Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
Parents, children and teachers at a small Wainuiomata school are urging the government to leave funding for the free school lunch programme, Ka Ora Ka Ako, untouched.
They say daily meals like butter chicken and ginger beef are improving children's attendance and relieving food insecurity for families in need.
Representatives of the teacher unions, Principals Federation and Health Coalition Aotearoa visited the school on Monday to share their kai.
The organisations are worried the government wants to cut funding for the $325 million programme by as much as 50 percent, citing a lack of evidence that the scheme improves children's achievement or attendance.
Arakura School principal Tute Mila told RNZ the school had been part of the scheme since it started in 2019.
"It's made a huge difference. Not only do the children have a healthy kai every single day, it really helps the food insecurity because our children don't have to worry about being hungry... it means their focus can be entirely on learning," she said.
"For a lot of our whānau this is a big deal. Us being able to provide the food means it takes that pressure off them."
Children at Arakura School line up for free lunch. Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
She said last year the school switched from an external food supplier to making the food itself in a kitchen attached to its hall, a change that greatly reduced the amount of waste.
Classroom teacher Katrina Barclay said attendance had "definitely" improved and children were more settled in class since the scheme began.
"It's definitely made a difference here at Arakura School because we know that whānau before wouldn't send their kids to school if they didn't think that they could provide lunch that day," she said.
Barclay said the lack of research showing improvements in achievement and attendance could be due to the fact most of the data was collected after the pandemic started in 2020.
"We know that kids can't learn if they don't have food in their bellies," she said.
Tute Mila, principal of Arakura School Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
Inside the school's hall children tucked into bowls of rice and butter chicken.
Ten-year-old Bonnie Lucas said the lunches were good, especially for families that could not afford food.
She said the government should not make any cuts to the scheme.
"Don't do that, it's just not helpful," she said.
"It's not helpful for parents who can't afford food and parents who can't afford for their kids to eat proper food, healthy food."
Another pupil, Tyler Beattie, said the government should keep funding the lunch scheme.
"Sometimes kids go hungry and they need something to eat so we need to keep the lunches," he said.
Laura Richards and Breannah Smith, who both have kids eating the free lunches at Arakura School. Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
Parents Breannah Smith and Laura Richards said their children liked the lunches and the scheme made their lives easier.
"Some of us have money, some of us don't, but for me it's just taking the weight off and knowing that everyone up here is eating," Richards said.
They wanted to keep the scheme unchanged.
"It would be the wrong choice to cut it, for sure. I think its taking food directly out of kids' bellies when they need it the most and it's just not right," Smith said.
Educational Institute Te Riu Roa president Mark Potter said he hoped Monday's event at Arakura School sent a strong message to the government.
"We can't let this school lunch programme be cut. Every child in this country has a right to have food but not every child in this country has the advantages other children have. So, yeah, we won't be letting this go, this is not a one-off, we'll be keeping this request up, we'll keep the ask up and just say to the prime minister you cannot do this to the children of our country," he said.
Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
"We are in danger of losing a critical piece of the puzzle that helps children with learning in New Zealand schools. So we want the prime minister that every leadership group in the sector, pretty much every leadership group, has agreed that this has to be kept," Potter said.
Potter said the government needed to understand that education was complicated and a single initiative such as free lunches would not of itself improve achievement and attendance.
However, he said well-fed children learned better than hungry ones.
"I defy anyone to regularly go without food and maintain their work in any workplace," he said.
