The Big Spelling Bee

In an age of spellchecking and word processing programs, the importance of spelling seems to have taken a back seat to technology; but, here at King’s-Edgehill School, proficiency in spelling is lauded, and our students have fun with it. On Tuesday, November 21, during Junior School assembly, 17 students from Grades 6-9 lined up to test their spelling mettle. Indeed, it is a much greater challenge to spell on your feet than on paper, and with words that become increasingly more difficult with each successive round of competition.

The numbers dropped from 17 to 10, to the final five: Duncan Grant ‘28, Zhi Ying “Rose” Leong ‘27, Genevieve “G” Siu-Porter ‘27, Chelsea James ‘29, and Maggie Wellard ‘28. After several rounds of tricky and challenging words like accable, aerosol, and lymphoma, only two students remained: Chelsea from Grade 7 and Duncan from Grade 8. Duncan emerged victorious by correctly spelling his final word: grebe. Both Duncan and our first runner-up Chelsea will go on to represent KES at the Scripps Provincial Spelling Bee in March 2024 at Cape Breton University.

We are proud of each of our contestants and applaud their interest in and commitment to becoming better spellers. Special thanks are extended to Mr. Rory Campbell for organizing the event, our judges Ms. Stephanie Cummings and Mr. Pat LePoidevin, and our moderator Mr. Eric Kershaw. We will continue to host our KES Junior School Spelling Bee as we know what a wonderful way it is to develop confidence and improve vocabulary and spelling. Congratulations to Duncan and to all the students who took part in the spelling challenge.