Sending children as young as 9 overseas for six months is a growing trend in the UK, where it's seen as one of the best ways to learn a second language.

The Govt will spend $200,000 on a nationwide letter and brochure drop to inform people about new educations standards in place from today.

Today marks the beginning of the school year and the start of National Standards, but it should be business as usual for children heading to class.

John Key is trying to shut down concerns about national standards by saying decisions on how the data will be publicly reported are too far away to worry about.

Principals are worried that primary schools in poor areas will be made to look bad when national standards are introduced next week.

The Ministry of Education was forced to intervene in almost 50 at-risk schools last year, more than four times the amount from 2007.

Children who learn to read at age five are unlikely to be better readers than children who learn to read at seven, according to new research.

Hundreds of Auckland primary school principals want the introduction of national standards to be delayed so they can be tested.

Anne Tolley says she will sack the boards of primary schools which allow teachers to boycott national standards, saying they would be refusing to obey the law.

A primary school's chocolate fundraiser turned into a debt-collection exercise after parents failed to cough up around $3000.

Foreign students could study in NZ primary schools without the need for a legal guardian if pastoral care rules are relaxed.

Greater powers are needed to censure private schools which are not up to scratch, the Law Commission has recommended.

Only 2 per cent of high schools are ready for an extensive overhaul of the national curriculum in five months, a report says.