Grammar $740 leads the pack for high fees

Auckland Grammar School stands head and shoulders above its peers in the amount it asks from parents. The $740 per child donation is $165 more than the next highest, Epsom Girls Grammar.

But headmaster John Morris makes no apologies. It is well below the cost of a private education, he says.

"There's a standard of education expected at this school and the Government does not fund us to provide it and that's the bottom line."

He was sympathetic towards schools whose communities could not be as supportive as his, and said he considered himself and Auckland Grammar lucky to be in that position.

But he also said much of the contribution went to activities such as curriculum day-trips, which other schools charged for separately.

The money was needed because inflation and the cost of education had risen exponentially, but central funding had not kept pace.

"The funding could and should be increased because all the schools I know use the money incredibly wisely but still struggle."

Annette Sharp is the new principal at Epsom Girls, where parents are asked for $575, which includes a new $150 donation for buildings.

Ms Sharp said the decile 10 school received less per student from the Government than most other schools.

The parental contribution enabled Epsom Girls' to provide the special character of the school, which was rich in extra-curricular sporting and cultural activities.

"These are the very things they choose our school for."

While there was no pressure to pay, unless everyone made some contribution "we could not maintain the educational environment parents want", said Ms Sharp.

At Wellington College, the school with the third-highest fee in the survey, headmaster Roger Moses said the money was justified.

"We are in demand and turning away students by the hour. If parents want the kind of first-rate education we offer, then $460 is not a big investment."

Mr Moses said the school was inadequately funded and the parental contributions evened out the extra money given by the Government to poorer schools. However, he did not begrudge the decile weighting.