Tenants may be disclosing more than they need to, Whangārei councillors hold stance on fluoridation and the BSA welcomes consultation to media changes. Video / NZ Herald
Pies and Pita Pit meals will be on the menu for students across the country tomorrow.
The School Lunch Collective recognised the one-off menu ‘doesn’t meet nutritional guidelines’.
However it said this would allow it to ‘get on top of our food production’.
Pies and Pita Pit will be on the menu tomorrow for schools receiving meals via the Government’s revamped lunch programme, with the provider saying it will enable it to “get on top of our food production”.
It comes as Act Party leaderDavid Seymour says most regions are now receiving 100% of lunches delivered, despite ongoing issues with the programme’s rollout being raised by school principals.
In a statement sent to schools that was also provided to the Herald, provider and global catering firm Compass NZ said the School Lunch Collective had reached the end of its three-week menu and there would be a “departure from our standard menu” on Friday, with pies and Pita Pit cold meals being delivered for students’ lunches.
“We recognise that this one-off pie meal doesn’t meet nutritional guidelines, but this enables us to get on top of our food production so that we can continue to improve on delivery and ensure students receive lunch every school day,” the statement read.
It said two additional food items, including fruit, would be provided to students in Year 9 and above. The provider would also be providing 10,000 cold meals to students in Auckland schools each day.
“We will be in touch regarding what day this option will be available to your school. We’d like to thank Pita Pit for its support and supplying these cold meals. We will notify you of any future menu changes.”
Associate Education Minister David Seymour – who headed the revamped programme – told the Herald the School Lunch Collective would be “celebrating the successful delivery of 1 million meals” tomorrow.
“What better way to do so than with a classic Kiwi pie. I know that if I were a school student I would have loved a pie as my taxpayer-funded school lunch,” Seymour said.
Associate Education Minister David Seymour spearheaded the revamped school lunch programme. Photo / Dean Purcell
Seymour said the School Lunch Collective had committed to the largest food-provision service in the country and was “doing a good job”.
“The old model cost $340 million per year, while the new one only costs $170m per year and gets the same results for children.”
Under the previous lunch programme, introduced by the then Labour-led Government in 2019, the expense for individual meals was far higher than the current $3 lunches. By the end of the 2024 school year, the cost per lunch under that system had risen to $5.97 for kids in Years 0 to 3; $6.99 for kids in Years 4 to 8; and $8.90 for those in Year 9 or above.
“Most regions are now receiving 100% of lunches delivered, with on-time delivery to schools at more than 97% this week. The collective have committed to 100% of lunches being delivered on time and I expect them to work with schools to get there,” Seymour said.
Labour’s spokeswoman for education, Jan Tinetti, said: “National’s decision to cut healthy lunches and push schools towards cheaper, lower-quality food is unacceptable.
“A frozen pie as an occasional treat is fine, but it’s no substitute for a nutritious lunch. David Seymour’s school lunch programme has been one disaster after another and our children deserve better,” Tinetti said.
It comes after the Herald yesterday revealed West Auckland’s Kelston Intermediate School has resorted to sausage sizzles and Weet-Bix as well as using teacher aides to sort through supplied lunches amid ongoing issues with the revamped lunch programme.
A school lunch that has been described as "unidentifiable pasta ball and lentils".
Principal Bert Iosia told the Herald it had only received school lunches on time on three occasions since starting the term on January 30 and called the rollout of the programme “frustrating to say the least”.
Teacher aides had also been pulled out of classrooms for the last third of the day to help sort through lunches for students with dietary requirements after they were randomly assorted in boxes before being delivered.
Iosia said he anticipated some issues in the first couple of days of the programme, but after he was told lunches were scheduled to arrive at 3pm and 4pm – when the school had scheduled a drop-off time of 12.45pm – he called it “nightmarish” and “no use to anyone”.
New Zealand Principals’ Federation (NZPF) president Leanne Otene yesterday apologised to schools “marred by disruption” after malfunctions in the rollout of the programme.
“The last thing you want is to have your senior staff and your office staff foraging for food because the school lunches haven’t turned up,” Otene said.
New Zealand Principals’ Federation president Leanne Otene says if the new lunch programme continues to be disruptive, it will call for a return to local delivery, “even if it does cost the Government a bit more”. Photo / Michael Cunningham
“And it wasn’t just a one-off incident. Some of you have had these issues every day this year.”
She said if the new cost-saving lunch programme continues to be disruptive, NZPF would call for a return to local delivery, “even if it does cost the Government a bit more”.
“Making small savings from cheaper school lunches must not be at the cost of the wellbeing, health and education of our children.”
The Ministry of Education said in response to early challenges, the School Lunch Collective had expanded its delivery fleet to support timeliness of deliveries; engaged with logistics expertise from Foodstuffs to review travel routes; increased the number of production kitchens in Auckland and heated meals earlier; engaged a new supplier of special dietary meals to resolve supply and labelling problems; and doubled its contact care team to eight people.
