Owhata School students peer into the window of the school hall kitchen every morning curious to find out what's on the menu for lunch.
A new partnership between the school and local hapū Ngāti Te Roro o te Rangi is serving tamariki "hearty, home-cooked kai" on a daily basis aspart of the Government's lunches in schools programme.
However, a recent spike in Omicron cases in the school community has resulted in a switch to a hybrid learning model with most students learning from home.
The school made the call to deliver hundreds of meals to students as they study remotely.
Owhata School principal Bob Stiles said it was the first school in Rotorua to work with hapū as part of the programme.
"We weren't being badly served at all by [the catering group], but we had always thought we would rather put the money back into our own community," he said.
"It is a bit more personalised for us, whereas because of the nature of some of the bigger companies their menu has to reflect what the rest of the country wants.
Owhata School switched to a hybrid teaching model earlier this week after about 40 per cent of children were away due to Covid.
Stiles said most of the school's pupils were learning online and hoped children would be back at school from March 21.
But right now more than 200 meals were being distributed to students and their siblings at home.
Owhata School principal Bob Stiles / Ben Fraser
The school was delivering kai to those living in emergency housing and community collective Tatau Pounamu was also dropping food off to other families.
Some whānau were also picking up the meals onsite.
He said the decision to partner with the hapū was "no brainer" and an extension of the other "wonderful work they do within the Eastside".
Owhata Kura Kai manager Becky Awhimate said there had already been an "overwhelming" amount of positive feedback from parents, students and teachers.
Three staff members and one volunteer were working in the school hall kitchen daily producing roughly 250 meals from scratch.
"The kids smell it when they come in the morning - so they are all up against the window seeing what they are going to have for lunch.
"It is very exciting. Everything we make is done at school. It is coming in fresh and being served that day."
It was also their "goal" to employ community members and take on volunteers - providing them with skills to help them find fulltime work.
Home-baked goods and meals with mince had proved most popular with students, she said.
"We have had some real hits, but rolls and sandwiches don't seem to be cutting it with the kids."
Awhimate said she hoped Owhata Kura Kai could start to serve other Eastside schools in the future.
"Knowing that we have the support from the school, our community, our marae, our elders - it just makes this programme so worth doing in more ways than one."
Owhata School deputy principal Callie Raureti said the school did not want to stop the roll out as they moved into a hybrid learning so made the call to deliver the "hearty, home-cooked kai".
"I get daily messages of thanks, and it is bringing a bit of light into their lives at the moment. A lot of our whānau and tamariki are in isolation so I think it is making a difference."
And she said the "lovely" Owhata Kura Kai team knew exactly the type of food pupils wanted.
"We are very lucky the team cooking our kai are normally the ringawera in the kitchen at Owhata Marae - so the type of kai they bring suits the palates of our tamariki perfectly."
Ministry of Education operations and integration hautū (leader) Sean Teddy said the iwi and hapū delivery model allowed school leaders to strengthen local relationships and provided opportunities for local iwi to become suppliers.
Eight schools and kura and five iwi or hapū across the motu were involved. More than 20 schools were now looking at taking part in the programme.
He said feedback on the iwi and hapū model had so far been "very positive".
There were currently 107 schools in the Bay of Plenty-Waiariki region taking part in the Ka Ora, Ka Ako lunches in schools programme.
