In a letter to parents the board said it asked that staff attend two separate meetings - in Wellington and in Lower Hutt - but the teachers instead chose to attend the same meeting at the Michael Fowler Centre.

Its letter says the board "absolutely recognises and respects the teachers' right to attend paid union meetings". At the same time, it had a responsibility to pupils and families to ensure the school continued to operate as normal.

The board said it had received advice from the School Trustees Association that it was not responsible for paying relief teachers.

The teachers say the decision not to pay for relief teachers led two board members to quit.

A staff member said teachers there had not been to a paid union meeting since 2007, and it was not too much to ask for eight teachers to attend.

The staff member said: "Staff just feel upset, angry and undervalued. Teachers work many hours outside what they're required to work.

"We just didn't feel like we were asking too much, then to have it thrown back in our faces that we were putting ourselves before parents and students . . . we're there because we care."

The staff member said "it all feels very political", particularly as the chairman of the board of trustees was National MP Nathan Guy's brother, Christopher.

NZEI national secretary Paul Goulter said asking teachers to pay for relievers was an "inappropriate" practice that he had never heard of before.

Source

• Stuff.co.nz
• Stuff.co.nz
• Image: NewstalkZB

The students were talking to Catholic Archbishop of Wellington John Dew over lunch, prior to the Catholic Church's Social Justice Week focus on food security. Social Justice Week runs 9-15 September, and is an opportunity for Catholics and the wider community to consider a current issue in the light of Catholic social teaching.

"Because we pray together "Give us this day our daily bread" we want everyone to have the food they need, because we all belong to the family of God," Archbishop John told the school pupils.

"About 20 percent of New Zealand families with children don't have enough food, or have some sort of food trouble,' Archbishop John said. ‘But our country could produce enough food for five times our current population. So we are trying to get everyone to talk about what we might do."

Food security is the ability to legitimately and regularly access safe and nutritionally adequate food. The Catholic Church's social justice agency Caritas has produced resources for parishes, schools and the wider community to help people better understand what food insecurity looks like in New Zealand and overseas.

Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand has also launched an interactive website Breaking bread together to provide commentary and debate on topical issues of food production, supply and distribution. ‘Our daily blog' will provide opinion on food issues throughout September. The site also features videos, games, reports and resources, and opportunities for people to comment and add their own ideas.

"Social Justice Week is an opportunity for all of us to examine our attitudes and actions with regard to food, says Caritas Director Julianne Hickey. ‘We have the resources to feed all our people. So we're encouraging New Zealanders to see what steps they can take to combat hunger both in the world and in New Zealand."

"For example, one small step at the advocacy level people can take right now, is to participate in the Commissioner for Children's consultation process on child poverty. Feedback and submissions are due on 12 October."

Hickey said, "We support the recommendation of the Expert Advisory Group on Solutions to Child Poverty that in the short-term the government should partner with schools, non-governmental organisations and the private sector to run food programmes in low-decile schools,' says Mrs Hickey. ‘At the same time we all need to address the long-term issues of family incomes that leave large and young families disproportionately poor."

Catholic Diocesan and parish groups are running meetings, seminars and forums on the Social Justice Week theme of food. These include events in Rotorua, Tauranga, Gisborne, Auckland, Palmerston North, Napier, New Plymouth and Whanganui. Masterton's Catholic parish is inviting parishioners for a day of jam-making to be donated to the local food bank. Event details are listed at: http://www.caritas.org.nz/take-action/events

A wide range of groups within the Catholic Church respond to hunger in New Zealand and overseas through numerous ways:

• immediate responses such as soup kitchens, food banks and school lunch programmes;
• responding to international emergencies such as drought in the Sahel region of Africa;
• community responses such as livelihood programmes in developing countries, or parish-based community gardens and markets in New Zealand;
• awareness raising and education in the Catholic and wider community;
• advocacy for changes to government policy to support low-income families.

Source

• Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand
• Image: Caritas Aoteoroa New Zealand

The garden works with the stages of the moon and they are currently readying the planter boxes for winter, says regular gardener Janet O'Reilly.

The garden has brought many community members together as volunteers.

"Symbolically it's good to have the garden and bring the community together," says Father Seph Pijfers, the parish priest

Source

• NewsWire.co.nz
• Image: NewsWire.co.nz