On Tuesday 18th June, the Modern Foreign Languages department welcomed 12 enthusiastic ‘language detectives’ to participate in a day of challenging linguistic activities. The Year 8 pupils came from Cromer Academy, North Walsham High School and Gresham’s Prep School. The day started with the pupils meeting each other and talking about their experiences with languages at school. Then they completed activities to get them thinking about the different facets of communication and language learning, from gesture and intonation to making links across languages. They were able to play Chinese Whispers in Czech, memorise objects in Welsh and analyse nonsense words in English!

In the afternoon came the main event: a multi-step puzzle requiring German, Italian, Welsh, Spanish and English! The pupils all managed to solve the crime, using the skills learned in the morning, and find the murderer, location, time and murder weapon.

Mrs Mousley, Miss Hayes and Miss Burton were so impressed by the teamwork and concentration on display. The pupils left in high spirits after a challenging but rewarding day.