Kids go for gold in Prime Minister’s Spelling Bee 2024

More than 35,000 Aussie students have been registered to take part in the Prime Minister’s Spelling Bee, as the mother of last year’s champion reveals how taking part in the competition helped her son.

Olympians aren’t the only Aussies going for gold, with teachers nationwide registering over 35,000 students the Prime Minister’s Spelling Bee in its first two weeks, as experts weigh in on performance culture making a classroom comeback.

Team psychologist for Australia’s Winter Olympics team in 2006 and the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games, performance coach, speaker and author Gavin Freeman said “performance” was simply part of being in the world.

”Whether it’s at work or school, there’s all these moments that are expected of us, and fundamentally we don’t train for them,” he said.

Renowned sports psychologist Gavin Freeman. Picture: Supplied

Freeman’s third book, How the Ordinary Become Extraordinary, includes interviews with elite Australian sportspeople including Paralympian Michael Milton, surfing titan Layne Beachley, lesser known Guinness World Record holders and their coaches, to understand what “flicked the switch”. Co-authored by Chris Sheedy, the collection includes the guy who holds the record for catching the most arrows.

“He’s a support teacher in a school … but he trains every day to catch arrows,” Freeman said.

“If we were able to create that drive to succeed early on, you’ll have a greater proportion of our young kids coming through going, ‘no, I want to be the best speller’, or ‘I want to be the best chemist or physicist’.

“We want them striving to be the best … and we want them learning the skills early on in life.”

Freeman said as a society we’re “taking away people’s ability to be resilient”.

“I have an issue with it – I think we should be putting kids under some pressure,” he said.

“I’m not suggesting we put everyone under the same amount of pressure (but) we should create different layers, different experiences and opportunities.”

Freeman said the free, online Prime Minister’s Spelling Bee, run by classroom news site Kids News, was “great”.

“I think it’s fantastic and I wish them all the best of luck. I hope they learn from the experience regardless of the outcome,” he said.

The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA), responsible for developing the Australian curriculum, includes explicit phonics teaching – or training, if you will – as part of its integrated approach to the Australian Curriculum: English.

“The Prime Minister’s Spelling Bee is a great initiative that gives Australian children the chance to showcase their spelling skills on the national stage,” said ACARA CEO Stephen Gniel.

“Literacy skills including spelling are key for all young Australians to develop for success in later life.”

Reigning Prime Minister's Spelling Bee national champion in the Green category (Years 3-4) Samuel Wright, 9, hails from Providence Christian College in Perth. Picture: Philip Gostelow

Mum to reigning Years 3-4 PM’s Spelling Bee champion Samuel, 10, Naomi Wright said her son “likes the competition side of it”.

“It validates him, being good at something,” Ms Wright said. “And he has two brothers, so there’s always a little healthy competition between them.

“I think (he loves) the sense of achievement.”

Be it for sport or spelling, training is a central part of the young champion’s practice.

“He is learning more spelling words and working harder this year,” Ms Wright said.

Ms Wright said being a “good sport” was just as important for Samuel as for our Olympians in Paris.

“We try and raise them to champion others, and recognise that everyone is unique and is good at different things,” she said. “Samuel is good at spelling, among other things, so we cheer him on.”

Teachers can register students in Years 3-8 for the PM’s Spelling Bee until August 23 – head to spelling-bee.com.au or kidsnews.com.au for more information and to enter