The Government’s Free and Healthy School Lunches programme is well under way in Southland and will feed more than 1500 Southland school kids by the beginning of Term 3. 

The programme aims to reduce food insecurity by providing access to a nutritious lunch in school every day and reducing any stigma or shame that sometimes comes with receiving free food by offering lunch to every child in each selected school.

The programme was largely expanded in the Budget this year and up to 200,000 students in around 120 schools within communities facing greater socio-economic barriers throughout the country will eventually benefit from this pilot programme, which runs until the end of 2021. 

Lower-decile schools in the Bay of Plenty/Waiariki, Hawke's Bay/Tairāwhiti, and Otago/Southland have been chosen to begin the programme as these regions have kura in urban, rural and isolated locations.

Five schools in Southland have already begun the programme and five more schools will start in Term 3.

Aurora College, Te Wharekura o Arowhenua, Newfield Park School and Fernworth Primary School and Waiau Area School have already been receiving nutritious lunches. 

New River Primary and Ascot Community School in Invercargill, Tuturau Primary School in Tuturau and Mataura School will also begin the programme in Term 3. 

Waiau Area School Principal Andrew Pardoe-Burnett said his school, which has 140 students from years 1-13 on the roll, started receiving the lunches around five weeks ago and the children had been loving it. 

"The research states that if you've got food in [your tummy] you can concentrate better...so we're really rapt, it's a great initiative," he said. 

"The children are also loving the meals, they look forward to receiving lunch."

A charitable organisation, Koha Kai, has been making all the food for Waiau Area School and Mr Pardoe-Burnett said it had been making "smaller portions for the littlies and larger ones for the big kids" so no food was going to waste. 

He said any food that was left over got packed into containers and given to the children to take home. 

Any leftovers ar Waiau Area School are packed into containers and given to the children to take home.

Koha Kai Chief Executive Janice Lee was thrilled to have secured contracts to be able to provide food to more than 1500 Southland school kids at nine lower-decile Southland Schools currently in the programme. 

Koha Kai is a charity which aims to 'encourage a life of purpose' for people who are isolated by disability by providing them with training and employment opportunities and at the same time, feeding the tummies of school children in Southland. 

Previously, the charity had been providing healthy lunches in some Southland schools for just $2 per lunch. Ms Lee said providing lunches for more than 1500 children was a "big ask" but one that was very positive for the charity. 

As a result of securing the free and healthy lunches contracts, Ms Lee said Koha Kai had been able to hire new 20 staff members, eight of whom are Koha Kai graduates, to keep up with the workload, which is a great result.

"The driving force for us [in securing the contracts] is to provide employment opportunities for our graduates [and] to continue the work we've been doing for the last six years of giving our children the nutrition they need to be ready to learn," Ms Lee said.

She said the real "icing on the cake" however, of Koha Kai securing the contracts – which run until December 2021 – was that now, for the first time, the charity would be able to become fully sustainable and would not need to rely on philanthropic funders for donations to keep them running the training programme. 

"We now have a commercial enterprise, which generates the income we need to be self-sustaining. We can cover our wages and overheads, which is fantastic," she said. 

Ascot Community School principal Mrs Wendy Ryan said it was a great opportunity for her school to have the programme starting in Term 3. 

"We've been trialling 'Brain Breaks', so instead of kids having a bag of chips at morning tea, they have a piece of fruit... and we've noticed that concentration levels are [up]."

"So, the fact that everyone [will get] healthy and nutritious lunches in the middle of the day is pretty special."

She said she had also been blown away by the variety of food that Koha Kai had made available on its menu. 

Deputy Principal of Mataura School Sam Walker said the school felt very privileged to be a part of the programme and was looking forward to seeing the kids having a healthy lunch every day.

"Healthy food in the stomach means good stuff for the brain," she said. 

"We're hoping to see a change in behaviour and attitude and just keep ensuring that our kids [are fed every day], in our case, with a hot lunch.

"We all do better when there's food in our tummies."

Newfield Park School principal Ms Sonya Carey said Koha Kai would be providing lunches for her school on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday during Term 3 and Pita Pit would continue to provide the lunches on Wednesdays as it had done for the last two weeks. 

"It just broadens out the range of healthy eating options for the kids," she said. 

She said previously, her school took part in Koha Kai's $2 lunch programme, which parents could opt to pay for, but now, she said to have free, nutritious lunches supplied every day took the pressure off of parents and was a great opportunity for kids. 

She said parents had told her that even one day a week where their kids got a lunch made a big difference."

All dietary options were catered for as well including gluten-free, dairy-free, Halal and vegetarian so every child was included. 

Mr Hipkins said the initial feedback about free and healthy lunches has been incredibly positive, with "schools reporting improvements in students’ focus in the classroom, learning, behaviour and attendance."

He said the programme was also a way of creating local jobs, as with Koha Kai where it has already hired nine of its trainee graduates into permanent positions to keep up with the workload. 

“It’s a win-win for the students and the community,” Mr Hipkins said

Three food suppliers in Southand were successful in securing contracts for the Free and Healthy Lunch scheme. 

A decision will be made towards the end of 2021 about whether to continue or extend the programme.