DAT’s Primary and Secondary level National Spelling Bee underway

The search for the best speller at the Grade four level, in our primary schools, and Form three in our secondary schools, has begun. The Dominica Association of Teachers Spelling Bee Competition began on Tuesday, April 30 with the primary schools of the Western District. Six schools from that district gathered at the Salisbury Primary School from 9:30 a.m. to do battle in that district – Goodwill Primary, Salisbury Primary, St. Mary’s Primary, Coulibishtrie Primary, Christian Union Primary, and John Laurent Primary.

Each school was represented by two students and the competition ran in two rounds where each participant was exposed to 20 words. The school that emerged as the winner for that district was the St. Mary’s Primary School, with the Goodwill Primary School in second place. However, the top speller from that district was Caleb George of the Coulibishtrie Primary School.

The District Primary Schools Competition will move to the Newtown Primary School on Wednesday, May 01, where the schools of the Southern District will compete for supremacy in that district: They are the Giraudel Primary, the Bellevue Chopin Primary, the Trafalgar Primary, the Newtown and the Soufriere Primary. On Tuesday, May 07, the Eastern District will gather at the Morne Jaune Primary for their competition. Schools participating are the Castle Bruce Primary, Lighthouse Christian Academy, Grand Fond Primary, Delices Primary, and Morne Jaune Primary.

The last of the District competition will be the Northern District. The schools of this district will gather at the Portsmouth Library. The Schools are Woodford Hill Primary, Wills Strathmore Stevens Primary, Bense Primary, Savanne Paille Primary, Penville Primary, Colihaut Primary, Wesley Primary and Roosevelt Douglas Primary.

The school with the highest combined score moves to the finals, to be held on Thursday, May 30 at the Public Service Union Building while the student with the highest score in each district will also be recognized. The Secondary Schools competition will also be held on that day. The competition is once again sponsored by McMillian Publishing
Company of the United Kingdom and Jays Ltd.  Additional assistance is expected from a few local business entities.

The national primary school winner will receive one thousand dollars worth of school supplies compliments Jays Ltd while the winning secondary school will also receive a voucher for one thousand dollars worth of school supplies from the Dominica Association of Teachers.