There was an impressive turn out of 48 Year 9 and 10 students at the English Department's annual junior Spelling Bee. Teachers Jonathan Martin and Melissa Sudfeldt run us through the competition.

After the first written round, we narrowed the field to the top 10 students from each year level. Words such as "plethora" and "euphemism" tested their spelling skills. The second written round narrowed the field to the top five students from each year level.

In the final, the top five students from Year 10 were Vetri Senthilkumar, Rory Braddock, Mina Nguyen, Suzanne Adriaanse and Preston Phillips. "Predecessor" ejected two of the group. The final words saw Vetri victorious with "maestro", with Mina second Suzanne third.

Our Year 9 top five finalists were Liam Burns, Sebastian Payne, Riley Brewer, Flynn Kubisch and Nathan Tagura. 

Some of the words which caught them out were "contagion" and "buoyancy". The Year 9 champion was Riley, with Nathan second and Flynn third.

A wonderful turnout from our spellers.