School donations are a voluntary contribution towards the cost of running a school. Parents and whānau can choose to pay them in part, in full or not at all. In making a decision about paying school donations, it is helpful for families to know more about how donations work and what Amesbury School uses school donations for.

The Government runs a donations scheme for some schools (those with an Equity Index above 432) to opt in to, whereby the school will be paid an amount per student if the school does not ask families for a donation. Amesbury School does not qualify for this scheme, so we accept school donations from our families. 

Running a school costs more than the funding schools receive, and schools use donations and other locally raised funds to make up the difference. So what does Amesbury School use money raised through donations for? In an ongoing way each year we have several key areas where we target some of our funding:

• Keeping class sizes lower than the Ministry-funded ratios. We employ 2-3 additional teachers every year to keep our group sizes smaller.
• Providing a Chromebook device for every ākonga in Years 3-6, rather than asking families to provide their own device. Sets of shared ipads are provided for younger students.
• Providing the online IXL English and Maths learning programme for all ākonga.

Each year we also have a number of specific funding areas. In 2024 we have targeted the following areas where we have provided some extra resourcing:

• In Term 1 we ran a Kī-o-Rāhi and Māori games programme, which was run by outside facilitators (Kelly Sports) for all students for eight weeks. We'll be using funds raised from our New World Churton Park partnership to purchase our own Kī-o-Rāhi kit.
• We have signed up to the Garden to Table programme, with a pilot group of students now working on gardening and cooking. To support our gardening project, we'll also be building compost bins.
• Playhouse Theatre came into school in Term 2 to present their show "The Reluctant Dragon" to all students.

School donations from whānau help us to resource these key areas. Click on this link to see the donation payment details. It is good to note that any donations made to the school are eligible for tax credits, and payments can be made at any time time of the year, including paying in instalments each term or at key points through the year. 

School donations are now available for payment from the home page in your Kindo account.  NOTE: Kindo cannot change the details on your donation receipt, so please ensure your Account Holder name is correct BEFORE paying any donations. 

Thank you for your ongoing support with all of these great opportunities for ākonga.

Ngā mihi, 

the Amesbury team