Porirua College canteen manager Antoinette Van Den Elzen oversees lunch production in the school's kitchen. Photo: RNZ / John Gerritsen
Schools that still serve up their own lunches they have made - despite slashed funding from the government's free school lunch scheme - are determined to stick with it.
After six months under the revised scheme, they say their meals are better than centrally provided lunches, although some are making more use of lentils and vegetables to make ends meet.
One primary school told RNZ it was managing within the government's $4-a-child funding, but a nearby college, where students had bigger appetites, said it was facing a $50,000 shortfall.
Education Ministry figures showed 268 schools were on the "internal model", meaning they either made their own lunches, or received lunches made by another school.
Contributing primary schools with pupils up to Year 6 were funded at $5.56-$6.52 per child, but intermediate and secondary schools and primary schools with pupils in Year 7 received $4 per child.
At Porirua College, canteen manager Antoinette Van Den Elzen said the reduced funding was challenging and required good relationships with ingredient suppliers, but she was confident the school's meals were better than the centrally provided option.
"I think our lunches are much better," she said.
"All the dishes go down really well, here. They're all favourites."
School principal Ragne Maxwell said it initially tried to stay within the government funding, but it did not work.
"We simply could not produce acceptable amounts of even moderate-quality food for that price. That was not possible. We did it for a few weeks and the students were really unhappy with what they were getting to eat compared to what they were used to - and you've got to remember that for many of our students this might be the big and often the [only] hot meal they get," she said.
"So we had to improve the quality of what we were doing and increase our expenditure. So we are operating in deficit to provide quality lunches for the thousands of young people in Porirua who really need them."
Maxwell said the school was facing a $50,000 shortfall which it could cover this year, but next year and beyond it would need charitable support.
She said it was definitely worth continuing the in-house scheme.
"This is the biggest and best initiative I have ever seen in my time in teaching to challenge child poverty in New Zealand. This is food that is going directly into the mouths of young people who are hungry and we shouldn't be letting any of our young people go hungry," she said.
No money for equipment maintenance
Tairangi Primary School in Porirua East was also on the lower funding rate because it had children in Y7-8.
Principal Jason Ataera said it received $60,000 less than last year and had to cut a staff member from the kitchen and reduce the use of dairy products.
"We also gradually taught students to eat some more vegetarian options, which has been an interesting path. It's weird that we live in New Zealand and serving beef mince is a luxury, but importing lentils and having lentil nachos is much cheaper," he said.
Ataera said the school's food supplier agreed to match prices of the national school lunch supplier and in some cases was cheaper.
He said those measures kept costs within the government funding of $4 per child.
"Our fixed cost for the kitchen comes in at about $2.50 per child per day. That's just to keep the kitchen running with the person staffing it and and those sorts of things. So that leaves us about $1.50 a day for food," he said.
Ataera said the school's chef was able to make lunches during the warmer months for about $1 per child, so it could afford to provide hot meals through the winter.
However, he said there was no money left over to cover wear and tear on equipment.
"That's one thing that we're still struggling with is everything is geared towards providing the food to the kids, but there is not enough enough slack in the system to provide for asset replacement if and when those appliances and commercial ovens start breaking."
Ataera said the internal model was much better than central provision because the food was better, nobody missed lunch due to late delivery and special dietary requirements were always met.
Contributing primary schools, which enrolled children up to Y6, would come under the cut-price funding model next year.
Tute Mila, principal of Arakura School in Wainuiomata, said the school wanted to keep making its own lunches, but would have to find $40-50,000 a year to do it.
"We all want to keep the programme going because it's made such a difference for our children, for our attendance, for our engagement in the classroom and just for general, well-being of those students," she said.
Mila said making the lunches, and growing many of the vegetables in a school garden, had wider benefits than just feeding children.
She said they had a greater understanding of where food came from, and some asked their parents to use the same vegetables they ate at school.
"It's not just about the food anymore. It's the holistic approach. It's the things that we've been able to hook on it."
Mila said the school had reserved enough money to cover the programme for half of next year, but would have to fundraise or find a donor for the remainder.
"If we can't raise the money, if we can't get donations, then the board will have to pay for it out of our operations. And that option is the last option because we already are heavily invested in providing a teacher aide in every classroom because we've got so many neurodiverse children, so many children with really high needs," she said.
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