Class of New Zealand

How bringing home a class photo brought home a harsh reality.

Education is key to breaking the cycle of poverty, yet rising hardship means more children miss school due to a lack of food, shoes, and warm clothes. 67% of disadvantaged children aren’t attending school regularly, but despite needing more donors than ever, reaching time-poor parents - KidsCan’s most likely supporters - remains a challenge.

In 2025 alongside the regular class photo of their child, parents received The Class of New Zealand - a school photo where 67% of smiling faces were replaced with empty seats, representing disadvantaged children missing from classrooms across the country. In partnership with PhotoLife, NZ’s leading school photography company, this marked the first time in 99 years they included anything beyond school photos, delivering the issue directly into parents’ hands.