Young Public School spelling superstar Hiba Sultan is hard at work revising for her NSW Premier’s Spelling Bee state finals debut in Penrith on Friday 6 November. Hiba will make the trip to the Q Theatre in Sydney’s west to compete in the senior division of the challenge, facing off against the top 34 Stage 3 spellers in the state. Hiba is the South West Slopes lone representative at the state finals, having won her way through to the event with wins in the regional finals. The 34 students in each category represent the top 0.03 per cent of around 210,000 students who took part in school spelling bees earlier in the year. Half of the finalists represent regional NSW, with students set to travel from Chatsworth Island on the North Coast, Beelbangera near Griffith and Lavington near the Victorian border to compete at the Penrith event. This year's finalists also reflect the linguistic diversity of NSW public schools, with 23 students speaking a language other than English at home across 16 language groups. Contestants will begin with ‘seen’ word lists provided by Macquarie Dictionary before facing ‘unseen’ challenges that test spelling skill and composure under pressure. Young Public School students and staff are all cheering Hiba on as she aims to spell her way to a win in the state event.
