by James Bowen

SMRUTEE Kandale from Sale Grammar school finished first in the national final of the Routes into languages spelling Bee at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge.

A total of 74,445 youngsters from approximately 590 schools across the country took part in this years competition and Smurtee first won through class , school and regional heats to reach the national final of the Spanish category.

The competition - which is sponsored by the European Commission and Vocab Express - involves year Seven pupils competing to correctly translate and spell the most number of words in French Spanish or German in just 60 seconds.

Sarah Schechter , project manager of Routes into languages East , based at Anglia Ruskin University said: " We were so impressed by all the finalists , especially the winners - and very excited by the fact that having worked so hard and had so much fun this year , all the competitors now go into year 7 with the strong vocabulary and valuable transferable skills that the competition has given them " .