Decision required on whether the school stays in the scheme for 2021 or not

In 2019, the Upper Hutt College Board of Trustees decided to opt into the Government’s school donations scheme. This means that the Government pays the school $150 per student on the basis that the school will not ask parents and caregivers for a school donation. The school would also not ask for any money to cover the school curriculum eg subject donations, course materials, compulsory workbooks or day trips. The only thing the school can ask for relating to the curriculum is a donation for any overnight camp or fieldtrip, eg Adventure camps or Geography fieldtrips. Of course, the school is still able to charge for optional activities that students may choose to be part of, eg a sports teams, cultural group or events etc.

The funding received from the Government is considered sufficient to cover many costs relating to the curriculum and we made few changes to the delivery of our curriculum this year as we assessed the impact of this change in funding. Subjects such as Adventure are still offered, field trips still take place, and the resourcing of teachers and classes has not changed this year. However, it's hard to accurately assess whether the scheme has been sufficient to cover curriculum costs as it's only June, and we've had the lockdown.

We are now required to inform the Ministry of Education if we wish to continue to stay in the scheme for 2021. Given the uncertainties with the economy, we are mindful of the impact that requesting funds from parents and caregivers would have if we opted out of the scheme. We also have not had major issues with funding our courses and programmes to this point. Therefore, we are in favour of remaining in the school donation scheme for 2021.

If you would like to comment on this situation, have any questions, or feel that the school should opt out of the scheme, we welcome your thoughts – please email the Board – board@upperhutt.school.nz. The Board meets on Thursday 25 June to formally decide on this matter and parents and caregivers are welcome to attend the meeting.

For further information on the Government donation scheme, the Ministry of Education has published a document - http://www.education.govt.nz/assets/Documents/School/donations/MOE-Donations-Scheme-Info-A3-FA-Web-16-MAR.PDF