The Vocab Express League of Champions 2015 engaged more than 250 schools both in the UK and overseas. Over the course of this week long event, more than 35 million points were registered overall by just over 33,000 students. The competition – run by Vocab Express to coincide with the Annual European Day of Languages - was their most international competition to date, with UK schools joined by counterparts from across Europe, the Middle East and even as far afield as Thailand.
The championship saw some phenomenal individual and team efforts, for which well-deserved prizes will be on the way to schools very soon. Just a few of those performances are recognised below.
In the Genius Cup, based on the top 25 students at each school and so enabling all schools to compete fairly, Burntwood School pipped Northolt High School to take the title, having been a close second to them in March’s Global Challenge 2015. Gavin Hillage, MFL Subject Leader at Northolt, offered his congratulations to Burntwood for giving Northolt High School a run for its money, adding that “our students loved the battle and vow to come back stronger next time to regain our title.” Burntwood also finished top of the Challenge Cup Grande, for schools with more than 500 registered students, and were one of four schools to beak the million point barrier – congratulations also to Nonsuch High School for Girls, Altrincham Grammar School for Boys and The Blue School in Wells.
Debbie Peel, Head of Languages at Burntwood, told Vocab Express that “the element of competition drives even reluctant learners to participate. On Friday we were seventh but our students like to win! By Monday morning we were back to first place. The championships create a real buzz around the school about vocab learning and learning languages in general. We love the championships!”
Bibek D of Northolt High School was the overall winner in the Student Leaderboard for the second championships in a row, having triumphed in the Global Challenge earlier this year. He told us “I am really proud of this great achievement becoming two-times champion. It just goes to show that hard work and perseverance pay off!” Hot on his heels were a trio of students from Burntwood School: Janani R, Menaka R and Preethhi V. 6 students – including those mentioned - achieved Grandmaster status, introduced at these championships to provide special recognition for those students scoring more than 100,000 points either overall or in a particular language. Completing that list were Christian O of Manchester Grammar School and Saskia B of EGAS.
Streatham & Clapham High School built up a commanding lead early on in the Challenge Cup Medio and showed no sign of relinquishing it, finishing as champions for the second year in a row. Fiona Helszajn, Head of Languages at the school, said that “We are very competitive in our school and love to win!” adding that the Vocab Express championships are “addictive, empowering, competitive fun.” Making up the top 3 in the Medio Cup were St Bede’s Catholic Academy in Lanchester and The Academy at Shotton Hall.
There was an almighty battle throughout the week between Ryde School with Upper Chine and Badminton School in the Challenge Cup Piccolo, for schools with fewer than 150 registered students. Ryde School ended up on top after a late surge. Tracy Hall, Head of Modern Languages at the school, said it had been an amazing week, “The Vocab Express competition really appealed to the students, who loved the competitive element of it. It created a real buzz round the school right up until the last moment and pupils were constantly asking to see the leaderboard.”
The next Vocab Express championship will be the Global Challenge 2016, due to be held in March next year.
Vocab Express would like to thank the League of Champions 2015 Gold Sponsors - Linguascope, Kerboodle and Hodder Education for their invaluable support.
October 2015