At the annual Watersprings Spelling Bee this week, pupils competed in a unique contest that has been likened to an intellectual extreme sport.

The competitors, some as young as 6 years old, face a four-hour obstacle course through the English language.

Their challenge is to outlast the field by coming up with the correct spelling of obscure words that often feature any one of a number of letter combinations that form identical sounds in English.

At the end of the competition a Year 2 pupil emerged as the Spelling Bee champion for keystage 1 while a Year 4 pupil emerged the Spelling Bee champion for keystage 2.