For many rural areas in New Zealand, the local primary school is the hub of the community. Where community halls may have been mothballed, or local pubs shut down, schools offer rural areas a meeting place – an area landmark that equals any Sky Tower or harbour bridge. But for many of these schools, looking at statistics alone can
fundraising team to create a
leave half the story untold. If a rural school has a small roll, does
Super Sport Day,” Scott says.
less funding mean less opportunity?
“Basically, it is a dress up
Not if you think outside the box. And for some Farmlands
day with themes and sports
shareholders, making sure their local school has everything it
such as golf, shot put, table
needs means some proactive fundraising.
tennis, dodgeball and claybird
And these are not your average bake sales.
shooting.”
Alfredton School is approximately 15km from Eketahuna,
The themes for the Alfredton
with a roll of 43 children and two teachers. The Board of
School fundraiser are just
Trustees and the community wanted three teachers for their
part of the attraction. In 2012,
school – especially with another 14 new entrants expected during
the theme was the Olympics,
the 2014 school year.
while last year there was a
Board of Trustees member and Farmlands shareholder, Scott Kennedy says the idea for the third teacher was supported throughout the community. However, funding from the Ministry of Education for a third teacher would only come if the school roll reached 51 by June 1st.
movie theme. The all-day event also has drinks and food for sale, with an evening auction rounding out the fundraising. The 2013 edition raised $23,000 for Alfredton School. “To come up with $23,000, for a school of just more than 40 kids,
Even then, Alfredton School would need to come up with the
is massive,” Scott says. “We had about 26 teams this past year
money for the first six months of the year.
and it just seems to be getting bigger and bigger – we get a lot of
"We needed to come up with the money for our third teacher, after we (the community) decided with the Board of Trustees we
school teams from Rathkeale College and other Masterton area high schools.”
definitely wanted another teacher here. So we put together a
| Alfredton School, like so many rural schools, needs community support to achieve lofty goals.
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