At a time when violence, bullying and antisocial behaviour in schools across the country never seem far from the headlines, it is reassuring to know that our schools are trending in the right direction.

It is also, we dare to suggest, no accident.

Local schools and the Department of Education have invested significantly in behaviour modification and educational programs designed to make students more aware of the rights of others.

Concerted action has also been launched to stamp out bullying – a schoolyard practice once tolerated that now falls well and truly into the zero-tolerance category.

These initiatives, coupled with changing community attitudes and – we hope – positive behaviour reinforcement in the home, are apparently working.

An example of the new approach to keeping our schools safe is the positive-behaviour learning program that was launched at Tamworth South Public School yesterday.

Part of a long-term approach to changing antisocial behaviours, the program is intended to identify core values and then to educate students about them.

The core values include mutual respect and tolerance.

ooooo

WE’RE with Kevin Rudd on this one.

The PM is absolutely spot-on.

The world would be a lovely place if banks responded to interest rate cuts as rapidly as they do to interest rate rises.

He was commenting on the decision by the big four banks to put their rates up within hours of Tuesday’s Reserve Bank decision to move by .25 per cent.

This contrasts strangely with the days – and weeks, on some occasions – we had to wait for the banks to respond to the interest rate cuts.

The big worry now is whether or not the major lenders will restrict themselves to just the .25 per cent increase.