Kerre Woodham: School lunches - waste of time or great initiative?

A massive waste of taxpayer money is resulting in rotting food and unrecyclable packaging adding to our carbon footprint. Or, the single biggest difference in terms of initiatives to improve the well-being of schoolchildren.

What is the truth of New Zealand school lunches?

The Ka Ora, Ka Ako Lunches in Schools programme was first launched in 2019, was expanded to some high schools in 2020/2021. Since it was established in schools, more than 58 million lunches have been delivered to 220,000 children across primary schools, kura and colleges. 

Since then, there have been two opinions about the initiative. 

One, that the food is gross, the kids don't like it, they don't eat it, and it goes to waste. The other is that children now have full tummies, they can be taught, whereas before, if you had a hungry stomach, your brain just simply could not learn. 

And like the quote from the principle that I opened the show with, some believe it's the single biggest difference in terms of child well-being at schools.  

If the earlier reports show that more of the lunches are being eaten than not, I'd rather keep going and see the results of the trial at the end of the year. 

You've got to feed these little things, you've got to feed their brains and you've got to feed their bodies. If they're not getting food at home because parents cannot or in some cases will not supply the food, then let us do it. 

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