John Lewis

A 100-year-old kindergarten has been saved from closure at the ''11th hour''.

Christmas has come early this year for staff at Dunedin Hospital's children's ward, after the Countdown Kids Hospital Appeal yesterday gave $115,495 for new specialised equipment.

After crossing the equator into the South Atlantic Ocean, Stanley Paris has edged ahead of the world record-holder in his bid to become the fastest man to sail around the world.

When Jenny Clarke finishes school for the year, her thoughts will be turning to Finland.

For years, rumours have circulated around Kaikorai Valley College that Santa Claus has been working there as a teacher in the ''off-season''.

There are still many reminders of the late Charlie Boyes around Dunedin, but few may recognise them.

Persistence paid off for an Abbotsford School pupil who pestered All Black Ben Smith for months - including in person as a ballboy - to donate one of his jerseys to the school.

Police retrieved the body of a man body from Otago Harbour this morning, after it was discovered by a member of the public.

A Balclutha parent has resigned from her school's board of trustees because she believes it is not taking her concerns about Wi-Fi in classrooms seriously.

A Dunedin school has been left $18,000 a year out of pocket and others have been outraged as a result of changes to the Ministry of Education's school decile ratings.

An 18-year-old woman missing from her Mosgiel home for the past three days has been found safe and well.

It's an unusual sight. As a large group of Kavanagh College 16-year-olds leave their NCEA level 1 maths class, a small but cheery figure wanders among them.

For a total of 55 years, Ian Bartlett has been a mainstay in the Royal Dunedin Male Choir, and it is clear the 87-year-old is not about to slow down or retire any time soon.

The Ministry of Education has slashed funding to more than half of the schools on the Taieri by increasing their decile ratings in the latest decile review.

Officially, it is referred to by the Ministry of Education as a Modern Learning Environment (MLE), but George Street Normal School principal Rod Galloway affectionately describes it as a $1.2 million ''big living room'' in the middle of his school.

Jasper Seddon can spin a pretty good yarn, but readily admits not even he could have come up with a tale this wild about a young boy's success.

Dunedin Botanic Garden staff are on high alert following a break-in by someone they believe was looking for hallucinogenic drug-producing cacti.

Stanley Paris is now halfway between Barbados and Cape Verde in the North Atlantic Ocean, and revelling in being able to have hot showers again as he heads for the southern tip of South Africa.