Aleea Thompson from Mullumbimby Public School is one of the top spellers in NSW, quite an achievement by year 5, and she is heading off to the NSW Premier’s Spelling Bee finals in November in Sydney.
Along with another Northern Rivers year 5 student Willow Allen from Yamba Public School they will take to the Q Theatre Penrith mic on Friday, 1 November and compete for Spelling Bee senior state champion.
‘We are absolutely thrilled that Aleea has reached this level of the competition. Aleea is an outstanding and hard working student who takes on all opportunities presented to her,’ said Principal of Mullumbimby Public School, David Lees.
‘She is to be congratulated on this wonderful achievement and we wish her all the very best at the next stage of this competition.’
The State final will be contested by 30 students in Years 3 and 4 (junior) and 30 students in Years 5 and 6 (senior).
More than 1,800 students competed in 60 regional finals over a 10-day period to reach the 2024 State finals. Of these, 303 students (200 juniors and 103 seniors) speak a language other than English at home, and 95 students (46 juniors and 49 seniors) identify as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander.
Students spelled their way into the finals with words such as ‘fascinate’, ‘anemometer’, ‘allegory’ and ‘sovereign’.
Arts Unit Premier’s Spelling Bee Support Officer Desiree Lane said the 2024 Spelling Bee’s enrolment increased by almost 10 percent on last year with nearly two-thirds of NSW public primary schools competing.
‘This year we’ve had a noticeably lower number of withdrawals from the Bee, which suggests the new Zoom format we’ve implemented is making it easier for schools to participate, especially in rural and remote areas,’ Ms Lane said.
‘We had a starting pool of just under 200,000 participating students with the most remote student from Broken Hill. In November we’ll have finalists travelling into Sydney from as far away as Temora, Dungowan, Griffith and Mullumbimby, so the state is well represented.’
Yamba Public School in northern NSW has had students compete in the finals five times in the past eight years.
‘Yamba has a history of strong spellers, and Year 5 finalist Willow Allen is no exception,’ Ms Lane said.
This year’s competition will also see the return of 2023 junior finalists, Year 4 student Bobby (Bogdan) Ivaneza from Annandale Public School and Year 5 Coonabarabran Public School student, William Weatherall, who both qualified for this year’s senior final.
The Spelling Bee encourages students to improve their vocabulary and spelling and to promote literacy skills in combination with the English K-6 Syllabus.
To compete at the regional final a student must have won their school spelling bee.
The 2024 NSW Premier’s Spelling Bee is proudly supported by Major Sponsor Grok Academy, Supporters, Primary English Teaching Association Australia, ABC Radio Sydney and ACCO Brands Australia, and Word List Partner Macquarie Dictionary.
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