Bay of Islands College canteen manager Sonja Coster and her team ensure healthy, balanced lunches for more than 400 students every day. Photo / Yolisa Tswanya
Bay of Islands College canteen manager Sonja Coster and her team ensure healthy, balanced lunches for more than 400 students every day. Photo / Yolisa Tswanya
The Northland school has continued to serve balanced meals to students and the secret is commitment from the school community, smart budgeting and a focus on feeding students healthy and delicious lunches.
“Our focus is on fresh, nutritious kai with very little waste and minimal rubbish, keeping both our students and our environment healthy. Making 500 lunches per day is possible at $4 with the bulk purchases,” principal Edith Painting-Davis said.
“We are fortunate to have students and staff who are more than happy to step up and help prepare and serve these meals each day.”
Last year the Ministry of Education announced that the School Lunch Collective would deliver healthy school lunches every school day for less each year for the new model of Ka Ora, Ka Ako Healthy School Lunch Programmes. Schools had the option of sticking with the internal model and would receive $4 a learner a lunch.
Lunches for students at Bay of Islands College are prepared fresh every day. Photo / Yolisa Tswanya
Painting-Davis said it had stuck to the healthy lunches objective, which, among other things, promised nutritious, palatable lunches.
“The objectives said that ‘the programme’s current nutrition standards will remain in place’. This made me laugh because [with the collective] you’re not seeing any of that. We are still sticking to that, but we don’t feel the model shown, which is supposed to be saving us thousands of dollars, is doing any of that. It’s sad to see that it’s getting worse and not any better.”
Bay of Island College principal Edith Painting-Davis. Photo / Yolisa Tswanya
BOI College opted to stick with the internal model because it was unsure how the external one would be feasible.
“When we sat here last year, when it was announced, we could not picture how they would get food to us on time and fresh. They couldn’t even get it to Auckland schools. The people making decisions are not in touch, I can’t understand them,” teacher Ruth Hills said.
The school went into full planning mode and, with the efforts of canteen manager Sonja Coster and her team, students received healthy, balanced meals every day.
“I have learned what our kids enjoy and don’t enjoy, and I sneak in vegetables where I can. They also give great feedback about what they didn’t like and what they liked. They know now that they need to eat vegetables, even if they don’t like it.”
Bay of Islands College lunches are prepared fresh daily by canteen manager Sonja Coster and her team. Photo / Yolisa Tswanya
She said seeing some of the lunches being provided to schools had been worrying.
“Honestly, I don’t understand it. I understand the mass amounts they make, but they also have more people and there are ways you can make good meals. They don’t need to be that nasty looking and I have noticed they are lacking vegetables. I feel like they can try harder – if we can do it, why can’t others?”
Deputy principal and chemistry teacher Kamlesh Prakash sometimes chips in and assists in making meals.
“I am a chemistry teacher, so I am used to being able to create things and cooking is no different. I just asked the canteen staff what they had and I used that.”
Bay of Islands College deputy principal Kamlesh Prakash lends a hand in the kitchen. Photo / Yolisa Tswanya
He said having a principal who was proactive and committed to providing quality meals was a huge bonus.
Some of the meals Bay of Islands College students have been served this term.
Ministry of Education hautū (leader) operations and integration Sean Teddy said the School Lunch Collective was committed to meeting its targets and was listening to feedback from schools and students and quickly making changes to meet their needs.
The changes included expanding the delivery fleet, a review of travel routes, monitoring routes and communication with schools when deliveries were delayed, increasing the number of central production kitchens, and changing meals following feedback, including the removal of mac and cheese from the menu.
“We are actively monitoring agreed service levels with the collective during the implementation and early roll-out of the programme. Formal reviews will commence from term two 2025. Our focus is to make sure the collective and all other suppliers deliver to the services agreement [and] resolve any issues as quickly as possible.”
