School Donations

The Education Act clearly states that every child between the ages of 5 and 19 years, who is not a foreign (fee paying ) student, “is entitled to free enrolment and free education in any state school.” Schools can charge for any ‘take home’ components of courses such as art works, and can charge for extra curricular activities.

Schools can ask for donations to cover general costs.

The Ministry of Education guidelines state they should make it clear to parents the donation is voluntary and the word ‘fee’ should not be used. The Raglan Area School Board of Trustees does ask for a donation and, further, suggests what this might be.

We suggest $100 per year for one child, $150 per year for two, and $180 per year for three or more.

Clearly this is a suggested guide and we gratefully accept any donation or koha from whanau and community. Some give more generously than the suggestion and we really appreciate that they can and do.

It is my view that whanau and community do ‘give to the school’ in other ways too. We acknowledge and appreciate other koha including time, energy, and specialist support, including gardening, support for learners, work in the library, creating and managing resources and a myriad of other examples. See our Get Involved page for more information on this.

Money that is donated attracts taxation rebates and we provide receipts for koha so that whanau can claim these just as they would for other donations to charitable organisations.

We are often asked how these donations might be used and the answer is “in many ways” including, supporting learning opportunities outside of the curriculum (for instance the upkeep of the recreational camping area on the peninsular), subsidizing travel and supporting the use of two vans for student trips, ensuring that students that are impoverished are supported, for extra staffing for health provision, and a raft of other endeavours that are not easily managed within the schools operational grants from the Ministry of Education.

We trust that we always have your support and acknowledge that this can be varied and we do ask that you consider giving a donation.