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EnglishMrs M WilliamsMany thanks to Jade Eastwood, Amina Safdar,Carys Wilson and Aaron Wingren ofYear 7 who formed the impressive ‘TimesSpelling Bee’ team appropriately named‘Stanwell Legends.’ They were all excellentcompetitors and, despite not winning, foughtuntil the end. They battled in a tense onlineheat and had worked really hard to prepare forthis by learning difficult words and by participatingin the activities that were available onthe website. This was great fun and reallyhelped them to improve their spelling and learnmore ambitious and interesting vocabulary.Thank you to all of those that entered in thefirst heat, it was very popular this year and itwas encouraging to see so many pupils whowanted to improve their Literacy skills andrepresent their school at the same time. If anypupils want to get a feel for the Spelling BeeChampionship and practise their spelling withthe interactive games available, then log on to:www.timesspellingbee.co.uk and use the ‘Playand Train’ games. This would be fun for parentsand pupils! We look forward to anotherfierce competition next year.Every year, the Stanwell English Award isgiven to one deserving Sixth Form pupil. Thisyear, no other pupil was more deserving thanHarry Wood. Throughout Year 12, Harry hasproven his commitment to English in numerousways. His effort in lessons has been outstanding.As well as working hard to succeedacademically, as part of his Welsh Baccalaureatequalification Harry chose to complete hiscommunity service by becoming a Year 7buddy in English lessons. Very quickly, Harrybecame invaluable in lessons and pupils wouldfight over who he would work with. Evenwhen he completed his required hours, Harrycontinued to help in the lessons. He should bevery proud of what he has achieved this yearand he will make an excellent teacher one day.As part of the Literacy Programme in Stanwell,pupils take part in a reading challenge inwhich they are awarded different certificatesfor completing a certain number of books. Twopupils have absolutely smashed the record forthe gold award in one year. Esther Bucktonand Maxine Pwele both achieved their ‘Gold’certificates by Christmas and have continued toread avidly throughout the year. Esther managedto read a whopping 56 books and Maxinea fantastic 38! Well done girls; an incredibleachievement.Coming up to Stanwell from primary schoolcan be a daunting experience for some pupils.This term, 8 Year 7 pupils have tried to makethe transition easier by giving a presentation toYear 6 pupils and their parents. In English lessons,they wrote their experiences down andprepared scripts on topics they had been concernedabout before starting Stanwell, like bullying,making friends and scary teachers! Theyworked hard to make their presentation informative,but most importantly reassuring, anddid a fantastic job speaking in front of thepacked auditorium. Thanks to them, we haveno doubt the Year 6 pupils will be thoroughlyprepared and excited for September.Year 10 pupils visited Cardiff Castle to watchan open-air performance of Shakespeare’s‘Macbeth.’ The rain held off for the first halfbut both pupils and staff still enjoyed the performancedespite adverseconditions! Allpupils in Year 7 toYear 10 were invitedto take part in a CreativeWriting Competition,‘Around theWorld in 80 words’.We had a total of 180 entries and the judgingpanel found it a challenging but very enjoyableexperience selecting the winners. Winning entriesare printed at the front of the newsletter.‘encouraging to see so many pupils who wanted to improve their Literacy skills’