His bags aren’t even unpacked and Miramar man Mark Mitchell is already eyeing the next disaster zone. Mitchell is a humanitarian programme coordinator for Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand. He has just returned from Vanuatu. He arrived there just three days after Cyclone Pam hit. Now, though dates had not yet been confirmed, he will soon Read more
Education Ministry figures show the communities around low-decile schools are poorer than ever but better educated. School deciles are based on five indicators – parents with no qualifications, crowded households, household income, parents receiving income support, and parents with low-skilled occupations. Decile one schools are the 10 percent of schools with the most students from Read more
A trust that owns two charter schools has bought its students a $100,000 waka to help with their learning. He Puna Marama, which received $6 million of government funding for its two Whangarei schools over two years, but also gets revenue from elsewhere, says it bought the 22-person, 14m carved kauri waka with money specially Read more
A tai chi class made up of elderly women and arthritis sufferers has been booted out of a church hall over fears they are a threat to the church’s “spiritual wellbeing”. The group’s leader said the 20 women had been practising tai chi in the Central Southland Presbyterian Parish hall without issue for five years, Read more
The international coalition Voice of the Family has expressed serious concern about the appointment of Cardinal John Dew as a member the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples and the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, which are two dicasteries of the Holy See. Voice of the Family is an initiative of Catholic laity from major pro-life/pro-family organisations around Read more
A multicultural celebration of midwinter is being planned as a fundraising event to contribute to, and draw attention to, the costs of the seismic strengthening of St Mary of the Angels. The theme will be the stars of midwinter: Ave Maris Stella – Matariki. Matariki is the Māori name for the seven-star constellation that rises Read more
Education Minister Hekia Parata says the problems at Hato Petera College are a reflection of how the Catholic Church runs its Maori boarding kura. She said the issues have always been in the church’s hands – and not the government’s. Parata was responding to a call by New Zealand First’s education spokesperson, Tracy Martin, for Read more
New Zealand First deputy leader Tracey Martin has accused Child, Youth and Family of undermining Maori boarding schools by dumping troubled teens on them. “They need more support than most young people. So just dumping them on a school and saying ‘There you go, have at it,’ is not good enough by the government Read more
Rare watercolour paintings and pen and ink sketches by four WW1 servicemen have been unveiled in the Wellington Cathedral of St Paul. The ninety works are by Lieutenant Esmond Atkinson and his brother Lieutenant Hal Atkinson of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve and Corporal Ernest Casey and Sapper Sydney Higgs of the New Zealand Expeditionary Read more
St Peter’s College, Gore, was one of many schools to set up a Field of Remembrance to commemorate ANZAC day. During a very moving service, members of the student council placed 30 white crosses on the embankment below the Chapel. Each school and kura in New Zealand (including independent and integrated schools) has been given 30 Read more