Friday 23 October 2015 A student at The Grammar School at Leeds (GSAL) has displayed a world-beating knowledge of Latin vocabulary in a global language competition. Lower sixth student Amy Dawson-Kavanagh entered the League of Champions vocabulary competition run by Vocab Express, an online language learning application. During a week’s intense competition, over 30,000 students from 200 schools worldwide logged on to test their vocabulary, selecting from a range of 13 languages. Amy’s score of 85,520 points placed her second on the Latin leader board, and by competing in the German competition as well she totted up a grand total of 91,700 points to finish in seventh place in the overall competition. Amy hopes to study medicine at university so has chosen science and maths for sixth form, however she is determined to keep up her language learning. She said: “I still enjoy languages and the competition is a chance to revisit them. You can see the live leader board which motivates you to keep trying – you can get into fierce competition with someone anywhere in the world!” Students’ points could also boost their school’s Vocab Express league table position, and Amy’s achievement in the Latin competition helped secure GSAL fifth place on the Latin Genius Cup leader board. The cup is based upon the top 25 student scores at each school, allowing schools of different sizes to compete on an equal basis. General Sixth Form
