From 28th March to 14th April in the Easter holidays, Oundle School hosted the Oxford International British English Olympics (BEO), involving over 560 students and staff from South America.
The BEO is a high profile, prestigious academic and cultural event. Participating teams of 12-16 year olds from international schools from around the world travel to the UK to put their English to the test. They compete against one another in a series of academic challenges, alongside having the opportunity to learn about British culture and history as they explore some of the sights. During the competition students were required to perform in front of a panel of judges as they participated in debates, presentations, drama and musical performances, that all related to a contemporary global theme.
The students and staff participating in the first ever Oundle BEO represented thirty eight schools from eight different countries, including Mexico, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Peru, and Columbia. Each School sent a team of between ten and twenty students with accompanying teachers from their own schools. In total 120 schools from around the world, with over 1500 students took part in the 2015 British English Olympics.
Enterprises and Events Manager at Oundle School, Susie Raby commented, “Our size, reputation and historic market town location were all key to securing this new contract. The prestigious BEO programme was an excellent academic fit and allowed us the opportunity both to showcase our outstanding facilities and to bring extra business to the town. Feedback from both our overseas visitors and members of the town itself have been overwhelmingly complimentary and we very much look forward to welcoming the group back again next year.”
Owner of Beans Coffee Stop, Phil Gilbert sent a message to those attending the BEO as follows: “All of us here would like to thank everyone from BEO for coming along to Beans during your stay here in Oundle – you’ve all made it such a fun place during these last two weeks!
We hope you’ve had a great time in our lovely town, we hope you’ve learnt lots, and we hope you have a safe and pleasant journey back to your homes.”
Matthew Hird, Programme Director for the BEO commented, “Oxford International developed the BEO programme to provide a forum for international teenagers to explore and debate important contemporary political and social issues. This year the theme was ‘Youth Parliament’ and they were looking to find new ways to resolve crises around the globe. Every year we are always amazed by the quality of the student’s presentations and the depth of understanding they develop whilst researching these topics in their second language. This year we saw some fantastic presentations and we are happy to see the BEO go from strength to strength.”