The first ever UK spelling Championship for schools - The Times Spelling Bee - is now in its third year and hundreds of schools throughout the UK have taken part.
The Times is a committed supporter of standards of English and the aim of the Championship is to make spelling fun and to help teachers to raise the profile of spelling and develop the talents of their students.
Who can take part?
The Championship is aimed at the 11-12 year-old age group and is open to full-time pupils in schools in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Registration for the 2011 Spelling Bee Championship is now closed. (The deadline for schools to enter was 10 December 2010.)
Live school team spelling contests
The 2011 Championship started in March with schools competing head to head in live local spelling heats. The winning teams then progress to the Semi-Finals, which take place in May. The climax will be the Grand Final, which takes place in London in June 2011. This will be a high-profile event featured in The Times newspaper and on Times Online.
There will be prizes for the winning teams and for the schools taking part.
2011 local heats results
Download the local heat results (PDF - 33KB)
'The Times Spelling Bee is the Olympics of English. I am a huge fan of this compelling competition.'
Michael Gove
Secretary of State for Education
'The development and use of communication, language and spelling should be at the heart of young children's learning. Words are important. They are the lifeblood of learning. Those that strive to improve their literacy and spelling skills early on will enjoy a massive gateway of opportunity in later life. For every word that we learn, whether for an object, idea or feeling, our world comes to life.'
James Harding
Editor, The Times