There's a lot more to modern schooling than the three Rs. One Hamilton school is teaching boys the three Ts: tie tying, tyre changing and steak cooking.

The parents of girls as young as 10 are paying $700 each to enter their daughters in a junior Miss World beauty pageant.

Although parents can be fairly sure that school will provide their children with grounding in the basics - the question has to be asked: will it get them ready to deal with life in a fast and unpredictable world?

Prime Minister John Key wants New Zealand to be a "magnet for investment" but his Government faces a big sales job to persuade New Zealanders that "foreign" investors and "big business" should be embraced.

His son was shot dead by an air rifle while drinking alcohol with his friends - but the victim's father says he isn't angry with the teenager who pulled the trigger.

Fran O'Sullivan called on Prime Minister John Key to be "bold and courageous" and "get serious on youth employment" upon his return from Hawaii. Excellent stuff.

Almost 800 girls under 18 were married in New Zealand in the past decade, and women's rights activists believe a number of those marriages were against the will of the brides.

Twenty-four cases of lead poisoning from guns were reported to public health authorities last year amid concerns of exposure at an underground shooting range in a youth centre building.

Two young girls in trouble last week after crashing their parents' cars are unlikely to face charges.

The nerves of thousands of high school students remain on edge after NCEA results were released yesterday only to be withdrawn and the website shut down.

An indoor shooting range under the Youthtown youth centre in central Auckland has been shut after shooters were exposed to high levels of lead.

Two months ago an 18-year-old Kiwi raised in Australia made a last vain bid to stay in the country he called home.

Michael Thomson says he has received a lot of advice as he leaves secondary school to study for a university degree in social sciences.

The condition of a 10-year-old boy who was pulled out of a west Auckland swimming pool yesterday has improved.

Parents are being urged to hide their car keys after two young sisters took their parents' cars and crashed into each other.

Adolescents living in the most deprived areas in New Zealand drink almost twice as much alcohol than their peers living at the other end of the scale, a joint study has found.

New mother Shayna Haddon counts her son lucky to have been born in New Zealand and says she is looking forward to seeing the kind of person he will grow up to be.

Three people drowned in New Zealand waters this official Christmas holiday period - between 4pm Christmas Eve and 6am today.

A spate of attacks on older people over the holiday period has been described as "the most feral form" of behaviour in society - but not an indication of a new social trend.

Two 12-year-old cousins who have won official praise for their bravery are to meet the man they saved from drowning.

A 15-year-old drink driver was on a 24-hour curfew when he allegedly stole his friend's father's car and was spotted driving with no headlights on Saturday.

Coroner Wallace Bain is calling for action over the "frightening" number of butane sniffing deaths, warning that even one huff can kill.