Leftover lunches are offered to pupils who want seconds and the rest are given to children to take home. “We can hold our heads high knowing it s gone home and there’s an opportunity for a family member to enjoy.” She said the lunches also gave children more concentration for learning in the afternoon. “It creates excitement and people are on a level playing field. No-one is coming with things for lunch like birthday cake from the night before. It’s quite uplifting.” The school supplies a weekly list to the providers with dietary requirements, including gluten free, vegetarian or allergies.
1211 free school lunches a day creates 13 jobs in Timaru stuff.co.nz - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from stuff.co.nz Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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Compass Group sector lead for school lunches Ross Maclean and catering supervisor Elisa Metcalf inspect a container of lunches destined for a Manawatū school as part of the Government s healthy lunches in schools scheme.
Providing thousands of lunches a day under the government’s lunches-in-schools scheme is a massive operation, so how do the meals get from the kitchen to the playground? Paul Mitchell finds out. The Ministry of Education’s Ka Ora, Ka Ako Healthy School Lunches programme, which expanded into Manawatū schools in February, aims to provide kids with a healthy lunch at school every day.
Manawatū Ka Ora, Ka Ako providers bring thousands of lunches from the kitchen to the playground every day stuff.co.nz - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from stuff.co.nz Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
“We encourage all the students to try it,” Fennessey said.
Tina Johnson/Supplied
Senior students at Opihi College tuck into the free school lunches. He said the healthy menu catered to different dietary requirements and the provider adjusted their delivery time to fit in with school activities. Staff members were surprised the children ate Mexican-style cauliflower and chipotle tacos which are quite spicy, and Japanese katsu chicken salad. “It’s really good to see students sharing the same meal, so everyone is the same.”
JOHN BISSET/Stuff The primary school has a roll of about 330. At Temuka’s Opihi College, with a roll of about 267, the school used the same Ministry-appointed lunch provider as Grantlea – Auckland-based Libelle Group.