St Mary's Catholic Primary School in Rotorua embarked on a journey towards better health for its students when it signed up for the Heart Foundation's health programme.
Now, after two years of positive changes and progress, the school has been awarded with a Heart Foundation's Heart Start Award.
Heart Foundation health promotion co-ordinator Jasmin Jackson said when she first started working with St Mary's, caramel slices and pies were available to buy every day through the school's external lunch order service.
"There was also a range of unhealthy sugary drinks available for students to purchase."
Today, the food available is a "far cry" from what it used to be. St Mary's was one of the first schools to respond to the call from the Ministries of Health and Education for schools to provide water and plain milk only.