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And because book burning Tolley got it taken down from the parliamentary website you can see a copy here.

Just thought I’d post some best wishes to Tau Henare who is recuperating in hospital from a heart attack. He fessed up to reading Red Alert so I know he’ll see this.

The rumours that he really booked himself in for liposuction and stomach stapling because he was scared he’d lose the $20 Biggest Loser bet are untrue.

All the best for a speedy recovery Tau. With Hone now in charge of the Maori Affairs Select Committee anything could (and probably will) happen.

You know all those things you’ve told him he can’t do? Well he’s in charge now.

We’ll try not to leave too much of a mess for you to mop up when you come back.

Purely out of concern for the health of the Chairperson of the Maori Affairs Select Committee (Tau Henare), I bet him $20 I could lose 10kg faster than him.
Parekura overheard and thought he’d be in on the wager.
Mita Ririnui and Hone Harawira overheard Tau and I talking about the weigh-in, and thought that they could benefit from a bit of diet and exercise, and before you know it the whole event has grown legs with the Dom Post putting it on their front page, Te Karere, Te Kaea and Breakfast are all doing stories on it.
Close-Up has interviewed us all and will follow our progress each week for the eight weeks of the challenge.
Now I hear Simon Bridges, Paul Quinn and Shane Jones are all on board.
I can understand Simon and Paul needing to lose a few pounds, but Shane Jones? We all know he’s the epitome of physical perfection. An Adonis in his own mind. This has upped the ante – especially when he greeted me this morning with “Kia ora Twiggy.”
I thought I’d just cut down on food portions and go for a brisk walk a couple of times a week, now I’m hearing of nutritionalists and personal trainers being called into the mix. The others are obviously concerned.
We’re just waging $20 each, although one smart alec emailed a photo titled “The consequences of losing a bet at work” – some poor bugger obviously lost a bet at work, the consequence being he had to wear a Borat ‘man-kini’ for the day.This wouldn’t work for us. We have to wear a tie and jacket in the House.

So thirty thousand students a day are not at school. Sounds worrying. I guess 100% attendance is the aultimate goal.

But let’s look at that 30,000 figure. It represents 4% of the total number of students in compulsory education.

If a child is away for 4% of the school year that means they are absent an average of less than two days a term.

I don’t recall when Anne Tolley said she got the figures she’s quoting, but if it was last year we need to remember there was a swine flu scare and the Ministry of Health was asking parents to keep kids home if they had a sniffle.

When I was a Principal, teachers had to mark in the attendance register whether a student’s absence was justified or unjustified.

Justified meant the child was usually sick or at a bereavement. Unjustified meant they were truant.

I’d be interested in whether she’s done any analysis of justified vs unjustified absences. She needs to realise kids do get sick at times and some non-attendance is expected.

We had a dedicated volunteer chasing up non attendance everyday by ringing parents and writing letters if their attendance fell below our school attendance expectation. Our volunteer coped a heap of abuse from parents, normally the well- to- do- folk who thought we were being over aggressive in chasing up the non-attenders.

What was our attendance expectation? We expected students to be at school 96% of the time. We allowed a 4% absence rate – exactly the rate the Minister is talking about now.

One hundred percent attendance is desirable, but it appears Anne Tolley is trying to over-egg the situation, and my guess is she’s doing it to divert attention from her National Standards shambles.

One of the points from Heather Roy’s Step Change report is a need for cultural competence in schools. I agree.

It would be relatively simple to introduce a Cultural Audit into all schools. A cultural audit could be incorporated as part of ERO reviews. I’ve seen an example from a First Nation tribe in the U.S.

A cultural audit could look at – what and how teachers teach their Maori students. How do they involve Te Reo, customs and culture? How do they engage with students and their families? How does the teacher and school reflect the ethnic make up of the school in the curriculum, in the school grounds, in their practices and systems?

A cultural audit could be developed for any ethnic group represented in their student body.

If a school is found wanting in the way it relates to the various ethnic groups in its student and parent bodies, then professional development specific to meeting the needs of that ethnic group should be provided.

Again, it comes back to investing in teachers.

I like personalised learning programmes. This type of learning has been talked about for a few years now.

It makes sense that teachers, students and parents sit down and develop goals for the student’s learning and then together monitor the student’s progress towards achieving those goals.

It’s being done in many schools and is considered best practice. Those schools that aren’t doing it need to be identified and professional development provided to them so they can be brought up to standard.

It comes back to investing in teachers – not giving kids vouchers so they can swan off to another ‘provider’.