Move over milk and lunch monitors - a cockroach infestation at an Auckland school has forced it to introduce roach monitors.

Senior education officials say the teacher drain from Auckland is reaching crisis point - leading to calls for an "Auckland allowance".

A move by one of the country's most exclusive private schools to take girls at a younger age has seen an exodus of 50 students from its competitors.

The Education Ministry's head of sector enablement and support, Katrina Casey, said a school had been directed to enrol the boy.

Illness has been a major factor in increasing numbers of children missing school.

It is our education system, not the dyslexic child, that needs to be the focus of our attention. There is a better way, writes teacher Mark Brace.

The trend is growing for programming to become the language of choice in schools.

When it comes to hooking young Kiwis on science, there might be no brighter way than making things glow in the dark.

Lack of support for special- and high-needs pupils was cited as the single biggest concern of 35 per cent of 104 principals.

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

Children learn to use strategies to build a wide repertoire of mathematical knowledge, write Murray Britt and Kay Irwin.

Falling maths grades will be addressed by "lifting" primary teachers' knowledge through more on-the-job training, the Government says.

There is no need for a major overhaul to the Numeracy Project, just modification so that rote learning is taught for the benefit of struggling pupils.

A report to be launched by the Minister of Education today criticises the way pupils are taught maths and calls on parents to demand a return to basics.

Primary schools are looking to adopt new policies that will see children begin at preset dates throughout the school year - meaning some will wait up to five weeks after they turn five.

An internet cafe owner has been criticised by police for a lack of "social responsibility" for allowing a schoolboy to play computer games during school hours.

Two teacher aides caught passing drugs at an Auckland primary school have resigned today.

An Auckland primary school has suspended two teacher aides after they were snapped exchanging cannabis in the staff room.

With more children coming to school hungry, a scientific study will for the first time guage the impact nutrition — or lack of it — has on learning.

Ongoing problems with Novopay and why a struggling charter school has not been shut down have been raised with the Ministry of Education in a select committee hearing today.

Furious parents in an upmarket city suburb are digging deep for what could be the country's most expensive school PE tops.

The scrapping of nearly one million book loans to schools each year will let down students who are not prepared for digital alternatives, the Labour Party says.

Education Minister Hekia Parata has released figures for the first time showing iwi by iwi how Maori children do in early childhood education, primary school and NCEA.

Schools' latest stationery demands are making some parents mad enough to cry - especially the discovery that tissues are now listed among their children's essentials.

Settling into a routine as soon as possible is one of the best ways to give your child a good start to school, a leading principal says.

Auckland is a great place - but it can be even better. In the second of our five-part Future Auckland series we aim to stimulate debate. Teuila Fuatai reports.