Schoolchildren in Wyndham could miss out on excursions and school camps if the federal government goes ahead with plans to scrap a schoolkids bonus.
The bonus, which is paid to parents in January and July each year, provides eligible families with $410 a year for primary-school children and $820 for secondary-school children.
Parents have already received their January installments but there are fears these payments will be the last.
As reported by the Weekly, the government is trying to pass legislation to scrap the bonus.
The government says it cannot afford the payments, as they were funded by the underperforming mining tax which it hopes to repeal.
Iramoo Primary School principal Moira Findlay fears many of her pupils will miss out on “big-ticket” school events if the bonus is scrapped.
“Our families use that money really well for big-ticket items such as the children’s computers, which cost $200 in grade 4, $100 in grade 5 and $50 in grade 6, or school camps,’’ she said. ‘‘The average cost of a grade 6 camp is $350-$400 and parents just don’t have that type of money lying around these days.”
Ms Findlay said many Iramoo parents would use part of their January installment to pay for their children’s swimming lessons, while others would also use it for uniforms or school photographs.
Parents normally used the July installment to pay for school camps, she said.
“The children who can least afford it will be the ones who miss out.
“Camps and excursions are the things children remember when they are grown-ups. They may not remember the day when they learnt how to use apostrophes, but they will remember the time they went to camp.”
Lalor Labor MP and former Moonee Ponds Central School principal Joanne Ryan said the end of the bonus would affect close to 13,000 families in Wyndham.
“I know how important this money is to local families to cover the costs of books, uniforms and excursions,” she said.
“This is a savage cut.”
