Pupils learn better 'on full stomach'

A Rotorua school principal has applauded recommendations to provide free food to students at low-decile schools, saying children who arrive hungry simply don't learn.

Sunset Primary School principal Niels Rasmussen told The Daily Post about 60 students were given breakfast at the school four days a week - a practice which had been running for more than eight years.

"It's almost like family time. They come in, sit down, share stories, eat their breakfast, have a laugh and it perks them up for the day."

The decile one school has a roll of about 120 students from Years 1 to 6. Mr Rasmussen's comments follow an expert advisory group's recommendation that all pupils at low-decile schools should be offered free food to help combat child poverty.

One in four New Zealand children are thought to be living below the poverty line.

The group, which was formed by Children's Commissioner Dr Russell Wills in March, released the recommendation as part of its Solutions to Child Poverty paper last week.

"I think the commissioner has really hit this one on the head," Mr Rasmussen said. "We found children weren't optimising their learning because their tummies were rumbling ... so we introduced the breakfast club."

Dr Wills said programmes like Sunset Primary's breakfast club were already in place at several New Zealand schools for students who did not eat before leaving home.

"The principals are doing that because they know that kids are coming to school hungry, and hungry kids don't learn. Some do it out of their own budget, and some do it in partnership with NGOs, like Kids Can," Dr Wills said.

"The kids don't just learn better, but they relate to each other better, the behaviour in the class settles down and the whole environment improves."

Schools providing meals had also adjusted programmes to suit their individual communities, Dr Wills said.

"Each school will do it differently - some will have a meal laid out in the school hall. Others will have a basket of healthy food choices in the classroom, that kids can just help themselves to when they want to.

"They've also learned some tricks in terms of how you feed kids without stigmatising those kids and creating dependency."

Mr Wills said it was important people understood programmes offering food to low-decile students aimed to assist children and families living in poverty.

"There are parents who are poor and who manage their money well, who still sometimes can't afford to feed their children."

Though the group's report was released last week, Dr Wills was yet to hear from the Government about the recommendation.

Poverty facts

• 
  Children living in poverty are deprived of the material resources and income required for them to develop and thrive.
• 
  270,000 children, or 25 per cent of New Zealand youngsters, live in poverty (2011 figure).
• 
  35 per cent of children living in poverty are from families where only one parent works.
• 
  Poverty rates for Maori and Pasifika children are consistently higher than Pakeha children - typically double on most measures.