A TALENTED Dudley youngster has beaten off competition from more than 75,000 others to reach the national final of a foreign language spelling bee.

Year seven pupils with a love for languages were given 200 words to learn in either French, German or Spanish, and a total of 580 schools nationwide took part this year.

Ellowes Hall Sports College pupil Jack Baines, who chose Spanish, won the school and regional heats will now compete against 108 national finalists at the Routes into Languages National Spelling Bee, held at Anglia Ruskin University’s Cambridge campus on July 1.

The winner of the will be the pupil who can correctly translate and then spell the most words in 60 seconds.