How to prepare for the Premier’s Spelling Bee

The NSW Premier’s Spelling Bee is a much-loved primary school competition. Preparing for it should be fun, not stressful — and the skills your child builds along the way help their reading and writing all year. Here is how it works and how to practise at home.

What is the Premier’s Spelling Bee?

It is an annual spelling competition for NSW primary students, run in two divisions — Junior (Years 3–4) and Senior (Years 5–6). Children spell words aloud, moving from class rounds to school, regional and state finals. Words get harder as the rounds progress.

How the rounds work

A word is read aloud; the child says it, spells it letter by letter, then says it again. There is a time limit, and a misspelled word usually means elimination for that round. Because it is spoken, listening carefully and staying calm matter as much as knowing the letters.

How to practise at home

• Spell out loud, not on paper. The Bee is spoken, so practise the way it is run — hear the word, say the letters.
• Learn word patterns, not just single words. Prefixes, suffixes and common letter groups (“tion”, “ough”, “cie/ei”) unlock hundreds of words at once.
• Sort words by tricky feature — silent letters, double letters, unusual vowels — so your child recognises the trap before it catches them.
• Keep sessions short and frequent. Ten focused minutes a day beats an hour on the weekend.
• Use real definitions and sentences. Knowing what a word means makes its spelling far easier to remember.

A smarter word-list strategy

Do not try to memorise thousands of words in order. Group them: master the everyday words first, then the pattern-based words, then the genuinely hard outliers. Revisit words your child has missed — spaced repetition (seeing a tricky word again a few days later) is how spelling actually sticks.

Keeping it calm and fun

Turn practice into a game. Take turns being the reader. Celebrate a hard word spelled right. On the day, remind your child that getting to compete is already the win — nerves fade fastest when the pressure is low.

Frequently asked questions