A New Zealand Fire Service spokesman said six appliances were called to a blaze at Edgewater College in Pakuranga just after 5pm.

"I do come across children who for one reason or another spend a lot of time with TV and DVDs. They start to assume the character."

Three years ago, when there was a dramatic fall in the world ranking of America's college graduates, early childhood education was accorded special attention.

NCEA results suggest boys are beginning to catch up with girls in their senior school years.

Evidence has emerged showing the grades of boys are finally catching up with girls' since a radical overhaul of the secondary school exam system.

Up to 300 jobs are set to go at the tertiary provider - which has three campuses - over the next three years.

A report into early childhood education for under-threes will not have an effect on a key government target, despite finding half of services were not up to scratch.

A school with classrooms labelled "the worst in New Zealand" has been granted a $14 million redevelopment after a wait of more than five years.

Education Minister Hekia Parata has not answered questions about whether she believes a report on learning for under-3s will affect a key Govt target.

Making a difference in Maori health and pushing to get more young Maori into medicine has led one young doctor to the steps of Harvard.

A fake Facebook profile set up in the birth name of Gloriavale leader Hopeful Christian has reportedly been used to proposition a Greymouth woman.

A senior teacher has landed in trouble after accusing a junior colleague of having an affair with her husband during several "emotionally heightened" states.

A disgraced former principal jailed for possessing child abuse and bestiality images has had his teacher's registration cancelled.

Bianca Zander is a lecturer in creative writing at AUT and recently published her second novel, The Predictions. She talks about leaving her journalism career to write fiction.

Green MP Catherine Delahunty said she was concerned the school's narrow curriculum prevented pupils, especially girls, from going on to tertiary study.

The principal at Northcote's Hato Petera College has been suspended from his role as chief executive of the school's hostel and three managers have resigned.

Politicians will demand answers from education bosses over what the extreme fundamentalist school is teaching girls - besides how to expertly wash men's clothes.

Green MP Catherine Delahunty will get plenty of support for her attempt to find out what sort of education is being provided to children in the Gloriavale school.

Eight young Kiwi authors will be bubbling with inspiration after meeting their sporting heroes and getting a story published, all in one day.

Staff who withdrew thousands in cash from a school's account and failed to explain what they spent it on will not be investigated, the Ministry of Education says.

Rnui kaumtua Hori (George) Winikerei Taua never thought he would see the day when Maori and English words took equal places in his local supermarket.

A study by Curtin University in Australia has found that children are spending increasingly dangerous periods of time in front of screens.

Children from a Māori immersion class in Pukekohe are the stars of a new digital book released by Auckland Transport for Māori Language Week.

Police are investigating a complaint against a member of the public who gave a child a ride home in a van.

Te reo Maori it is primarily an oral language and has survived long enough now to suggest it will not be lost. But imagine how much better it would be if it was celebrated.

Primary school principals are being urged to pay for one-stop media training to prepare for crisis situations.

The Government is promising 239 new classrooms for Auckland schools over the next 18 months as many reach capacity.

Children today can be familiar with computers by the time they learn to walk. They quickly understand how to manipulate images on a touch-screen and play video games.

The decision to keep a failing charter school open was based on data that showed the children had virtually nowhere else to go.

Inequality reigns across primary school children's reported ability to learn to read, write and do maths, national data shows.