General News

Children are being diagnosed with hearing loss much earlier than before thanks to the rollout of newborn hearing screening across the country this year.
Previously the average age of finding out a child in NZ had a hearing loss was 45 months but now it can be within days of birth.

Top NZ independent boarding school, Wanganui Collegiate, has launched a Ballet Academy and is holding auditions for its first intake in October.
Headmaster Tim Wilbur explains; “NZ is crying out for a ballet academy in a boarding school environment where the ballet students will not only get an excellent international education but also world-class ballet tuition.”

An award-winning choir from Auckland’s Diocesan School for Girls has scooped two top prizes at an elite international competition in China.
The 40-member Virtuoso Voce choir from the all girls Anglican independent school has returned home with two magnificent glass trophies after winning a Silver Award and the International Friendship Award at the 10th China International Chorus Festival in July.

Education consultancy Cognition Education won the Consultants & Services Exporter of the Year Award at the Auckland Export Awards earlier this month.
Cognition has grown from a supplier of support services to NZ schools (called Multiserve) to a multimillion-dollar enterprise exporting NZ educational values and systems throughout Asia, the Middle East and beyond.

The Nestle NZ, Cambria Park factory in Wiri, Manukau, has donated $25,000 this year to the Wai Care Environmental Program which focuses on environmental sustainability, particularly around water. This is the 8th year that the Nestle Cambria Park team has contributed to this important local initiative, with the funding enabling projects to be taken to local schools.
The money will be used to educate students and promote environmental sustainability in Manukau schools, particularly in relation to waterways.

High school can be a mysterious and daunting place for many young children. That’s why Duffy Books in Homes is working to bring high school students into almost 550 primary and intermediate schools to share their experiences of senior school life.

NZEI says expert research on National Standards backs up the deep concern being expressed by principals and teachers and proves that they are doing thousands of children a disservice.
The New Zealand Council for Educational Research has found that about 35 per cent of Year 8 students will not reach the National Standard in maths despite making normal or satisfactory progress for their age on the Progressive Achievement Test.

According to the English Language Providers survey, there were 41,798 international students enrolled in English language schools in the year ended March 2010, Statistics NZ has said.
This is an increase of 4,808 (13.0 per cent) from the previous year.

See the changes that took place in NZ following World War II and how they transformed the Kiwi way of life forever.
Between July 1945 and March 1946, 73,000 men and women came home from serving in the War overseas.
Upon their return a number of astonishing developments were made including a total re-construction of the roading system in Auckland, the first automatic traffic lights were installed and a Royal Commission in favour of building the Harbour Bridge was passed.
In this new exhibition, notice the change in social structure in NZ once the war was over as women who had stayed behind and adapted to masculine war time roles returned to their jobs as mothers and homemakers.

More than 370 kids from across Auckland descended on LynnMall Shopping Centre over the July school holidays, donning their chef hats and aprons in aid of a fabulous cause.
The Kids Cook at LynnMall campaign aimed to teach young ‘masterchefs’ basic cooking skills and about healthy eating, while supporting the Foundation for Youth Development (FYD). Over the two week period, the campaign raised more than $4,300 for the Foundation.