Education

Four Southland schools are getting new classrooms and upgrades in a $62 million government education investment. Fiordland College will receive two additional classrooms, while Heddon Bush School gets one new classroom. The government has also allocated funding to address long-standing issues at Southland Boys' High School and Southland Girls&

Otago University is moving its Invercargill teacher training to SIT. Vice-Chancellor Grant Robertson visited SIT on Monday to sign a statement of intent that will shift the College of Education from its Nelson Street site to the polytechnic's main campus in Tay Street at the end of 2026.

Students with disabilities in Invercargill now have their own supermarket to master real-world skills. Front-Line Training opened a Mini Woolies site on Friday — a fully functional replica supermarket complete with fresh food sections, grocery shelves, working registers and Woolworths uniforms. The programme lets young people with disabilities practice handling money,

A new university research fund will cut red tape while directing academic effort towards economic growth. Cabinet has approved the final design of the Tertiary Research Excellence Fund, which replaces the Performance-Based Research Fund from 2027. The new system will invest $315 million per year in research capability across New

A 5-metre wooden pirate ship has sailed from an Invercargill workshop to a South City kindergarten. The massive playground was built by MenzShed volunteers at their Liddel Street location and installed last month at Nga Hau e Whai Kohanga Reo kindergarten in Balmoral Drive. The elaborate vessel stands 3 metres

Childcare centres will get extra funding six months early after the Government brought forward a $40 million boost. Associate Education Minister David Seymour announced the 1.5 percent subsidy increase will now come in July 2026, instead of January 2027. "There are few things as important to Kiwi parents

The Government has scrapped controversial homeschooling regulations after fierce opposition from families and ACT MPs forced Education Minister Erica Stanford to back down. The Education and Training Amendment Bill was due for its final reading today but will now return to committee to strip out the homeschooling provisions entirely. Stanford

Charli Gardiner-Hall is winning gold medals while studying for her degree online. The 18-year-old para-athlete took gold at the Oceania Athletics Championships in Darwin last week, setting new New Zealand records in the process. She also tops the 2026 world rankings in discus for her classification. Gardiner-Hall chose to study