Syrian refugee children will be equipped for school when they start their new lives in Dunedin.
Under a new scheme, Save the Children is providing a school bag, lunch box and stationery voucher for every refugee child arriving in New Zealand.
The organisation has also promised to pay for school uniforms as required.
On a visit to the Red Cross centre in Dunedin yesterday, Save the Children chief executive Heather Hayden said she was inspired to start the scheme after hearing of a refugee child in Wellington unable to start school for two weeks because they had to wait for a Work and Income uniform grant.
"That, for me, was a galvanising moment.''
Ms Hayden, of Wellington, said school was vitally important in a child's life and a key part of settling into their new home. More broadly, the most important things for refugees was forming friendships and securing work, she said.
The first two groups of refugees coming to Dunedin would comprise Syrians, but after that, groups would comprise other nationalities.
The school bag drop-off is just one of many gifts Red Cross in Dunedin is receiving as it gears up for the first arrival.
About 45 refugees are due to arrive in Dunedin on April 22.
Before coming to the South, they will spend six weeks at the Mangere Refugee Resettlement Centre.
The Dunedin group is expected to arrive in Auckland in about 10 days, but the exact make-up will not be known until next month.
This was because of last-minute tweaks to allow some people to settle close to other family members or friends, who may have been placed in different centres.
About a third of the refugees would be children, Ms Hayden said.
Southern humanitarian services manager Sue Price, of Dunedin, said she was pleased with the response of the Dunedin community, including about 400 people who had registered as volunteers.
A group of 50 volunteers would undergo training this month to help the first group of refugees to settle.
Others would be trained in due course for subsequent groups of refugees.
Not all the volunteers were seeking to work directly with families.
Some wanted to help in other ways, Mrs Price said.
