Back to School: Northland schools ease a little bit of financial pressure for parents

Back to school - Leanne Otene, principal of Manaia View School making students packs with school administrator Sheryle Beckham. Photo / Tania Whyte

Thousands of Northland students are going back to school between tomorrow (at the earliest) and next Tuesday (February 8) as the holidays come to an end. The Northern Advocate is running three stories on the return as part of our back to school package. Here is our first story in the series.

Many Northland schools and principals are doing their best to ease some financial pressure for parents as students are back to school as we enter the third year of Covid-19.

Many schools in Northland have signed up a scheme with the Government to receive funding each year if they do not accept any other school donations.

Benefiting from this scheme, some schools are giving away free stationery, electronic devices, breakfast and lunches at school, subsidised or free uniforms, and now this year, face masks too.

Manaia View School in Whangārei is providing over $30 worth of stationery products for a flat $10, a Chromebook for everyone in year 4 and above, face masks, mask holder, and sanitiser for every student on joining the school this year.

Principal Leanna Otene has been planning for this since October last year and says many whānau across the country are struggling to make ends meet and Covid-19 alert level settings are making things tougher.

"We have always provided free stationery for all of our new entrants, so we have continued that this year.

"We are also providing a Chromebook to all our digital classrooms – all year 4 to 8. This is a substantial cost to families if they were to purchase their own and that's become quite a staple in the stationery list all across the country."

Manaia View is one of the nine Digital Immersion Schools in Tai Tokerau.

Otene said the cheapest Chromebook would cost easily more than $300 and the school cannot expect all the parents to purchase devices.

"We have large families in the school, for example, five or six kids of the same family are coming to the school, and three or four of them may be in digital classrooms. Every class from year 4 is a digital class.

"We made the investment quite some time ago and requested the parents to purchase it if they can. But we understood it was a very big ask.

"Tai Tokerau Education Trust has been supporting us with the initiative and we are grateful for the sponsorships and grants we receive from other organisations."

There are just over 160 students working one-to-one with digital devices at Manaia View.

The school staff would be providing every child with one mask and a plastic bag to start the term with. The kids, after using their masks, can put them back into labelled bags when they go outside.

Otene said the school had some "mask-relief areas", outside designated learning areas where they can take their masks off.

"They need that time. For the first week, we will have teachers in the buses in the mornings to make sure when kids enter the buses, they are given a mask. Also, to make sure bus drivers are not sending them away for not wearing masks.

"We have got enough masks to get through the first term, knowing we can start with five masks per child on our own stock, and then ministry will help with it after that."

Hora Hora Primary School principal Pat Newman said they were aware that many families and whānau were struggling with the expenses but the most important thing was that kids return to school.

Children will receive stationery, any picnics or education trips in the year, and basically anything they would require in a school, from the school.

The Advocate understands the school has spent a substantial amount on Pak'nSave food vouchers and will support many families with food packets.

Hora Hora Primary School principal Pat Newman with student packages for term 1. Photo / Tania Whyte

"We have looked at how can we actually help them because the most important thing to us is that our kids are at school, that kids are learning, and that this place is an oasis for the children.

"And for that to happen, we will have to provide for them. $20 for stationery for many families is a lot of money. I anticipate it will cost us over $10,000 a year over stationery.

"We have put extra money with the help of KidsCan so the kids can be provided with free breakfast and lunches.

"We want the kids happy and learn something here and that is why we are doing this. We know the parents' hands are a bit tight at the moment."