Teacher guide
Contents
1. What is Spellathon? ...................................................................................................................... 1
2. Why should my school take part in Spellathon? .................................................................. 1
3. How does Spellathon work? ....................................................................................................... 2
4. Do I get any resources to help me? .......................................................................................... 2
6. How does my school receive 25% of the money we raise? ............................................... 3
7. Digital safety and system requirements .................................................................................. 3
8. About learning disability and Mencap ..................................................................................... 4
9. Any questions? .............................................................................................................................. 4
1. What is Spellathon?
Spellathon is a free, online sponsored spelling competition to make spelling fun for primary
and secondary school children in the UK. Every school that signs up: gives their pupils the
chance to improve their spelling; has access to fun, interactive online games; can win prizes
and raise lots of sponsorship money to support people with a learning disability. Schools can
also get back 25% of what their pupils raise.
Spellathon is presented by ‘The Professor’ – voiced by Stephen Fry – who introduces
children to Spellathon via a free assembly video and interactive spelling games. The
Professor and his other animated bees say words for the pupils to spell in the online games
too.
Children pledge to spell a target number of words correctly. They do this by playing fun
Spellathon spelling games at school and at home. As they practice, they ask friends and
family to sponsor their efforts. The money raised will support Mencap, the voice of learning
disability.
2. Why should my school take part in Spellathon?
All the students who take part in Spellathon will improve their spelling ability. Spellathon was
designed to be fun to learn and easy to teach and it’s inclusive – all ages and abilities are
welcome. There are different game modes and ability levels to choose from, plus there are
over 10,000 words and they are all linked to the National Curriculum.
As well as raising money for Mencap and people with a learning disability, your school can
also receive 25% of the money your students raise. There are also some fantastic prizes,
including a £10,000 cash prize. Go to www.spellathon.net for full details.
3. How does Spellathon work?
1. Register – sign your school up and register your class. Each child will get a simple
log in so they can play at home or at school.
2. Pledge – pupils pledge to spell a target number of words and raise a certain amount
of money.
3. Spell – pupils play the Spellathon whiteboard game in class
www.spellathon.net/whiteboard, and online Spellathon games in school and at home.
Teachers run a school competition to see who spells most words correctly.
4. Fundraise – through your school's JustGiving page or sponsorship forms. The pupil
tells parents, friends and family about Spellathon and logs into www.spellathon.net.
They can practice and fundraise at home, ahead of the championships.
5. Celebrate – hand out certificates and celebrate your pupils’ achievements. You can
request balloons and flags to decorate an event if you host one (just email
[email protected]), and use the press release template provided to shout about
your achievements.
The whiteboard game includes buttons to access the specific spelling conventions of each
year group, as well as random play. The levels in both the interactive whiteboard game and
the online games that children can play outside class have been specifically designed to
help children of all abilities and ages to improve their spelling.
When students log in to their account the words they spell correctly in the games are banked
in their account and their scores are displayed on the leader board. Teachers can use the
leader board to set up a competition.
If you prefer to run Spellathon offline, or just want to hand out the word lists for pupils to
practice at home, just email us and we can send you the full list of words. However, only the
words spelled correctly online will be recorded on the leader board.
4. Do I get any resources to help me?
We appreciate how busy teachers are, so we have provided everything you need to run a
successful Spellathon.
When you register, you will get a free digital Spellathon schools pack, which includes:
 a link to Assembly/Class introduction video voiced by Stephen Fry
 a link to an online interactive whiteboard game to play in class
 an email and letter for parents and secondary students
 teaching resources to make spelling fun and engaging
 spelling bee posters for the classroom
 pledge target word slips the children can hand out to supporters
 certificates – raise a minimum £1 per child and you can receive a personalised
certificate for each child
 a fundraising pack – a short ‘How to fundraise’ guide and downloadable
sponsorship form
 a school JustGiving page and your own teacher account admin section, to check
your pupils’ progress
 a press release template to tell everyone about your school’s achievement.
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5. How do we fundraise?
When a school registers, a JustGiving fundraising page is automatically set up. See the
‘How to Fundraise’ guide for tips on how to raise money through Spellathon. We suggest
that each child gets sponsored for 10p for every word they spell correctly (for example, 100
words x 10p = £10). Or just ask supporters to make a donation for their efforts – for example,
each family or community member could donate £1 or £5.
Remember: The Spellathon online games will be available until 31 March 2013. But send
us the money your school has raised by 25 March to qualify for the £10,000 cash prize!
6. How does my school receive 25% of the money we raise?
We automatically link the online donations made to your school. You can also raise funds
offline by downloading a sponsorship form from the admin area. Just send a cheque payable
to Mencap along with your completed sponsorship form.
When registering your school, you have an option to opt in for your school to receive 25% of
what your students raise. If you opt in, 25% of all donations are then sent to your school.
Each school receives one cheque after April 2013. The refund is calculated on all money
collected online and offline and received by Mencap by 25 March.
7. Digital safety and system requirements
At Spellathon, everything we do starts and ends with our commitment to safety and
creativity. We offer peace of mind for parents. Spellathon is completely free to play and
personal information is kept safe and private.
Here are the minimum system requirements for Spellathon:
Windows
• Adobe Flash Player 11 and above.
• 2.33GHz or faster x86-compatible processor, or IntelR Atom. 1.6GHz or faster processor
for netbooks
• MicrosoftR WindowsR XP (32-bit), Windows ServerR 2003 (32-bit), Windows Server 2008
(32-bit), Windows VistaR (32-bit), Windows 7 (32-bit and 64-bit)
• Internet Explorer 8.0 and above, Mozilla Firefox 4.0 and above, Google Chrome, Safari 5.0
and above, Opera 11
• 128MB of RAM (1GB of RAM recommended for netbooks); 128MB of graphics memory
Mac OS
• Adobe Flash Player 11 and above
• Intel Core. Duo 1.33GHz or faster processor
• Mac OS X v10.6 or v10.7
• Safari 5.0 and above, Mozilla Firefox 4.0 and above, Google Chrome, Opera 11
• 256MB of RAM; 128MB of graphics memory
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8. About learning disability and Mencap
A learning disability is a reduced intellectual ability and difficulty with everyday activities - for
example household tasks, socialising or managing money - which affects someone for their
whole life.
Mencap is the voice of learning disability. Everything the charity does is about supporting
people with a learning disability, and their families and carers. Mencap works to improve
services, challenge prejudice and directly support thousands of people to live their lives as
they choose. Find out more at www.mencap.org.uk
9. Any questions?
Go to www.spellathon.net/faq and check the FAQ section or contact [email protected]
Please also read the full terms and conditions on the website
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