Bannockburn represents in semi finals of national languages competition

Pupils from Bannockburn Primary School represented the only state school in the semi-finals of a national languages competition.

Three children from the Plumstead High Street school played language learning games in the Junior Language Challenge (JLC).

They mastered Spanish in the first round, with 10-year-old Meltem Ileri getting 100 per cent in the computer game.

Karan Abrol, Natalia Martens-Ivanoff and Meltem then had to learn Khmer, a Cambodian language, and complete tasks on a computer game using that language.

Meltem’s mother Rebecca Erol, of Abbey Wood, said: “I am so proud of my daughter and proud of the school. “It was exciting to see my daughter stepping out of the safety net of the school and pitching herself against some of the most expensively educated children in the south east.”

The Bannockburn pupils competed in the semi-final at Cranmore Prep School in Surrey against dozens of other children, but did not make it into the final.

Emma Seaton, teacher of modern foreign languages at Bannockburn, said: “I and our school community are extremely proud of Karan, Meltem and Natalia, who showed such commitment and diligence in learning such a challenging language for the semi-finals of this year’s Junior Language Challenge.

“At Bannockburn, we consider language learning an important skill for life and both encourage and offer pupils as many opportunities to do so as we can.

“With over 30 pupils taking part in the initial stages of the competition, we are also really proud to have to have raised funds for the Onebillion charity.”