Canterbury rural schools benefit from sponsorship programme

Rural primary schools across New Zealand received more than $140,000 from ANZCO Foods this year as part of the Sponsor a School Programme with several of the recipients located in Canterbury.

ANZCO Foods works with local dairy farming families who nominate a rural primary school to receive a donation from the company, that is linked to supply.

This year’s sponsorship means the company has now contributed more than $1.3m to rural schools across the motu since the programme started in 2011.

“We always get a buzz to see how the schools use the funding as each school makes their own decisions regarding how the money will be spent. This year funds were used to purchase things like sunshade gazebos, swimming pool covers, playground safety bark and to refurbish swimming pool changing rooms. We hear from the schools that many of the projects funded are used by the wider rural community during summer months, so the sponsorship also benefits a wider group than school pupils,” says Shannon Parnham Head of Livestock for ANZCO Foods.

“The team at ANZCO gets a huge amount of satisfaction from the annual Sponsor a School Programme. It’s great to see rural schools, in the regions where we operate, receiving money to purchase school items that might otherwise not be available.  We’re always looking for new farms to register for the programme because the greater the support we get from the rural community, the more money we can contribute back to schools.”

Carew Peel Forest School was one of the schools that benefited from the Sponsor a School Programme receiving $5300 which will be used to fund upgrades to the school swimming pool. Craig Sedgwick, Principal of Carew Peel Forest School says that the pool becomes the hub of the small South Canterbury community during the summer months.

“We open the pool to the locals during summer and it becomes a community meeting spot and gathering space so it’s great that we’re able to refurbish the facilities with the ANZCO donation. Many of our children learn to swim at the school pool and we have several migrant families who haven’t had a chance to learn to swim previously, so it is a hugely important facility. With the national drowning statistics continuing to increase each year it’s important that all kids learn how to swim and it’s also important that locals have a fun place to gather together during the holidays,” says Craig.

Dunsandel School received $7000 which will be used to refresh the bounce bark in the playground and provide a safer environment for students.

Dorie School in Mid-Canterbury used their $5500 to purchase literacy resources which will be used by both students and teachers. Anthony Dorreen, Principal at Dorie School, which has 89 pupils, says the donation from ANZCO makes a huge difference to their school programme.

“We have been able to purchase additional classroom resources to support our structured literacy approach. This includes decodable readers and story books that reflect the phonic letter sequences taught, as well as additional resources to support our teachers,” says Anthony.