More than 200 pupils from 40 state schools competed in a Chinese-speaking contest in a bid to win one of nine trips to Beijing later this month. The British Council competition, held at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, coincided with a festival of Chinese culture. Students from La Retraite Roman Catholic Girls’ School and Paddington Academy, both in London, and David Spencer of Calday Grange Grammar School, Wirral, won the speaking test. Pate’s Grammar School, in Cheltenham won the performance category.