On Wednesday September 13th, Woodend took 4 teams to Woodcroft PS to compete in the 14th annual Hiragana Reading Competition. After holding run offs here at school, our 4 teams had been practicing every day, getting ready to compete against 7 other schools from the district. 22 teams in total competed on the day.

Our teams were extremely competitive and were able to show what practice and hard work can achieve.

There was a new format this year and students were challenged even more in their reading ability as they had to ready words, rather than just single characters.

After a round robin playoff, the top 8 teams were decided. These teams had to read Japanese words. Then to decided 1st, 2nd and 3rd place students had to make up words using Hiragana letters. Our students’ knowledge of their Hiragana characters was evident in the finals. We had 3 teams make it through to the finals.

The competition was fierce!

We took out third place and then the top 2 teams played off for 1st and 2nd in a best of 3 round. We competed against Blackwood PS for the overall championship title. The tension was high! The first round was a tie, proving it was a tight competition. We went on to successfully win the next 2 words and take out the overall Championship.

1st place : Super Sushis, Lili S, Drilona, Lilyana Q and Ella Gu

3rd place : Nihao Ninjas ~ Flynn H, Luka C, Max C and Conor L

Well done to all 16 students who competed and did Woodend proud.

Thank you to the parents who helped with transport on the day.

Sarah Vinall