GCHQ National Language Competition crowns its 2024 winners
After an outstanding effort from all teams and schools over the course of the competition week, we are delighted to announce that the winners of GCHQ’s National Language Competition 2024 are Team Sensible Gentle Mallard (Katia, Arisha, Shreyaa, Aanya) from The Henrietta Barnett School, London.
There was fierce competition all week with over 2000 teams from schools across the UK putting their language skills to the test and battling it out for the top spot on the leaderboard. It was a closely fought race right up to the very end with teams pulling out all the stops to crack those codes and solve those language puzzles.
The winners will shortly be invited to GCHQ’s Headquarters in Cheltenham to collect their National Language Competition 2024 trophy.
Congratulations to the regional winners, who will all be receiving a special GCHQ NLC 2024 Regional Winners' Coin.
| Region | Winners | School |
| England - East Midlands | Team Famous Frantic Catfish (Lydia, Reuben, Anish, Chlöe) | The Ecclesbourne School, Derbyshire |
| England - East of England | Team Charming Lucky Llama (Chris, Chris, Shaurya, Elliot) | Parmiter's Schools, Herfordshire |
| England - Greater London | Team Distinct Graceful Bat (Akshya, Pheidi, Vaishnavi, Shubhi) | The Henrietta Barnett School, London |
| England - North East | Team Smiling Ambitious Hare (Ajmain, Brian, Ethan, Aston) | Royal Grammar School, Newcastle-upon-Tyne |
| England - North West & Isle of Man | Team Elegant Energetic Swan (Sumedh, Ewan, Tejas, Archie) | Bolton School Boys' Division, Lancashire |
| England - South West & Guernsey & Jersey | Team Elegant Elated Penguin (Emily, Grace, Jayan, Sam) | Colyton Grammar School, Devon |
| England - South East | Team Faithful Good Heron (Jasmine, Reika, Isla, Lilly) | The Tiffin Girls' School, Surrey |
| England - West Midlands | Team Fiery Frantic Marmoset (Siyao, Siyuan, Yixian, Isha) | King Edward VI High School for Girls, Birmingham |
| England - Yorkshire & The Humber | Team Laughing Friendly Gazelle (Jessica, Jasmine, Zofia, Lilly) | Skipton Girls' High School, North Yorkshire |
| Northern Ireland | Team Calm Determined Stingray (Niamh, Olivia) | Victoria College, Belfast |
| Scotland | Team Jolly Patient Buffalo (Gia, Meiting, Sanvi, Anna) | George Heriot's School, Edinburgh |
| Wales | Team Lively Perfect Hyena (Tom, Rafe, Oliver, George) | Cowbridge Comprehensive School, Vale of Glamorgan |
Thank you very much to all the teams and schools who took part. We hope you enjoyed competition week as much as we did, and hope this has inspired you to keep learning languages and to even think about trying some new ones.
Keep a look out for the NLC 2025! Teachers/home education representatives can email [email protected] to join our mailing list, and find out more about the National Language Competition.
