Kerre McIvor: Kids need free school lunches, they can t learn when they re hungry
15 May, 2021 05:00 PM
4 minutes to read
Some tips that might help encourage an empty lunchbox.
OPINION: I have long been a supporter of children being fed at school. Perhaps it was because I grew up on a diet of books and television programmes set in England where school lunches were the norm. Or, more likely, it was because my mum, who was a school teacher, used to head off to work every morning with four or five sandwiches and a bag of fruit in her bag to give to the kids who came to school hungry.
Kerre McIvor: Latest Covid 19 coronavirus outbreak reveals holes in Government s strategy
27 Feb, 2021 04:00 PM
5 minutes to read
The queue for Covid-19 testing at the Otara, South Auckland testing site on February 24. Photo / South Seas Healthcare
The queue for Covid-19 testing at the Otara, South Auckland testing site on February 24. Photo / South Seas Healthcare
OPINION
This latest Papatoetoe Covid cluster has highlighted just how fragile the contract is between the Government and the people. When news that the Papatoetoe High School cluster had spread, Aucklanders braced themselves for another lockdown. After all, that s what happens whenever there s a community outbreak.
Those fears were realised last night when Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced that Auckland was back in level 3, and the rest of New Zealand in level 2, for the next seven days.
Kerre McIvor: The NIMBYs might have a point
13 Feb, 2021 04:00 PM
4 minutes to read
Intensive housing can and should be done well. Photo / Alex Burton Back in the days when I had a house, it was right next to Wellpark College, a place where students of all ages studied natural medicine and the like. They were good neighbours. People who are dedicated to studying massage and aromatherapy and naturopathy are gentle souls, in the main. There was one bats t crazy woman of a certain age who clearly needed someone in her class to realign her chakras when she started yelling and ranting that we shouldn t have two car parks, that it was just greedy and she was going bankrupt paying parking fees. But she was not the norm.
Kerre McIvor: Critical maths - our kids are the collateral damage after years of teaching decline
6 Feb, 2021 04:00 PM
5 minutes to read
Teachers stream students into ability-based groups far more than their global counterparts do, meaning children with potential miss out.
Teachers stream students into ability-based groups far more than their global counterparts do, meaning children with potential miss out.
OPINION:
For as long as I ve been doing talkback radio, which is more than 20 years now, parents and grandparents have known something doesn t add up in the way we teach our kids maths. I couldn t count the number of phone calls I ve fielded from frustrated parents trying to help confused and despondent kids get their heads around their maths homework (and it s not because I didn t learn addition in my years at school that I can t count the calls).