Premier's Spelling Bee

This program encourages primary school students to engage in spelling in a fun and educational way. There are two divisions in the Spelling Bee:

• Junior for Years 3/4
• Senior for Years 5/6

The Spelling Bee includes associated school and classroom activities to encourage all students to engage with spelling, and to promote improved literacy in combination with the English K-6 Syllabus.
Schools may enter two students in each division of the competition.  All school entries are placed in regional finals. Regional winners from each division then proceed to the State Final.
Regional Finals have now concluded for 2008. For a list of this year’s Junior and Senior State Finalists, click here (pdf 37kb)

• In 2008 all public, central and community schools in NSW are again invited to participate in the Premier's Spelling Bee
• Information about the competition was sent to all school Principals on Friday 6 June, 2008
• Wordlists will be posted on the website on Monday 21 July, the start of Term 3
• Schools then follow official competition procedures or devise their own spelling activities to select students to represent them at Regional Finals. See Spelling Activities for suggested activities to use in your school.
• Regional Finals are held in NSW schools who nominate to host a final in the various regions.
• School entries are then placed in draws and each school notified of the date and location of their Regional finals.

The Premier's Spelling Bee began in 2004 for government primary schools in New South Wales. That year around 800 students competed in 20 finals in locations all over the state. This competition has continued to grow in successive years – in 2007, over 58, 000 students were involved in the Premier's Spelling Bee at a school level with 2,207 students from 572 schools progressing to 30 Regional finals Winners from these finals went on to compete in State Finals at the Eugene Goossens Hall, ABC Centre, Sydney. Regional and State finals were broadcast live on ABC Radio and attracted significant publicity through media and television coverage.