Te Kura o Tititea Mount Aspiring College (MAC) teams placed second and third at the regional final of the Kids’ Lit Quiz competition held in Queenstown last week. 

Kids' Lit Quiz is an annual literature quiz for students aged 10 to 13 and this year’s regional event saw 24 teams of students from Central Otago primary and secondary schools compete. 

During the competition, teams of four students were asked 100 questions on children’s literature including poetry, authors, titles, settings, characters and nursery rhymes.

“It’s wonderful to see our focus on literacy paying off with this excellent result,” MAC Year 7 head of learning Tiffany Kemp said.

“We’ve been working hard with our students in the classroom and in our professional development as educators to build our literacy capability so to have a result like this in a literary competition is really gratifying.”

Team two, which came third: (from left) Camilla Foskett, Liam Byrne, Malcie Cervelli and Alice Chaly. 

Te Kura Whakatipu o Kawarau’s team won with 76.5 points followed by the MAC teams who placed second on 74 points and third with 73 points. 

Year 8 MAC student Amber Gemmell, whose team was awarded second place, said what she enjoyed most was working with her team members. 

“It was great working with my team because we’ve all read different books so through listening and working together we were able to do well on the day,” she said. 

Team three (from left) Ayilo Emasu, Asha McPhee, Ford Mills and Charlie Cave.

“There was lots of variety in the questions and some really challenged our thinking. 

Year 7 student Alice Chaly, from MAC’s third-placed team, said she also enjoyed working with her group. 

“It was fun getting to know everyone in my group and answering the questions together. It was a great experience and I’d encourage others to give it a go next year.” 

PHOTOS: MAC