It's exam time for applicants hoping to run charter schools, the Act Party's competitive prod at state schools which are said to be failing too many Maori, Pacific and other "disadvantaged" kids.

United Future leader Peter Dunne has said he won't support a bill to introduce charter schools. However, the bill will go ahead with National, Act and Maori Party support.

There are no plans to replicate the way Christchurch schools have been rationalised elsewhere in the country, Education Minister Hekia Parata has assured primary school principals.

The 23 children in the classroom at Richmond Road School in Ponsonby are sitting on the mat, just like the kids in any other primary class.

Education Minister Hekia Parata has corrected an answer to Parliament about the resignation of Education Secretary Lesley Longstone.

Education Minister Hekia Parata is refusing to budge on Thursday's Christchurch schools closure and merger deadline in spite of an Ombudsman's Office investigation into the consultation process.

The Education Minister has accepted there's room for improvement after a rare move from the Ombudsman to investigate Education Ministry consultation processes

In this environment it almost defies belief that people continue to think they can fool the system, writes Shelley Bridgeman. Anyone who tries to cheat like this is clearly not thinking straight.

Up to half of NZ's primary teachers may not have enough maths knowledge to teach children properly under new methods, says the education expert who introduced the changes.

Kids at Kamo Primary School at the northern end of Whangarei are split down the middle over an offer of free milk from New Zealand's biggest company, Fonterra.

Weekend Herald stories about how children learn maths at school have prompted a flood of responses from readers and experts. Andrew Laxon explains what the argument is about.

Oh-kayyyy. So Mike Williams, a former Labour Party president, calls parents who try to get their kids into higher decile schools "dumb", writes Deborah Hill Cone.

The chances of the most disadvantaged students getting any benefit from a PPP school may be no better than the toss of a coin, writes John O'Neill.

It is many years since our primary schools adopted "new maths".

Stressed primary schools are struggling to fend off enrolment challenges from pushy out-of-zone parents.

Angry parents in a small coastal town claim changes to a school bus route will put children's lives at risk.

Parents can now pay school fees in some bookstores while picking up stationery packs as the battle for back-to-school dollars heats up.

The recent small surge in reports recounting child poverty in New Zealand make grim reading, writes Paul Moon, especially as so many of the conditions blighting children's lives can easily be remedied.

Researchers studying a school-based programme credited with reducing the rates of obese and overweight 7-year-olds have now found a reduction in asthma symptoms.

The most distressing thing about charter schools in the US is their role in increasing ethnic and socio-economic segregation, writes Robin Duff, which is a direct consequence of their not having to take local students.

Auckland's primary school principals are refusing to take on any new work with the Ministry of Education until it resolves ongoing problems with its new payroll system.

The charter schools advisory group wants those who have no teaching qualifications to be given official registration - a call at odds with Govt policy.