Girls are bee's knees in spelling contest

A group of girls at a Shropshire school really are the bee's knees when it comes to spelling, after being ranked in the top 10 in the country.

A four-strong team from Newport Girls High is through to the final of a spelling bee competition run by a national newspaper.

They fought off the challenge of more than 1,000 other hopefuls and will now put their talents to the test against nine other finalists.

The four fought off tough competition in the semi-final of The Times Spelling Bee in Liverpool on Thursday to earn the chance to compete in the grand final next month in a bid to be crowned national champions.

The quartet, made up of students Mrinalini Chakrabarty, 11, Rowan Verity-Pallett , Charlotte Oakes and Jessica Llewellyn, all 12, showed off their skills by successfully spelling words such as gargantuan and halcyon.

Karen Carey, the girls' teacher, said: "I can't believe we've got to this stage but the girls have worked so hard for this they really deserve to win, I'm very proud."

Charlotte Oakes added: "It's amazing that we have got through to the final. When we were practising we didn't think we would get this far."

The Newport girls will this year be up against the winners of the semi-finals held in Middlesbrough, Sheffield, Didsbury, Liverpool, Birmingham, Bristol, Staples Corner, Feltham, Crawley and Cambridge.

The grand final, sponsored by Cineworld and Microsoft, will take place at The Institute of Education in London in June.