Local Schools Win Big Muffin Break

Two primary schools have won the chance to kick start their annual fundraising thanks to the Muffin Break Great Bake Sale.

Pompallier Catholic School from the North Island and Gilberthorpe School from the South Island are the lucky winners of the national Muffin Break Great Bake Sale.

Students around the country were invited to enter their school into the Great Bake Sale through Muffin Break's Facebook page to win the ultimate fundraiser.

Schools, teachers, students, parents and friends all rallied to get votes for their school and make it to the top of the National Leader Board in the five week long competition.

Muffin Break General Manager Garry Croft says the Great Bake Sale was an excellent way for schools throughout New Zealand to get their local community behind them and give their fundraising efforts a helping hand.

"At Muffin Break we pride ourselves on our community involvement. We are thrilled at the success of this campaign and the way we have been able to engage with so many schools, pupils and their families. We congratulate Pompallier Catholic School and Gilberthorpe School on their outstanding wins."

"We know that fundraising is sometimes difficult for smaller schools so we are hoping these muffins will be the kick start they need," says Croft.

Both of these schools managed to get enough votes to top the leader boards for their respective islands, winning 500 Muffin Break muffins to sell to raise funds for their school.

Pompallier Catholic School received 379 votes, while Gilberthorpe School received 215 votes.

Gilberthorpe School Chairperson, Penny Osborne, says the win is absolutely amazing.

"We are only a small school and for us to win this and get ourselves noticed in the community ahead of some bigger schools is fantastic," says Osborne.

Okaihou Primary School in the North Island and St Patrick's School Kaiapoi in the South Island were runners-up and received 200 muffins each for their own bake sale fundraisers.

St Patrick's School Kaiapoi's Principal Therese Coleman is also delighted by their win.

"This is HUGE for us! With a drop in roll due to the earthquakes our Ministry funding has dropped also, so any fundraising we can do to help purchase resources for the children is welcomed," says Coleman.

Te Kauwhata Primary School and Anderson's Bay School were also the lucky winners of a $500 prize each thanks to Muffin Break for making the biggest improvement to their ranking on the National Leader Board.

Throughout the competition Muffin Break's Facebook page allowed people to spread the word to their friends and family, as well as providing a running leader board that showed schools exactly how they were performing against their competition.

For more information, visit www.facebook.com/muffinbreaknz.