Healthy lunches announcement leaves schools confused

Nicole Mathewson Reporter from The Press

By David Hill, Local Democracy Reporter

The latest announcement on the future of the Healthy School Lunches Programme has left North Canterbury schools feeling confused.

Associate Education Minister David Seymour announced last week the revised Ka Ora, Ka Ako/Healthy School Lunches programme would save $130 million.

It was revealed the new $3 lunches will apply to all schools and year levels already in the scheme, which left principals scratching their heads.

Earlier this year, the Government had indicated year 0 to 6 students would continue under the existing scheme, while year 7 to 13 students would be part of the new programme.

But Seymour said an agreement had been reached with the Government's preferred suppliers to offer the $3 lunches across all age groups.

The present budget is $8.68 per student.

‘‘The programme will deliver nutritious hot and cold meals, such as butter chicken curry, chicken katsu, lasagna, chicken pasta salad and wraps,’’ Seymour said.

‘‘All students in year 0 to 8 will receive the same sized meals (240 grams) and older students will receive larger lunches (at least 300g), which will include additional items such as fruit, yoghurt or muesli bars.’’

Te Kura o Tuahiwi principal Dot Singh feared the revised programme could leave its existing provider, Lazy Lunches, out in the cold.

‘‘I am still a bit confused,’’ she said.

‘‘We were told our year 0 to 6 student lunches would stay the same and they said if you’ve got cultural needs and allergy needs you could continue what you are doing.

‘‘But now they are saying we need to go through their providers and I’m unsure how healthy those lunches are going to be.’’

Lazy Lunches was established in 2021 to provide lunches to Te Kura o Tuahiwi, when the kura joined the scheme.

It has since extended the service to provide lunches to Kaiapoi Borough School and Karanga Mai Young Parents’ College, based at Kaiapoi High School.

Kaiapoi Borough School principal Hayden van Lent said he is grateful the lunches will continue to be provided for tamariki.

‘‘We appreciate the importance of ensuring our tamariki are well fed so they have the needed energy to learn at school and keep active throughout the day.

‘‘It is difficult to know what the new model will look like until it is in practice from next year.

‘‘In the interim we are going to explore both the internal and external options to see what will be best for our tamariki.’’

Te Kura o Hāpuku, near Kaikōura, is also part of the scheme, preparing lunches onsite for its 16 tamariki and six staff.

Principal Ripeka Tamepo said the kura was set to lose more than half of its funding.

‘‘We now will have to come up with creative ways to ensure we can continue to feed our tamariki nutritious meals.

‘‘Our tamariki need this as many whānau are struggling financially and this programme eradicated kai as a barrier to education as well as promoting whanautanga (connections), manaakitanga (care for others) and healthy food education.’’

Kaiapoi Borough School’s board of trustees, Karanga Mai, Te Kura o Hāpuku and Lazy Lunches have been contacted for comment.

■ LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.