Girls’ School The Kenties are Tournament of Minds National Champions 

Our Girls’ School team of Year 5 and 6 students, The Kenties, has won the national title in the Primary Division Language Literature Challenge at the 2026 Tournament of Minds New Zealand National Final, held in Wellington over the weekend. 

The team comprised Anna Zhao, Mofan Yang, Elly Chiu, Annie Li, Emma Miller and Isla Allen. 

Competing against primary and intermediate-aged students from across New Zealand, their success follows The Kenties’ win at the Auckland Regional Final last month. Their national success has earned them an invitation to compete at the Tournament of Minds International Final in Darwin, Australia in Term 4. 

Tournament of Minds is an international problem-solving programme designed to develop creative and critical thinking, teamwork and collaborative problem-solving. Students compete in one of four disciplines, Language Literature, STEM, The Arts or Social Sciences, tackling open-ended challenges that require them to develop and present an original solution. 

For the Language Literature Challenge, students investigate and apply literary devices and language techniques, drawing on written, spoken, multimodal, print or digital texts. 

The competition places particular emphasis on students developing their solutions independently. At the National Tournament, teams work collaboratively on a 3-hour challenge without assistance from teachers, parents or peers before presenting their solution to a panel of judges in the afternoon. They must also tackle an unseen Spontaneous Challenge, requiring them to think quickly, exchange ideas and work effectively together. 

For The Kenties, the national title is the culmination of eight weeks of preparation and competition. Throughout their Tournament of Minds journey, the six girls have developed a strong team dynamic, supporting one another and working collaboratively as they progressed from the regional competition to the national stage. 

The team has been supported throughout by Mrs Judy Norton, whose guidance and encouragement have helped prepare the girls for each stage of the competition. 

Congratulations to The Kenties on an outstanding national achievement, and we wish them well as they prepare for, and compete in, the International Final.