Education Minister Hekia Parata today opened one of two new learning hubs in the Whanganui region to inspire and enable young Māori to achieve their NCEA and plan for their future.

“This is an opportunity for Māori aged 16 to 18 years to get back on track, catch up or get ahead with their NCEA Level 2 qualification.

“I especially want to encourage young people who have already left school without NCEA level 2. It is not too late to access the support to enable you to achieve the skills and qualifications to succeed in life”.

Education Minister Hekia Parata visited Waiheke Island today to announce just over $40 million for the rebuild and upgrade of Te Huruhi School and Waiheke High School.

“This announcement is the result of more than two years’ work and completes an important phase in what is one of our most complex redevelopments,” says Ms Parata.

Brand new buildings will be provided for Te Huruhi School in a new position on the school grounds. Most of the buildings at Waiheke High School will be upgraded, although some will need to be rebuilt.

Education Minister Hekia Parata has today released figures that show student stand-downs, suspensions and exclusions are at their lowest levels since records began 16 years ago. At the same time the number of students skipping school is also going down.

“These figures are really positive for our young people. They show that students are spending more time in class, which is vitally important for their future prospects,” says Ms Parata.

Education Minister Hekia Parata and Associate Education Minister Nikki Kaye have welcomed today’s Supreme Court decision about the Ministry of Education’s case against Carter Holt Harvey over leaky school buildings.

In 2013, the Ministry started legal proceedings, on behalf of schools, against Carter Holt Harvey and others, alleging the supply of defective building products.

“Today’s judgement is a major victory for New Zealand taxpayers as it upholds the entirety of the Ministry’s position and awards legal costs,” says Ms Parata.

Education Minister Hekia Parata has announced that Halswell Residential College in Christchurch will become fully co-educational from next year.

Since 2014, the boys’ school has been able to take up to five girls, or 40 percent of its roll. The school has a waiting list of female students whose families wish them to attend a co-educational school.

“Making Halswell Residential College fully co-educational will make its services available to more of our young people with the highest needs,” says Ms Parata.

Education Minister Hekia Parata has today congratulated 30 highly-accomplished Māori and Pasifika student teachers who have been awarded Kupe Scholarships.

The prestigious scholarship aims to attract Māori and Pasifika high achievers to the teaching profession and support them to become inspiring teachers and role models in early childhood, primary and secondary education.

“I’m delighted by the outstanding calibre of scholars that the Kupe Scholarship continues to encourage into a teaching career,” says Ms Parata.

A Gisborne principal has today become acting principal of an Adelaide school as part of the first-ever South Australia/New Zealand Principal Exchange programme, says Education Minister Hekia Parata.

Steve Berezowski, Principal of Te Wharau School, has swapped places with Tracey Davies, Principal of Richmond Primary School, for the duration of term three.

Education Minister Hekia Parata has set aside her interim decision to close Redcliffs School and discussion has been initiated on relocating the school to an alternative site in Redcliffs.

Ms Parata says at the same time as that discussion is taking place further specialist advice will be sought about the possibility of negative psychosocial effects for children attending school on the original Main Road site.

Digital technology is to be formally integrated into the New Zealand Curriculum and Te Marautanga o Aotearoa, Education Minister Hekia Parata announced today at the NZTech Advance Education Technology Summit in Auckland.

“This is the first change to the New Zealand Curriculum since its introduction in 2007 and reflects our Government’s commitment to championing 21st century practice in teaching and learning,” says Ms Parata.

Around 90,000 New Zealand children will receive a free book as part of Government Book Week which begins today, says Education Minister Hekia Parata.

Government Book Week is run by the Duffy Books in Homes programme. Each student at the 500 schools in the programme receives five free books of their choice every year, which they can take home and keep. The Ministry of Education funds one of these books during Government Book Week.

In celebration of Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori (Māori Language Week) 2016, Education Minister Hekia Parata has announced the release of three new resources to support te reo Māori in the classroom.

The new resources include a trilingual digital book designed by Kiwa Digital and Core Education for deaf Māori students but is accessible to all deaf students.

Education Minister Hekia Parata today announced that Communities of Learning are to get expert partners to work with them on their achievement challenges.

“Some 117 Communities of Learning have now been formed to focus on students’ whole education pathways from early learning to tertiary and the specific learning challenges of every child.

“Information and data is now available like never before and it is essential that the best use is made of it to lift learning,” Ms Parata says.

Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce and Education Minister Hekia Parata have today announced the launch of ‘FindMyPath’, a new website to help young people explore qualification pathways and figure out what they should study to achieve their career goals.

Around $37 million will be invested in school property in Otago and Southland, say Education Minister Hekia Parata and Associate Education Minister Nikki Kaye.

This investment includes:

The new $14.9 million Lyttelton Primary School was officially opened by Education Minister Hekia Parata today.

The school, which opened its doors at the beginning of this term, is the result of the merging of Lyttelton Main and Lyttelton West schools. It is built on Lyttelton Main School’s former site and will accommodate up to 300 students.

“Lyttelton Primary School’s new teaching spaces will support a wider range of effective teaching practices and a lift in achievement for kids,” says Ms Parata.

Education Minister Hekia Parata has announced that 46 innovative teaching projects involving 114 schools and 6 early childhood education providers have won funding worth a total of around $3.6 million over the next two years.

Ms Parata says the Teacher-Led Innovation Fund supports teams of teachers to develop innovative teaching practice to raise achievement for kids.

Education Minister Hekia Parata has paid tribute to a generous bequest and a special partnership between Shirley School, Ngāi Tahu, Massey University and the Ministry of Education.

Ms Parata says the partnership is behind the implementation of ­Hangaia Te Urupounamu Pāngarau Mō Tātou­, a new culturally responsive maths programme for Shirley School.

Education Minister Hekia Parata has initiated consultation with the board of Salisbury School over the school’s future.

“The Nelson boarding school has a long history of educating girls with high and complex needs, but the successful implementation of the Intensive Wraparound Service (IWS) has reduced the demand for residential schooling,” Ms Parata says.

Since 2011 Salisbury’s roll has fallen from 72 to nine, pushing the per student cost of educating girls at Salisbury up to $214,909.

Education Minister Hekia Parata has welcomed the creation of an online guide to help schools make the best use of teacher aides.

“This is a useful resource that complements the $15.3 million Budget increase in funding for teacher aides over the next four years,” Ms Parata says.

“Teacher aides work alongside teachers in our classrooms to enable students with additional learning needs to become more independent and confident,” Ms Parata says.

Education Minister Hekia Parata has congratulated students and schools on achieving the best-ever results in NCEA.

“The hard work of our teachers, principals and kids is paying dividends,” Ms Parata says. “Every year more of our young people leave school with the tools they need for adulthood.”

Final results for 2015 show roll-based Level 1, 2 and 3 NCEA achievement rates rose by between 1.5 and 3.2 percentage points last year to 74.4, 76.4 and 62.7 per cent respectively.

Forty-five years of service to education were recognised in Auckland last night when Dame Karen Sewell was awarded a lifetime education achievement award, Education Minister Hekia Parata says.

“Throughout her career Dame Karen has focused on lifting achievement for all students,” Ms Parata says. “She once said ‘for me, it has been immensely satisfying to have served young New Zealanders all my adult life, and I have also considered it a great privilege to be a public servant’.

Education Minister Hekia Parata has congratulated McAuley High School on winning top honours at the 2016 Prime Minister’s Education Excellence Awards.

The Auckland girls school was a finalist in three categories and, in addition to winning the Supreme Award, won the Excellence in Engaging trophy.

A fund supporting teachers to develop innovative practices will be extended for an extra two years, Education Minister Hekia Parata announced today at the Education Council’s Communities of Learning Leadership Forum in Wellington.

Leaders from Communities of Learning across New Zealand and international education experts, including Anthony McKay and Professor Linda Darling-Hammond, were the first to hear that the Teacher-Led Innovation Fund will now run until June 2020. Additional funding of $8 million will take the total invested to $18 million over five years.

Around $3 million will be invested under Budget 2016 to expand the capacity of schools in Taranaki and Whanganui, say Education Minister Hekia Parata and Associate Education Minister Nikki Kaye.

Minister Kaye made the announcement today during a visit to Mangorei School in New Plymouth.

“This investment will provide a total of eight additional classrooms,” says Ms Parata.

The schools receiving new classrooms are: