A principal and her husband who admitted siphoning more than $30,000 from a decile one school in South Auckland have been sentenced to home detention.

A former teacher at one of the country's top secondary schools has appeared in court charged with committing an indecent act at the school.

One of New Zealand's first charter schools is urgently searching for teachers and has turned to outside help for lessons just over a month after opening its doors.

Editorial: To obtain the right answers, it is necessary to ask the right questions. Asking the wrong questions invites only obfuscation or a muddying of the waters.

The distraught parents of an infant who needed hospital treatment after being repeatedly bitten by a 2-year-old boy at a preschool.

A principal and her husband siphoned off more than $30,000 from a decile one school in South Auckland and splashed out on themselves.

There will be less chance of dodgy teachers resurfacing at other schools under legislation to be introduced in Parliament today, Education Minister Hekia Parata says.

Respectful attitudes to sex would become a core part of sex education in schools under an overhaul recommended to the Govt.

New Zealand's most at-risk school students should receive similar funding as those who are attending controversial charter schools, those involved in alternative education say.

The Government is working towards more charter or partnership schools beyond the five already approved Prime Minister John Key said ahead of the opening of the first one today.

A top Auckland secondary school is asking parents to shell out more than $1000 when their sons return to class in two weeks' time.

New "executive" and "expert" positions in schools could have wide-reaching effects - including more-energised teachers and reduced competition between schools.

National has managed to win praise from many of its usual critics - even the teacher unions - for its latest policy to try to lift student achievement.

PM John Key is today expected to unveil a plan that will allow the boards of some poorly performing schools to hire high performing principals with big pay incentives.

Education Minister Hekia Parata is preparing for an embarrassing drop in New Zealand's education rankings in an international survey next week.

Parents are fuming at early-childhood education centres that charge for public holidays, when the doors are shut and children are not able to attend.

The Education Minister has defended national standards despite an independent report which found teachers get them right only 60 per cent of the time.

Nearly half of the millions of dollars mistakenly overpaid to teachers by Novopay has not been given back - with repayment rates as low as $2.50 per week agreed on.

A primary school's board of trustees has been taken over by the Govt, after refusing to implement controversial National Standards data - a move labelled alarming and heavy-handed.

Schools are illegally pressuring difficult students to leave and an independent authority needs to be set up to review expulsions and exclusions, a community law advocate says.

The Novopay debacle is being blamed for delaying the release of National Standards data - an excuse described as odd by a leading unionist.

Parents should have the option to drop their 4-year-old off at school, says a principal who is set to open a preschool on his school's grounds.

Schools are bracing for the biggest changes to their funding in seven years, as officials measure how rich or poor their pupils' families are.

At 3pm every weekday it’s a circus outside most primary schools in the country as parents vie for a parking space so they can collect their children.

Children's marks in National Standards will be artificially lowered this year because last year's assessment was too easy.

The report plans for the creation of a "Finishing School for New Zealand Political Aspirants - the Cabbage Boat Academy", writes Toby Manhire.