Festival of Languages 2016

On Friday 4 March Putney High School said willkommen, bienvenue, and bienvenidas to 220 girls from 12 schools and academies gathering for the GDST Festival of Languages. Girls had the chance to participate in a wide range of events and competitions to celebrate French, German and Spanish language and culture.

Year 7 pupils took part in a spelling bee. They had one minute each to spell correctly as many words as possible, from a list of 100 words, translating the words from English with the correct article. There were competitions in French, German and Spanish, and girls competed in teams of three.

Meanwhile, Year 9 girls acted out sketches or dialogues of between two and three minutes’ duration in teams of two to five. The competition was primarily judged on performance, pronunciation, intonation and props.

In the afternoon, teams of three Year 8s enjoyed a Culture Quiz, with rounds in geography, food and drink, TV and film, famous people and language. Year 10s took part in a poetry recital, performing a poem or part of a poem of between 15 and 20 lines in total. This could be their own work, or that by a famous poet writing in French, German or Spanish. This competition was judged on performance, pronunciation, intonation and memory skills.

The Festival was a joint effort between staff from Sutton High School, who organised it, and Putney High School, who hosted. We are very grateful to all involved, especially Sandie Fillingham, Head of Modern Languages at Sutton High and Jennifer Morgan, Head of Modern Languages at Putney High.

Winners

Year 7 Spelling Bee

French

  • Winner – Norwich High School
  • 2nd – Bromley High School
  • 3rd – Sutton High School

German

  • Winner – Sutton High School
  • 2nd – Putney High School
  • 3rd – Bromley High School

Spanish

  • Winner – Putney High School
  • 2nd – Bromley High School
  • 3rd – Royal High School Bath

 

Year 8 Culture Quiz
  • Winner – Sutton High School team 2 (Maya Weekley, Annie Sewell, Gemma Willmott)
  • 2nd – Royal High School Bath team 3 (Darcy Gresham, Annie Reynolds, Katie Riccio)
  • 3rd – Bromley High School

 

Year 9 Sketches

French

  • Winner – Sutton High School
  • Highly commended – Northampton High School

German

  • Winner – Brighton & Hove High School
  • Highly commended – Sutton High School

Spanish

  • Winner – Sydenham High School

 

Year 10 Poetry Recital

French

  • Winner Northampton High School, Madeline de Marchis
  • Highly commended Brighton & Hove High School, Molly Taite Jupp

German

  • Winner Brighton & Hove High School, Talia Maysey
  • Highly commended Newcastle High School for Girls, Georgina Lee

Spanish

  • Winner Northampton High School, Gigi Howard
  • Highly commended Newcastle High School for Girls, Ayesha Jamshaid