On Wednesday the 29th of June, Mrs Davies, Isabella and Zanya (LV) went to Wills Hall, Bristol University to take part in and support the Routes into Languages speaking competition.

Although we did not come back with a trophy, as we had tough competition from Downe House and Truro school, we saw some amazing linguists, speaking in 10 different languages. Some of which had written a song as part of the pop video competition (which has had over 19,000 views online from 81 different countries) and we were even lucky enough to see some live music at the end.
 
Click here if you would like to watch some of the fantastic pop videos in different languages.

The competition has been running since 2009, however unfortunately, due to lack of government funding, this competition won't be running again, but we were very grateful that we were able to take part and made it to the final.

Paul Kaye, language officer of the European Commission, gave a compelling speech at the beginning of the day, expressing his disappointment towards the results of the referendum, and emphasising the importance of languages for the future, even more so now that Britain is leaving the EU. Dr Steve Wharton from Bath University also highlighted the ongoing importance of languages, saying that “languages are the greatest way of breaking down barriers’.