Papatoetoe Intermediate School has been forced to cancel its school camp this year because so few families could afford it.<\/p>\n
Despite attempts to keep the price down, only 160 out of 750 students confirmed they could go.<\/p>\n
As inflation hits its highest level in two years, at 4.1%, the cost of fuel, electricity, rates and groceries all continue to go up.<\/p>\n
RNZ’s Checkpoint is also aware of another school that been fundraising so no student was left behind.<\/p>\n
Papatoetoe Intermediate School principal Pauline Cornwell said it was clear the economic situation was having a major impact on the community.<\/p>\n
“We provide camp every two years, so the last time we went to camp, it was around $240, and this year, it’s over $350.”<\/p>\n
She said that parents simply could not afford the fee, and there was no way the school had enough to cover the gap.<\/p>\n
Cornwell said there were many factors out of their control that were driving up the price of the camp.<\/p>\n
“Petrol has increased and the price of transporting children to and from camp has increased dramatically.<\/p>\n
“We also have camp costs, so the camp that we go to is a great camp, but their staffing and consumer costs have increased markedly, and then our costs here at school, the payment of support staff to go to camp and the costs of supporting the children to get there and make sure that they’ve got the things that they need to have, all of that stuff’s increased.”<\/p>\n
‘We believe it’s important for them’<\/p>\n
Cornwell said it was incredibly important for the school to provide their students with the opportunity to go to camp, with many coming from low socioeconomic backgrounds or new immigrant families.<\/p>\n
“A lot of our students wouldn’t have this opportunity at all, so we believe it’s important for them to have a chance to go away and participate in things like bush walks and sleeping over together and eating together, as well as doing some of those activities that you just can’t do on site or in the city.<\/p>\n
“For our students, it’s a once in a lifetime experience for many of them.”<\/p>\n
She said the fact that there were unable to provide that opportunity was worrying.<\/p>\n
“The fact that we can’t provide the opportunity for our children, just simply can’t afford to bridge the gap, is just devastating.”<\/p>\n
Cornwell said she had heard of other schools having to cut back on their own camps due to similar issues around costs.<\/p>\n
“I’ve heard of schools that have reduced the length of stay, and I’ve heard of schools who’ve reduced the length of the variety of options for camp across the board, so it’s not just in low socio-economic communities, it’s across the board.”<\/p>\n
Auckland Primary Principals Association president Lucy Naylor said they were also hearing fewer schools were offering camps.<\/p>\n
“It’s definitely widespread, it’s definitely got worse in the last couple of years and I think for a lot of schools it would be an easy thing to let go because a lot of schools would perhaps see it as an add-on.”<\/p>\n
The rising cost of living was clearly having an impact, she said.<\/p>\n
“The cost of camps has been going up probably for three, four years now… the cost of living obviously impacts that.”<\/p>\n
Naylor said it was easy to see how the costs could quickly add up.<\/p>\n
“If you had a child in year six and one in year five, you’re paying for two school camps, plus the beginning of year stationery, plus the school donation, plus any equipment or bits and pieces you need for camp \u2013 so those costs would be huge.”<\/p>\n
While some schools may be forced to cancel camps, Naylor worried that there was also a cost to doing that.<\/p>\n
“It could be quite an easy thing for schools to let go of, but there is a cost to that and the cost is that those children that excel on camp no longer have that opportunity, which would be a real shame, because it is quite a New Zealand thing, quite a Kiwi thing, an experience.”<\/p>\n