While state education is meant to be free, there are costs involved. Uniforms, stationery and extra-curricular activities are at the expense of parents, but textbooks are usually provided without charge.
Most state schools charge an ’activity fee’ of around $100 to $200 per year per child – although some charge considerably more – to cover the cost of extras. Technically, payment of the fee is voluntary, but most parents pay, and schools have been known to employ debt collectors to try and recoup the money. The fee pays for extra resources for your children’s school and is tax-deductible.

The government provides more money to schools in socially deprived areas than it does to schools in more wealthy ones. Each school has a decile rating of between 1 and 10 – the higher the rating, the less money the school will receive from the government. In order to make-up the funding differential, schools in wealthier areas tend to charge higher ’voluntary’ fees than schools in poorer areas.
While state sector schooling is generally well regarded, New Zealand also has a strongly developed private education sector.

If you chose to educate your child at a private school you can expect to pay anywhere from $1,500 to $10,000 a term, depending on your choice of school and whether your child boards or lives at home. Most private schools offer a limited number of scholarships and your child may or may not be eligible for one of these.