Kaikōura Schools Vow To Work Together Despite Funding Cut
Kaikōura schools say they will continue to work together despite cuts in Thursday's Budget.
Seven teaching roles, plus teacher relievers, across the five Kaikōura schools will be impacted, with the Kāhui Ako (communities of learning) programme set to be axed in December.
Kaikōura Kāhui Ako lead principal Judith Ford, of St Joseph's Catholic School, said the collaboration between the schools had helped to smooth the transition from primary to secondary school.
''The biggest implication for us, is we will need to put something else in place to make sure the collaboration continues across the district.
''It is nice for us in a small community to work together and get to know each other, otherwise schools can become silos.''
Education Minister Erica Stanford confirmed the Kāhui Ako scheme, which paid about 4000 teachers extra to lead improvements in groups of schools around the country, will be scrapped.
The funding will be diverted help pay for more learning support co-ordinators and teacher aides.
''We have assessed underspends and reprioritised initiatives that are underperforming or lack clear evidence that they're delivering intended outcomes,'' Ms Stanford said.
Ending the Kāhui Ako programme means teacher contracts will need to be paid out and principals will be left navigating staff surpluses.
Kaikōura Primary School board of trustees presiding member Vicki Gulleford said the Kāhui Ako programme has been successful in bringing schools together.
She said her school was set to lose its resource teacher of literacy, which was shared with the other Kaikōura schools.
Mrs Ford said being part of Kāhui Ako had allowed teachers the opportunity for professional development which small schools would otherwise be unable to afford.
The Kaikōura Kāhui Ako has begun working with local pre-schools to support the transition to primary school.
A Ministry of Education spokesperson said by 2028 all year 1 to 8 schools will have access to a learning support co-ordinator at ratio of one to every 500 students.
Kaikōura has one learning support co-ordinator which is shared between the schools, with the four primary schools having between 20 and 130 students.
Kāhui Ako were established in 2014 and involved local preschools, primary and secondary schools working together.
There are 220 Kāhui Ako around the country, comprising nearly 2000 schools and around 1500 early learning centres.
The Kaikōura Kāhui Ako brings together Kaikōura High School, Kaikōura Primary School, Kaikōura Suburban School, Hāpuku School and St Joseph's Catholic School.
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Otago Daily Times
4 days ago
- Otago Daily Times
Majority support under-16 social media ban: poll
By Lillian Hanly of RNZ Political parties cannot agree on a social media ban, but more than half of New Zealanders support it for children under 16, according to the latest RNZ Reid Research poll. It comes as the government looks into options to restrict social media for young people, after a National Party members bill was dismissed by the ACT party as unworkable. National MP Catherine Wedd, with the backing of leader Christopher Luxon, put forward a members' bill last month which would follow Australia's lead on cracking down on the social media giants. The proposed law would require age verification measures on social media platforms. The ACT party dismissed the proposal, calling it hastily-drafted, simplistic and unworkable, meaning Luxon was prevented from pushing ahead with the policy as a government bill. ACT MP Parmjeet Parmar instead proposed a select committee inquiry which would look at the harms of social media for young people. Minister of Education Erica Stanford has been tasked with exploring options for legislation and implementation of possible restrictions and bringing those to Cabinet for consideration. In the latest RNZ Reid Research poll, 1008 respondents were asked: "Do you support banning under 16s from using social media?" Overall, 57.8% of those polled said yes, while 31.6% said no. 10.6% said they did not know. Taking a closer look according to party support, a significant majority of National voters agree with a ban - 75.1%, with only 18.8% of its voters saying no. Despite the party being opposed to a simple ban, 55.5% of ACT voters do support a ban, while 35.9% of its voters do not. The poll found 69.6% of NZ First voters supported a ban, while 23.4% of its voters do not. Less than half of those who vote for Labour and the Greens support a ban, with 46.7% of Labour voters saying yes and 37.1% of its voters saying no. Green voters are split with 43.7% saying yes, and 43.1% saying no. Te Pāti Māori voters also had mixed feelings, with 42.2% saying yes and 49.8% saying no. Politicians agree something needs to be done Luxon said parents, teachers and kids were calling for a ban on social media for under-16s, and he was confident National had the public's support on the issue. "Yeah, absolutely, I think the feedback we've had from parents, and from you know, teachers, and even from kids themselves has actually been really positive. So I think it's important we do act, as I've said before, and we've got Erica Stanford leading that work for us." ACT deputy leader Brooke van Velden argued any such ban should be enduring, and backed ACT's select committee investigation. "We actually need a lot of in-depth analysis as to what are all of the things that could happen before we even go to a full ban for under-16s, or even if it's feasible - but there needs to be a lot of in-depth analysis cross party, because we'd like something that's actually long-standing." Winston Peters said the idea needed serious study, with parents looking to lawmakers for help. "We don't think we have all the answers but it's worth a serious study because every objection you raise with it is fine until you've got parents who say 'look, we need help, we want the lawmakers to help us', and we think it's worth a serious investigation as to whether we can do that. "Whilst all the free marketeers and libertarians are making one argument out, [parents] still have the problem of trying to be a responsible parent where the utilities have been taken out of our hands and that's where we've got to step in." On the other side of the aisle, Labour leader Chris Hipkins was still curious to see how a ban would be implemented. More of Labour's supporters polled backed the idea than opposed it. "That's proven to be a challenge in Australia as well where they've been trying to do this and they still haven't managed to implement what they're proposing to do there, but we think there is a legitimate debate to be had about how to keep kids safe online." He said a lot of parents were concerned about what their kids were being exposed to online. For the Greens, co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick said a ban would be a blunt instrument and while there was real concern from parents, the focus needed to be on regulating the platforms. "We're kind of missing the point if we're only focusing on users themselves. Of course there is disproportionate impacts that young people do face but again this is why we want to have this issue considered in the round." She said people should realise social media algorithms were controlled by billionaires fixated on creating outrage and discontent. Te Pāti Māori does not have a formal position on a ban, but co-leader Rawiri Waititi said tamariki and parents needed to be aware and educated about the risks of social media. "The well-being and safety of our tamariki is the most important thing for us." 'Anything is better than nothing' - the public reacts Members of the public in Christchurch also had mixed feelings. Nicholas Steed said a ban could have some benefits, but the problem would be implementation because of the difficulty to regulate platforms. "[It] could be very difficult to actually enforce that, and get people to follow the rules." Ashton Owen said he had two young boys and navigating this issue as a parent was really hard. "There's so many risks for young people getting on social media, with things like bullying." Owen said a ban would be difficult, but the benefits would outweigh how hard it would be. "The well-being of our young people is going to far outweigh the costs of trying to navigate and keep it in place and monitor it. Anything is better than nothing." Fiona Cleve said a ban did not make any sense and would be incredibly difficult to implement. "The way they're going about it is not productive, it's not going to solve the problem. "It's going to be a whole lot of red tape for no actual gain." Cleve pointed out that a lot of the social media companies were based overseas, and questioned how a verification measure to check someone's age would be enforced. George and Harlan are aged under 16 and told RNZ young people would be able to get around the ban, but agreed there should be regulation. "TikTok - yes get that banned, it's very damaging actually," said Harlan. This poll of 1008 people was conducted by Reid Research, using quota sampling and weighting to ensure a representative cross section by age, gender and geography. The poll was conducted through online interviews between 23-30 March 2025 and has a maximum margin of error of +/- 3.1 percent at a 95 percent confidence level. The report is available here.
RNZ News
29-05-2025
- RNZ News
Immigration Minister Erica Stanford regrets email ‘spam' remarks after backlash
Immigration Minister Erica Stanford Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone Immigration Minister Erica Stanford said Thursday she regretted remarks made in Parliament earlier in the month when she likened unsolicited emails from Indians to "spam". When answering parliamentary questions about the use of her private email on 6 May, Stanford said she had received a number of emails from people in India asking for immigration advice, which she never responded to. She told RNZ she had been receiving emails from all over the world, and she would not have singled out any particular country if she could go back in time. Stanford said she never intended to upset anyone when she made the comments. "You know, it wasn't my intent to draw out one particular country," Stanford told RNZ on Thursday. "It was just a recent example that I happened to have in my head at the time. "If I could go back and not say that particular country, of course I would." When asked if she regretted making those remarks, Stanford said, "Looking back, of course". "I would have said many people from many countries e-mail me asking for a job and a visa, and I do treat those as spam because clearly no minister in any country would be expected to respond to such an e-mail saying, 'Can I please have a job' and 'Can I please have a visa' from someone who's not stepped foot in the country before," she said. On 6 May, Labour's Willow-Jean Prime asked Stanford to confirm every email related to her ministerial portfolios, which had ever been sent to or from her personal email account, had been captured for official record. The question followed revelations a day earlier that Stanford had used her personal email account for work purposes, including sending herself pre-Budget announcements to print out. "I have complied with the Official Information Act. I have also made sure that everything is available to be captured and have forwarded everything that I've needed to my parliamentary email address," Stanford said in response to the Labour MP's question. "I will acknowledge, though, in a very similar case to Kelvin Davis, I receive a lot of unsolicited emails like, for example, things from people in India asking for immigration advice, which I never respond to. I almost regard those as being akin to spam, and so there are those ones. But, similarly, other ministers have had probably very similar issues." Priyanca Radhakrishnan Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver Priyanca Radhakrishnan, a former minister of ethnic communities, made her displeasure with the remarks about unsolicited emails from India clear in a social media post on 10 May. "Earlier this week, in response to a question by @willowjeanprime the Immigration Minister felt the need to single out people from one country/ethnicity in a negative light," Radhakrishnan wrote. "If you're from India, don't bother emailing her because it's automatically considered spam. So much for the National govt's all-of-government focus on strengthening the relationship between India and NZ and focus on people-to-people links." Approached by RNZ, the minister initially defended her remarks , claiming Radhakrishnan's assertion was "incorrect". "As I advised the House, I receive unsolicited emails from people overseas to my personal email address, often requesting personal immigration advice," Stanford said. "In this instance, I recalled a recent email I'd received of this nature when answering in Question Time. I did not say it is automatically considered as spam, I said 'I almost regard those as being akin to spam'. "While these people are attempting to contact me as the minister of immigration, I have no ministerial responsibility for providing non-citizens with immigration advice, nor do my officials at Immigration NZ have any responsibility. "Therefore, these emails to my personal email address are not responded to. Emails sent to my official email addresses are managed appropriately by my office." Stanford's remarks have sparked anger in India over the past two weeks, with many mainstream media in the subcontinent devoting column inches to the story. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said Stanford could have expressed herself better , but meant no offence when she made comments about receiving emails from people in India. Veer Khar Photo: RNZ / Blessen Tom Members of the Indian community in New Zealand have also criticised the minister for her remarks. Veer Khar, president of the New Zealand Indian Central Association, expressed concern about Stanford's comments. "We find this characterisation ill-mannered, dismissive and inappropriate," Khar wrote in a letter to the minister. "While we appreciate that ministers receive a high volume of unsolicited emails, the specific reference to Indian-origin correspondence creates an unfortunate impression of bias against a community that has long contributed positively to New Zealand's economy, culture and society," he wrote. "Your comments not only risk damaging trust in the immigration process but also send an unwelcome message to aspiring migrants and Indian-New Zealanders who seek fair and respectful engagement with the government." Ravi Bajpai Photo: Supplied Ravi Bajpai, editor of Indian community newspaper Indian Weekender, said Stanford's remarks contained two core assumptions. "First ... is the way Stanford made the reference to Indians," Bajpai said. "[She] actually doesn't need [to] typecast a particular ethnicity. "Second one is more subtle. When the immigration minister herself is engendering such stereotypes, it will rub off on officials making frontline immigration decisions. "The Indian community in general feels the real question is about implicit bias. "[But] a lot of immigration advisors I have talked to say it's not just implicit bias, it's also explicit bias against a lot of applications they deal [concerning Indians]." Bajpai said the remarks had become a hot-button issue in the community because Indian media had picked it up. "Her remarks have made headlines on all the major news website. It also coincides with Foreign Minister Winston Peters' visit to India," he said. "When you are trying to crack a [free trade] deal with India, something you haven't been able to do for about 10-15 years, does it really help for your minister to say things like that?"
RNZ News
28-05-2025
- RNZ News
Luxon says Stanford meant 'no offence' with comments about emails from India
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi Immigration Minister Erica Stanford could have expressed herself better, but meant no offence when she made comments about receiving emails from people in India, the Prime Minister says. When answering parliamentary questions about the use of her private email, Stanford said she received a number of unsolicited emails. "I receive a lot of unsolicited emails like, for example, things from people in India asking for immigration advice, which I never respond to. I almost regard those as being akin to spam," Stanford said. Erica Stanford Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone The comments have since been covered in Indian media, including in Times of India and the Indian Express. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon told Morning Report he was not worried the comments would hamper New Zealand's relationship with India. Foreign Minister Winston Peters is due to visit India soon to progress work on a free trade agreement. Luxon said New Zealand had a "big" relationship with India. "Very confident in our relationships with our top to top level with our partners in India, we're working exceptionally well, we've already had our in person meetings on the FTA and you know Erica was just talking about a volume of unsolicited emails that she gets around the world actually on different issues. "There's no offence intended with any of her remarks. Could she have expressed it better? Maybe. But the point is I'm really relaxed about it." Priyanca Radhakrishnan Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone He didn't think Peters would need to discuss the matter during his visit. Labour MP Priyanka Radhakrishnan told First Up it was "unacceptable" for a minister to single out one ethnicity. "Ministers receive unsolicited emails from everywhere, but just to single out Indians, that's unfair, it's unacceptable."
