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The boarding allowance is a contribution to your child’s fees while they live at a boarding school hostel or board in a private home with someone who is not related to them. It will not cover the full cost of boarding.
Who the allowance is for#
The allowance is only for ākonga | students in Years 9 to 13. It can be granted for 1 of 2 reasons:
- There is no suitable school within reasonable travel distance of where the student lives (Access Barrier Allowance).
- The student is experiencing significant hardship in their local school environment (Multiple Barrier Allowance).
A barrier is a circumstance that prevents students from achieving in and attending school or kura.
Students can only receive 1 allowance at a time. They must meet specific criteria to qualify.
Access Barrier Allowance#
The Access Barrier Allowance is for students who live too far from their nearest state or state-integrated school or kura to reasonably be able to travel there daily.
Applications are assessed and prioritised based on the barriers to the student accessing the nearest appropriate school (not being a private school). ‘Appropriate’ refers to the school’s special character.
The 3 main barriers that are considered are:
- the distance to the school
- the distance to the closest school transport service
- the travel time to the school if travelling by private motor vehicle.
If there are other barriers – for example, road conditions – that are impacting your child’s ability to get to school, they may be considered in this assessment and can be added to the application.
The Access Barrier Boarding Allowance is a fixed pool of funding. Applications are assessed to make sure access to education is available for those with the greatest need.
Special character and Māori medium schools#
For students who want to go to a special character school, the Access Barrier Allowance is available to the nearest school of that type, even if there are closer schools.
Special character school does not mean single-sex schools or schools that offer specific sports or other programmes that your child may want to attend.
For kura kaupapa Māori, whichever kura is chosen will be considered the closest. This is to allow ākonga to attend a kura that aligns to their iwi and hapū affiliation.
Multiple Barrier Allowance#
The Multiple Barriers Boarding Allowance is for students who are experiencing significant difficulties in their education, across multiple areas.
Section 3 of the application for this allowance must be completed and signed by a referrer. They should be someone who can explain the barriers your child is facing. There could be more than one referrer if that helps to describe your child's situation.
Your referrer must be one of the following:
- your child's teacher
- your child's school principal
- Oranga Tamariki
- the Police
- a social worker
- a counsellor
- a kaumatua.
Our boarding allowance team assess the applications, considering the following criteria.
All criteria must be met:
- Poor participation at school. For example, difficulty taking part in everyday classroom learning, completing schoolwork, poor attendance and not taking part in extra-curricular activities.
- Poor relationships. For example, being socially isolated, having difficulty forming relationships and friendships, and/or lacking respect for others.
- Behavioural issues – for example disruptive, harming others or themselves, participating in criminal activities, or having a history of stand downs, suspensions or expulsions.
- Low achievement at school in literacy, numeracy, oral language and other subjects.
- Environment. For example, lacking in family and community support, having poor or negative role models, or being exposed to physical or psychological harm. Being involved with agencies such as Police, Oranga Tamariki, or any health service.
How much the boarding allowance is#
The Access Barrier Allowance is $4,000 per year.
For students travelling from some islands to mainland New Zealand for secondary school or kura, the allowances are different:
- Rēkohu | Chatham Islands – $6,300 per year.
- Aotea | Great Barrier Island – $4,500 per year.
- Rakiura | Stewart Island – $4,500 per year.
The Multiple Barriers Allowances are:
- hostel – $8,500 per year
- private boarding – $4,500 per year
- private boarding for students from Rēkohu | Chatham Islands – $6,300 per year
- additional support –$540 per year.
Students from Aotea | Great Barrier Island will also get an annual travel allowance of $920.
Students from Rēkohu | Chatham Islands get 4 return flights per school year.
