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Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce and Education Minister Hekia Parata have congratulated the twelve New Zealanders who are recipients of New Year’s Honours for their services to education.

“I’d like to congratulate the 2016 recipients for the valuable contribution they’ve made to education in New Zealand and internationally,” Mr Joyce says. “It’s great to see some of the best being honoured for their services.”

Classes may have stopped but the Government’s investment means lots of building work will be happening in schools over the holidays, with around 100 significant projects of over $3 million each currently on the go, says Associate Education Minister Nikki Kaye.

“Christmas and New Year is an important time to undertake redevelopments because it enables the least disruption to students and teachers,” says Ms Kaye.

Education Minister Hekia Parata has advised the Ngā Parirau Mātauranga Charitable Trust that she proposes to terminate the agreement under which it runs a partnership school at Whangaruru.

Ms Parata, who met with the board on Tuesday, says a specialist audit conducted in October shows the current board has made significant progress in addressing the governance and management issues that caused her to issue the trust with a performance notice in February.

Education Minister Hekia Parata says she is delighted so many members of the public have taken the opportunity to have their say on the future of education.

When submissions on the proposed update of the Education Act closed last night 1814 submissions had been received.

The Government will invest $12.3 million to redevelop two more Wellington schools, Newtown School and Ngaio School, Associate Education Minister Nikki Kaye announced today.

This follows last week’s announcement of an $8.5 million redevelopment of Kelburn Normal School in the capital.

“These two latest redevelopments will help address roll growth and a range of building and site issues, including weathertightness and structural strengthening, and will create exciting new innovative learning environments for students,” says Ms Kaye.

The Government intends to build and maintain six new schools around New Zealand using a public private partnership (PPP), Education Minister Hekia Parata and Associate Education Minister Nikki Kaye announced today.

“A public private procurement model is an innovative and proven way to spend taxpayer money efficiently,” says Ms Parata.

“It offers the significant advantage of having professional facilities managers take care of school property, freeing up schools to focus on teaching and learning.

The Government will invest $8.5 million redeveloping Kelburn Normal School in Wellington, Associate Education Minister Nikki Kaye announced today.

“This project will help address a range of building and site issues at the school, and create an exciting new learning environment for students,” says Ms Kaye.

“The school’s main teaching block, which is past its use-by date, will be demolished and replaced with a new two-storeyed building. The new block will be repositioned on the school site to free up space for hard courts and fields.

Education Minister Hekia Parata says six new research projects granted funding for the Teaching and Learning Research Initiative will benefits teachers and students for years to come.

Ms Parata has congratulated this year’s recipients of the fund, which has supported 125 high calibre projects since it began in 2003. 

“A lot of this research is focussed on improving outcomes for all students, no matter their backgrounds,” says Ms Parata.

Education Minister Hekia Parata says parents, school boards, students and home-based early childhood education providers will all benefit from the increased flexibility proposed by the Education Legislation Bill, which had its first reading today.

A new agreement with Microsoft will reduce IT complexity for schools and enhance access to the online world for students, enabling them to learn anywhere, any time and on any device, says Associate Education Minister Nikki Kaye.

Ms Kaye announced the new agreement between the Ministry of Education and Microsoft during a visit to Lyall Bay School in Wellington this afternoon.

Students are to be given the chance to earn NCEA credits by obtaining driver licences, Education Minister Hekia Parata and Associate Transport Minister Craig Foss announced today.

“Too many young people are missing out on jobs because they don’t have a licence and too many others are entering the courts system because they are driving without licences,” says Ms Parata.

With a week to go until submissions close, Education Minister Hekia Parata  is encouraging all those with an interest in education to have say on the update of the 1989 Education Act.

“Already 356 submissions have been received and I’m expecting to see many more in the coming days. The Act sets the legislative framework for education and it is vital that it is creates an environment that helps all children and young people to succeed educationally,” says Ms Parata.

Education Minister Hekia Parata has today released the findings of 156 Special Education Update engagement forums held by the Ministry of Education with over 3,650 people across New Zealand, including parents, families and educators.

Ms Parata also released an action plan that outlines how the Ministry will work with others to improve both frontline services and its sector support and stewardship.

Associate Education Minister Nikki Kaye today announced that around 90 per cent of schools are now connected to the $211 million N4L Managed Network, and she also released an outline of work underway to harness the power of digital technologies to transform teaching and learning.

“I’m pleased to make this announcement just over two years after the first school was connected to the N4L Managed Network, which gives schools access to fast, reliable, Government-funded internet and uncapped data for learning, says Ms Kaye.

The scope of redevelopments already planned for two Auckland schools has been expanded prior to work starting, to accommodate further roll growth, Associate Education Minister Nikki Kaye announced today.

“An extra $6.8 million will be invested in the Waterview Primary School redevelopment, taking the total value of this project to $17 million, and an extra $5 million will be invested in the Freemans Bay School redevelopment, taking the total value of this project to $18 million,” says Ms Kaye.

Education Minister Hekia Parata today congratulated Blenheim’s 18 primary schools, one intermediate and two high schools on becoming the first Community of Learning to agree on the achievement challenges that will drive collaboration between the schools.

“Blenheim has been the first region in the country to step up to the collaboration challenge and I want to acknowledge its leadership and the enthusiasm that this reflects,” says Ms Parata.

Marlborough Boys’ and Girls’ Colleges are to be co-located on a new site in   a development costing up to $63 million that will equip them with state-of-the-art buildings and technology, Education Minister Hekia Parata announced today.

“Co-locating the two schools on one site will enable them to share specialist facilities and strengthen the opportunities for collaboration between two key members of Blenheim’s newly-formed Community of Learning,” says Ms Parata.

Education Minister Hekia Parata says the Education Legislation Bill 2015 introduced today will amend eight statutes to improve administrative and governance arrangements for educational entities and funding organisations across the education sector.

Ms Parata says the Bill includes several improvements already signalled by the Government, as well as aligning the law with modern language and practices.

Such changes include allowing schools to change their opening hours with the agreement of their community.

A brand new Trades Academy will open in Southland next year, meaning secondary school students in every region of the country will now have the opportunity to gain practical skills while studying towards NCEA credits and tertiary qualifications, Ministe

Education Minister Hon Hekia Parata has announced that Turakina Māori Girls’ College will close on 27 January 2016.

The decision follows a second round of consultation about the state-integrated Presbyterian Māori girls’ boarding school during which two submissions were received.

Education Minister Hekia Parata has made an interim decision to close Redcliffs School in Christchurch because of ongoing concern about the unstable cliff behind the school.

“I know this isn’t the decision some had hoped for,” says Ms Parata. “However, I have considered the submissions, including expert advice, and I remain concerned about the potential for future disruption to education provision if the school returns to the Main Road site.

Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce and Education Minister Hekia Parata have welcomed a new report showing that New Zealand invests a larger portion of its public spending in education than all but a handful of other OECD countries.

Education At a Glance 2015, which was released overnight, shows that New Zealand ranks in the top two OECD countries for expenditure on both school and tertiary education as a percentage of total public expenditure.

A Centre for Education Leadership Excellence is to be established to build leadership across the education system, Education Minister Hekia Parata announced today.

The centre will be established by the Education Council of Aotearoa New Zealand, the newly formed professional body for teachers, and will be partially funded by the Ministry of Education which is contributing $250,000 to its set-up costs. Its initial focus will be the principals who have been selected to lead the new Communities of Learning established to foster systematic collaboration across the education system.

Education experts and policy makers from 12 countries are about to gather in Auckland for a three day summit devoted to meeting the needs of students in a rapidly changing world, says Education Minister Hekia Parata.

Ngā Kāwai Hono – Where the web of relationships and virtual connections meet is being jointly hosted by the Government and Global Education Leaders’ Partnership (GELP). It will be the 12th summit organised by the partnership established in 2009 to bring together key education thinkers.