As we navigate through the school year, I wanted to take a moment to share a transparent look at our school’s finances, how we allocate our resources and why your support makes such a significant difference to our students' daily lives.

Like many households, our school faces ongoing financial pressures. In most years, we run a deficit budget - simply put, we spend more than we receive across all income streams, including Ministry of Education (MOE) funding and our own fundraising efforts.

To bridge this gap and keep our school thriving, we actively explore alternative revenue streams:

• International Students: Building up our international student programme provides crucial income that directly supports our operational costs.

• Community Grants: While we have been successful with grant applications in the past, these funds have become increasingly competitive, harder to secure and incredibly time-consuming to apply for.

• Board Support: I’d like to extend a special thanks to our wonderful School Board, who generously choose not to take their board meeting payment fees. Instead, they direct these funds straight back into the school budget in order to positively impact our tamariki.

Where the Money Goes: Enhancing Our Kura

Every financial decision we make is guided by a single question: What is best for our students?

We strive continuously to improve our school environment, teaching tools and learning experiences. Here is a snapshot of where our funds go:

Property & Grounds Maintenance

This year, we received $38,000 from the MOE for property and grounds maintenance. However, keeping our school safe, warm and inviting costs us around $45,000 annually. We bridge this difference to cover essential repairs and continuous upgrades, including:

• Repairing staircases, bannisters and safety infrastructure.

• Upgrading to energy-efficient LED lighting.

• Installing heat pumps so classrooms are warm in the winter and cool in the summer.

High-Quality Digital Learning & Assessment

We now utilise more digital subscription services than ever before. While these platforms offer immense value, they also come at a significant financial cost.

• Tested & Trusted Tools: This year, a brand-new, free online SMART assessment tool became available. However, many schools using it struggled with its initial glitches. We chose to stick with PAT assessments - a tried, trusted and paid tool - because it offers reliable data that directly impacts student achievement and gives whānau clear, meaningful information about progress.

• Specialised Subscriptions: We invest in high-impact applications such as Hero, Writer’s Toolbox, Nessy and many others to enrich daily learning.

Rich, Future-Focused Experiences

We invest heavily in environmental education so our students learn to be true kaitiaki of our environment, alongside planning engaging, future-focused learning experiences tailored to meet the needs of every child. This includes specialised science resources and STEM and digital technology resources.

The Impact of the School Donation

Each year, we receive approximately 75% of our requested school donations. We are incredibly grateful for this. We fully understand that financial pressures hit home for many of our families, and we want to emphasise that this donation is completely voluntary - there is no obligation to pay.

At the same time, the reality remains that 1 in 4 donations goes unpaid. If we could work together as a community to get closer to that 100% mark, it would have an immediate, direct impact on our budget and allow us to do even more for our tamariki.

Think of government funding as the foundation and your donation as the flair. One gives us a school; the other makes it special.

Thank you to everyone who has already contributed this year, and to all our families for your ongoing support, time and care for our school community. Together, we can continue to make our kura the best possible place for our tamariki to learn and grow.

Ngā mihi nui,

Andrea