing garden of new words which we hope will flourish long after the competition is over.


Two girls have written about their experiences so far:


Recently Mr. Walker announced in assembly that our school would be taking part in The Times Spelling Bee; we would have our own ‘mini bees (competitions) at school to work out who should be put forward to compete against other schools. Somehow I managed to get myself into one of these competitions and we were split into two teams. I was very nervous on the morning of the


the word ‘nutrient’ correctly I managed to spell the most words! Amy Jorgensen 7T


Some of the Year 7 students who are taking part in The Times Spelling Bee


competition (which happened in a Year 7 Assembly) as I am not a very confident public speaker and although I would only be spelling words I still felt slightly worried that I might embarrass myself. We had two rounds in our teams working along each row, and after that they announced who had spelled the most words correctly. My name and the name of another year 7 student were called out. I felt the same nervous feeling I had felt that morning as I walked up to the front. Despite my ridiculous mistake of spelling ‘amphibian’ with a ‘d’ (amphidian) Somehow with the help of spelling


I was really excited to learn that Year 7 had been entered into The Times Spelling Bee. I was enthusiastic and wanted to have a go but didn’t expect that I would get past the form competition. I was very pleased to come in second in my form and then to be asked to compete against the top spellers in my year! My dad really helped me to practise, testing me on all the difficult words. One of the spellings that came up in the competition was ‘haemorrhage’. The night before at home my dad


had tested me on that word


repeatedly! I was very confident when I got the word because it was the hardest word I got and I knew how to spell it! I am overjoyed that I came first out of Teams 1 and 2 and joint top in the Year. I look forward to seeing if I will be chosen to represent Grey Coat at the regional competition. Thank you to the English Department and our Head of Year and tutors for giving us this opportunity! Danielle Vorster 7H


Look out for updates on the regional competition and more news about initiatives to improve English and establish good habits for independent study.


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