FAQ
How is this different from last year?
In previous years parents paid an optional amount of money to the school to assist with the purchase of consumable student resources. This is termed “curriculum contributions” in the DET guidelines. At our school as we don’t use commercial textbooks this was used for stationary, and classroom resources. The amount suggested by PGPS in 2025 was $300 and school council wanted to reduce this for families in 2026.
What is it and why are we doing it like this?
The school is introducing a more transparent process around voluntary contributions and the use of these funds. This approach is also more inline with other schools, especially high school processes. In effect, rather than parents opting to pay the school directly and have us purchase the stationary/resources we are asking that you do this directly with Officeworks. This change means that Officeworks pays back a percentage of purchases costs to the school as a school credit that we can use for other purchases. It also means that you can see what we spend the voluntary contribution on.
Is it all stationary supposed to be purchased?
if possible, we’d prefer families to purchase everything, these purchases are of course voluntary, and all students will receive the resources they need. If parents are not able to contribute, we will purchase the resources for your child at no cost to you.
How are the school making money from it?
As mentioned above, Officeworks will give the school a percentage of all purchase made in the way of an account credit to be used for future purchases by the school.
Why are there school contributions and then the requirement to buy all the equipment?
Items on the booklist are not a complete list of consumables used throughout the school year. Curriculum contributions help to fund our software licences, general classroom supplies (tissues, sanitiser, etc), teacher resources/stationery and first aid supplies.
Can you pick and choose items if you can’t afford it?
If you are not in a position to make a complete purchase, you don’t need to. All purchases are voluntary as are the contributions amounts and can be adjusted by the families to suit themselves. Any contribution to the school is greatly appreciated.
Where are all the items being stored? Are they just put into a pile for all students to use?
Teachers will store these items in their classroom to be used when needed by your child during the year. If you have labelled items, these are the ones that your child will use. If you haven’t students will do that over the next few days.
Why are there different amount for different year levels?
The total varies based on the year levels with the school contributions amount ($250) and then variable stationery items based on student requirements in their particular grade. This year, all students are asked to have their own headphones to be used with computers, iPads, listening posts etc. that will then only be replaced in subsequent if needed.
What happens with out-of-stock items? Do we need to go back and buy it?
No, we don’t expect parents to monitor stock levels. The school will follow up these items later.
Can we buy the stationary somewhere else if it’s cheaper?
Items on the booklist have specifically been chosen for either curriculum requirements of product quality. We also want to avoid differentiation between students with the type and quality of the items they are using.
Can we just pay the school directly and buy the supplies elsewhere?
If you prefer you can choose to pay the school directly for contributions and we will purchase items from Officeworks directly.
Is there a cutoff date for my stationary purchases from Officeworks?
We would prefer that if you chose to use this system, this is finalised by February 6th. Parents can still make voluntary contributions to the school after this date if they wish.
Why can I also see curriculum contributions ($250) in Compass?
Compass and the Officeworks systems are not linked. If you pay this amount through the booklist process, we will manually remove this from Compass.
