Durham languages students work with local Year 10 pupils on Spanish tourism challenge

5 June 2025

Outreach & community engagement

a group of pupils outside the Spanish Gallery in Bishop Auckland

The Spanish Apprentice Tourism Challenge was delivered as part of the 2025 Express Yourself: North East Festival of Languages.

In this brilliant event, five teams of Year 10 pupils from eight schools across the North East visited Bishop Auckland, researched the cultural offer and developed presentations with Durham University language students. The teams made a pitch to an expert panel of judges in Spanish to market Bishop Auckland as a tourism destination for the Spanish market. The winning team was given a prize.

Schools taking part in the challenge were: Benfield School (Newcastle), Cardinal Hume Catholic School, (Gateshead – winner), Dame Allan’s School (Newcastle), King James I Academy (Bishop Auckland), Seaham High School (Seaham), St Bede’s Catholic School (Peterlee), St John’s Catholic School (Bishop Auckland) and Wolsingham School, (Wolsingham, County Durham).

Watch a short film about the event