‘The announcement to trial an imported model of ‘charter school’ prompts us to ask ‘what is so wrong with the charter school model we have now?’ said Paul Drummond, President of the New Zealand Principals’ Federation.

New Zealand was the first country in the world to introduce charter schools and did so in the wake of the 1980s ‘Tomorrow’s Schools’ reforms. The charter is the document of accountability between the Board of Trustees and the Ministry of Education.

Here's the latest advice for 2012 from Gavin Price on  Managing Underuse from 2011, Starting a New Planner for 2012 and Banking Staffing seminars for Otago and Southland.

MANAGING UNDERUSE FROM 2011 at PP 22 IN PP 23 TO 26

Schools with underuse at pp 22 can choose to use some, all or none of that underuse by pp 26, then cash in the balance remaining at the close of pp 26.  If you decide to use some or all of it, be aware that you must overuse this year’s fortnightly entitlement to access that underuse from last year.

The gap between the advantaged and disadvantaged is rapidly growing in New Zealand and we have soared up the OECD inequality rankings. The gap between the highest and lowest paid groups in our society has now reached a level where we are seeing 20% of New Zealand children living in poverty.  The upshot of this, amongst other consequences, is that too many New Zealand children start their day without an adequate breakfast.