15/05/2013

Ulster Spelling Bee Kicks Off

Almost 100 schools across Northern Ireland are taking part this week in the 2013 Ulster Eason Spelling Bee, which will see pupils test their lexiconic knowledge against words like bathysphere, bibliography and phenomenon.

Kicking off the competition yesterday was the Armagh County Bee, hosted by Hart Memorial School in Portdown, where one pupil battled it out to be crowned County Armagh Spelling Bee Champion.

The winner was announced as Ryce McClatchey from Millington Primary School, Portadown, who will now be invited to take part in the Ulster Spelling Bee Final, where he could win a place at the All-Ireland Spelling Bee final in June 2013.

Irish newsagents and book-seller Eason's and RTÉ 2FM’s Tubridy are sponsoring the competition, now in its third year running, for primary school students across the island of Ireland.

David Field, Head of Marketing and Retail Development at Eason, said: "To date the Eason Spelling Bee has proven to be a popular and fun initiative to encourage primary school children across Ireland to get excited about spelling. We believe that spelling helps children to understand words which are the vital building blocks that support literacy and reading. This enables learning and ultimately gives them greater self-confidence.

"We have seen a record number of entries this year and it is great to see such interest in an initiative which centres on the overarching message of literacy in Ireland."

The Ulster Eason Spelling Bee is part of the Eason All-Ireland Spelling Bee which has an overall prize fund of books worth more than £17,000.

Full details of the Ulster County Bees which take place at midday in each location are as follows:

Derry / Londonderry County Bee, Limavady Central School, Limavady – 15 May 2013 @ 11:00

Tyrone County Bee, St Patrick’s PS, Dungannon – 22 May 2013 @ 11:00

Fermanagh County Bee, St. Ninnidh’s PS, Derrylin, Enniskillen – 23 May 2013 @ 11:00

Antrim County Bee, St Patrick’s & St. Brigid’s PS, Ballycastle - 29 May @ 11:00

Down County Bee, Castlewellan PS, Castlewellan – 30 May 2013 @ 11:00

For more details on the competition, visit www.easons.com/spellingbee

(IT/CD)

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