Simon Bridges National MP simonbridges.co.nz

One of the highlights of my job as a local MP is visiting schools. We have some great young minds and it is important that we nurture them to the best of their ability.

I love visiting the schools we have here in Tauranga and the Bay and engaging with pupils, who I believe will have a huge part to play in our region's future.

I know how much demand there is on our local school rolls, with so many people choosing to move here, which is why we have put funding and resources into building a new school to service the growing population in The Lakes and Pyes Pa, and also building new classrooms for several schools in and around Tauranga.

The Government also wants to support Kiwi teachers, as we recognise the hugely important role they play in our children's lives.

Right now we have enough teachers but they are not necessarily in the areas or subjects we need them in. So we're investing more than $9 million during four years to address teacher supply pressures.

This means an extra 100 Teach NZ Scholarships worth $1.8 million a year for science, technology, and maths subjects, to lift the number of graduates in these areas.

We're also going to expand national and international recruitment by increasing our investment in campaigns.

We are supporting our teaching workforce to ensure every Kiwi child gets a good education.

We also recognise that children are unique and learn in different ways, which is why the Education Update Amendment Bill recognises the impact technology is having on education by introducing Communities of Online Learning – known as COOLs.

This means we are giving Kiwi kids access to formalised online education, providing another option for parents and their children as part of our drive to have diversity in the education system.

Our children deserve the best education and we are working hard to deliver that to them.