Low blow for Far North kids after fundraising money stolen during alleged school break and enter

Oruaiti School caretaker Willie Walker points out the bizarre scene where alleged thieves had built a hut and strewn school property and uniforms throughout the front garden.

A group of Far North Year 8 students’ fundraising efforts have been devastated after money raised for an end-of-year camp was stolen from their school overnight.

Thousands of dollars raised to pay for travel costs to the annual Year 8 OCP camp in Tongariro were taken from Oruaiti School on Monday during an alleged break and enter in the early hours of the morning.

According to school principal Diane Bates, thieves allegedly broke into the school via the sick bay window, before ransacking school property and making their way into the school’s reception area.

It was there the culprits located the school’s safe, which contained the Year 8 camp money.

Bates said the students had worked hard to raise the funds and she was still in shock about the incident.

“Our caretaker gets here at about 6am and it wasn’t until it got a bit lighter that he noticed all the stuff from the sick bay, plus property from around the school, lying outside in the front garden,” Bates said.

“After that, we could see the latch on the sick bay window had been forced open and when our receptionist got here, she went into her office and saw all the money from the safe was gone.

“There was also this weird set up of a hut out the front, so I’m not sure if that was because there was a lot of rain last night or not, but it was strange.”

Bates confirmed the school’s security alarm had been activated at around 4.20am, yet on this occasion, the usual alert had not been sent to her phone.

New Zealand Police confirmed they had received a report of a burglary at an address in Mangōnui this morning.

A police spokesperson said it was too early to speculate on what had happened, but appealed to anyone with any information to come forward.

“The incident, at a school on State Highway 10, was reported to police around 8.10am,” the spokesperson said.

“Police are now in the very early stages to determine what has occurred and who is responsible.

“Anyone with information is encouraged to contact police via 105 quoting P059005725.”

Bates said while they hadn’t yet shared much with the students, she had reached out to parents, who had conveyed their upset and disappointment.

She also posted the incident to the school’s Facebook page, reiterating the police’s request for information.

The school's Facebook page, which appealed to anyone with any information to contact police.

Bates said despite now having to start from scratch, the school would ensure they found a way to get the students to camp.

“The feedback we’ve had from parents is that they’re pretty gutted and we don’t want to ask the kids to do more fundraising because they’ve already done so much,” Bates said.

“The actual camp cost for the trip was kindly donated by an amazing community member, with the additional fundraising to go towards travel costs, T-shirts and jackets for the students and any other additional costs.

“I think it’s really disappointing taking from kids, they’ve been working so hard selling raffles, but we’ll make sure they get there, we’ll make it work so they won’t miss out.”