With freshly minted ‘Cassie’ dollar bills up for grabs by those with a talent for spelling, the annual House Spell-O-Rama got underway last Friday with customary Boys’ School gusto!

On a day when funds were also being raised for the charity, Island Child, the boys were dressed in mufti…with some unusual ‘whacky’ hair dos adding to the overall colour and pageantry!

Representatives from the Middle and Senior Schools had been selected from earlier elimination heats to determine which three boys would represent their House to compete at each level in the finals. Whilst the House teams stepped up to the stage to compete, additional questions were thrown to the audience – a correct answer giving them the chance to select the next category of questions.

Hosted by Head of Art, Mr Tom Barter, in a ‘most fetching’ wig, the competition took the style of a lively television game show, as the boys were put through their paces. Unlike a traditional Spelling Bee where contestants take it in turns to spell a word, the twelve contestants listened to words, phrases and instructions from a soundtrack to quickly transcribe to a personal whiteboard. No pressure but - speed was of the essence – and there was no conferring, the scrutineers made sure of that! Correct answers earned ‘Cassies’ in the bank towards the final tally.

Along with quickfire rounds, mixed up words and backwards spelling, we also saw phrases of a ‘biblical proportion’ to really test their mettle!

The students weren’t alone in the spotlight – at regular intervals each House could select a staff member to test their spelling for extra points! In the glare of the spotlight, they soon discovered that letters didn’t roll off the tongue that easily for some!

By the end of the Middle School round, Hamilton were in the lead but a stellar round by Wishart at senior level gave Wishart the combined overall win and the Spell-O-Rama 2018 title!

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