News National Spelling Bee and Translation Bee Finals 26.06.2026

On Tuesday and Wednesday this week, six students travelled to Cambridge University to compete in the National Finals of the ‘Routes to Languages’ Spelling and Translation Bees. Despite the June heatwave, with typical Godolphin resilience and resolve and kind support from parents, the girls arrived safely ready to compete.

Tuesday was the Spelling Bee Final and three Year 7 students had qualified: Georgiana for French, Samaira and Calissa for German. Wednesday was the Translation Bee Final where three Year 9 students had qualified: Imane for Spanish, Matilde and Meredith for German.

The standard of competition was exceptionally high on both days, with between 25 and 30 schools taking part in each language category. Although our students were superbly prepared and demonstrated outstanding tenacity in the hot conditions, they narrowly missed out on places in the final four. A special mention goes to Imane, who came agonisingly close to reaching the final after losing in the tie-break.

As the competition organiser reminded everyone, each of our students should be immensely proud of their achievement. They finished among the final 90 competitors from a starting field of more than 15,500 students in each competition which was an outstanding accomplishment. Congratulations to all six students on representing the school so well.