Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced the Government will trial a new “intensive” mathematics programme during term one and two next year.

Luxon has been joined by Education Minister Erica Stanford at 4pm for his post-Cabinet press conference. A livestream can be found at the top of this article.

Around 2000 year 7 and 8 students will take part in the trial. It will include small group tutoring and supervised online tuition for 30 minutes – up to four times a week.

Education Minister Erica Stanford said the trial would involve students who were behind in their learning. She described the course as a “intensive support programme” that would help bring those students up to the required curriculum level in maths.

The trial would be held across both schools and kura, run for around 12 weeks and cost around $2 million, Stanford said.

“After discovering just 22% of Year 8 students are at the expected standard for maths, we launched our Make it Count Action Plan to give our teachers the tools they need to set students up for success.

“We’re continuing to supercharge our plan so students who need the most help, can catch up to where they need to be.”

An evaluation of the trial would then inform how to scale it up across the country from Term 3 next year, Stanford said.

It comes after the Government announced it had tasked NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) with considering two potential options for an additional Waitematā Harbour crossing in Auckland, with technical work expected to begin in the coming months.

It was the first significant update from the Government in months about a second crossing. Upon taking office, Transport Minister Simeon Brown was critical of the $56 billion option preferred by the previous Labour Government, which included two tunnels for cars and one for light rail, calling it “unachievable”.

There was limited information available about what two options the current Government was exploring, but they did involve a tunnel and a bridge.

Transport Minister Simeon Brwon confirmed the details over the weekend. Photo / Alex Burton

Brown told the Herald he had directed NZTA to “progress consideration of two options for an additional Waitematā Harbour crossing in Auckland” and the Government “expects an investment decision on this critical project to be received in mid-2026 to consider”.

Brown said over the next 12 to 18 months, NZTA would undertake geotechnical, environmental and utilities investigations to understand ground and seabed conditions. This was expected to begin either later this year or in early 2025 while an investment decision wasn’t expected to be considered by the Government until mid-2026

Labour transport spokesman Tangi Utikere said his party would be open to all options on the table as it is “critical Auckland does get an additional harbour crossing”.

“Whether they land on a tunnel or a bridge, we’ll be open to supporting those options, because when it comes to infrastructure, it’s too important to be just sort of starting and stopping,” he told the Herald.

But Utikere believed the Government should be acting with “urgency” to come to a decision on what alternative crossing it will green-light. It was disappointing that decision was so far out, he said.

Adam Pearse is a political reporter in the NZ Herald Press Gallery team, based at Parliament. He has worked for NZME since 2018, covering sport and health for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei before moving to the NZ Herald in Auckland, covering Covid-19 and crime.

Adam Pearse is a political reporter in the NZ Herald Press Gallery team, based at Parliament. He has worked for NZME since 2018, covering sport and health for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei before moving to the NZ Herald in Auckland, covering Covid-19 and crime.