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# Face of the Day
- URL: https://goodoil.news/face-of-the-day-1359/
- Published: 2025-12-10T17:30:43.000Z
- Updated: 2025-12-10T17:30:42.000Z
- Description: Haeata Community Campus, the site of last week’s school lunch debacle, was among those questioned by the Office of the Auditor-General over funding an $18,500 trip to Queenstown for six staff members.
- Author: Good Oil Staff
- Tags: Face of the Day

> The leader of a school flagged for using public funds for a group of senior staff’s “professional development” trip to Queenstown has fired back at suggestions the money was used for personal activities.  
>  
> The Auditor-General released its annual report on New Zealand schools’ 2024 accounts yesterday, revealing 27 schools needed Ministry of Education guarantees for their finances, a fourfold increase from the year prior.  
>  
> The report noted many schools needed guidance for “sensitive expenditure” and building maintenance plans, while 21 schools were flagged for their use of a $6000-a-year fund available to principals for professional development, coaching and support.  
>  
> Haeata Community Campus, [the site of last week’s school lunch debacle](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/education/haeata-community-campus-head-rejects-blame-for-mouldy-lunches-launches-internal-investigation/W2TZGXSCTBA3RKAYHAYZ4OPWCE/?ref=goodoil.news), was among those questioned by the Office of the Auditor-General over funding an $18,500 trip to Queenstown for six staff members.  
>  
> In a media release this morning, principal Peggy Burrows said “no public money was used for a holiday in Queenstown” and spending was “appropriate, transparent, board-approved, and fully aligned with national guidelines for principal professional development”.  
>  
> She rejected the characterisation of the trip, saying it was scheduled to coincide with her attendance at the 2024 SPANZ Conference.  
>  
> NZ Herald

[Read More](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/principal-defends-queenstown-trip-after-auditor-general-issues-warning-over-school-travel-bills/MX723KDUCVCUHPKYVXKAIRSIKE/?ref=goodoil.news)