Te Puke schools have 'high need' for Government-funded lunches amid food crisis

Pongakawa School principal Craig Haggo said there was a "high need" for the Government-funded lunches in schools programme at his school. Photo / Andrew Warner

Growing numbers of students in Te Puke schools are needing food to "cope with the day" as demand for Government-funded lunches in schools grows, a principal says.

But four out of 10 schools in the Te Puke area do not have access to the Ka Ora, Ka Ako healthy school lunches programme as the Ministry of Education says it is only funded for the top 25 per cent of students in most need.

One principal said the food crisis was "far greater" than was being funded for, while another said his school was feeling "left out" as others in the area received free lunches.

Last week, KidsCan said it was experiencing "record demand" for its food at schools and it was feeding 1500 more hungry students in Bay of Plenty schools as food prices soared amid the cost of living crisis.

Pongakawa School principal Craig Haggo said he was "highly supportive" of the programme but his school was not eligible for it.

Haggo said several Te Puke principals had met with the Ministry of Education to suggest all Te Puke schools have access to it "because only three or four schools were missing out".

He pointed out that once students went to Te Puke Intermediate and Te Puke High School they would receive a free lunch.

"It made complete sense to have a whole-of-area solution and include us all in."

However, the ministry declined, Haggo said. "Effectively, it was a very firm no."

The ministry had advised him only the top 25 per cent of students in schools facing the "greatest socio-economic barriers nationally" were included in the programme, which was measured by an equity index.

Pongakawa School's equity number fell outside of this measure.

"What it comes down to is if you don't have the right number, you're not in - but the need still exists," Haggo said.

"The food crisis for families is far greater than is being funded for and the Ministry of Education seems to be more driven by a formula than realising the real needs of the people and the voice of principals and teachers."

Pongakawa School principal Craig Haggo said his school was not eligible for the Ka Ora, Ka Ako healthy school lunches programme. Photo / Andrew Warner

He said there was a "high need" for lunches at his school.

"There are growing and high numbers of students who require food in order to cope with the day or they require more food, but families are so pushed financially that they're having to make decisions."

Haggo said his school was "lucky" because a local social enterprise, the Daily Charitable Trust, provided 120 lunches daily. There were about 310 students at the school.

However, "I could easily feed, and have a need for, far more".

He said the school had a "core number of students" who received a daily lunch, and the remaining meals were rotated throughout the rest of the school.

"In all cases, those lunches are gratefully received."

Paengaroa School principal Bruce Lendrem said his school of 193 students was also not eligible for the programme.

The Daily Charitable Trust provided 30 lunches daily to its students but he planned to ask the trust to increase this number as "there seems to be more demand".

He said some of his students had siblings that went to Te Puke Intermediate or High School where they received a "full lunch service".

"While we feel left out a little bit, there is some benefit there because their older siblings are getting fed which means there is possibly some spare food around."

Fairhaven School principal Paul Hunt said the programme was a "very, very good scheme" but the implementation could be "tweaked".

His school was also not included in the programme.

At each school, there would be a number of students who did not necessarily need a free lunch and others who "desperately" did, he said.

"If there was some flexibility within a community, it could be distributed more equitably for the needs of the children throughout the community and throughout the different schools," Hunt said.

"We would have a number of families that are very much in need of assistance."

The school of about 450 students also got 30 to 35 lunches daily from the Daily Charitable Trust, which was a "huge help," Hunt said.

The Daily Charitable Trust general manager Chrissi Robinson said it was funded by the Ministry of Education to feed 1800 students daily in the Te Puke/Maketu area.

"As a charitable trust, we are able to use the profit margin from running the programme to meet need as identified in the unfunded schools - Fairhaven School, Pongakawa School, Paengaroa School and Te Ranga School," Robinson said.

This started in term two of 2021, when the schools indicated that between them they needed 75 lunches per day.

"We connect with them regularly to see if this number is still relevant, and in little over a year this has increased to 280 lunches per day."

The Ministry of Education referred NZME to its website, which said Ka Ora, Ka Ako was targeted at the top 25 per cent of students in schools and kura facing the greatest socio-economic barriers nationally. The main tool used to measure this was the Equity Index, which estimated the extent to which children grew up in socio-economic circumstances that would impact their likelihood of achieving in education.

The programme had a phased implementation and the first group of schools and kura were invited to join the programme in 2019. At that time, the 2019 equity index was the most relevant data available.

With annual changes to the equity index, the top 25 per cent of students could change each year. Any new school that fell within this would be invited to the programme, subject to available programme funding.

One hundred and seven schools and kura in the Bay of Plenty are participating in Ka Ora, Ka Ako lunches in schools with 23,357 students receiving lunch daily.

Lunches were provided at a maximum per child, per day cost of $5.18 for years zero to three, $6.06 for years four to eight and $7.72 for years nine and older.