九一星空无限

ZB ZB
Opinion
Live now
Start time
Playing for
End time
Listen live
Up next
ZB

‘Nightmarish’: Auckland school turns to sausage sizzles after lunch programme delays

Author
Benjamin Plummer,
Publish Date
Wed, 12 Feb 2025, 8:24pm
A school lunch described as "unidentifiable pasta ball and lentils".
A school lunch described as "unidentifiable pasta ball and lentils".

‘Nightmarish’: Auckland school turns to sausage sizzles after lunch programme delays

Author
Benjamin Plummer,
Publish Date
Wed, 12 Feb 2025, 8:24pm
  • West Auckland鈥檚 Kelston Intermediate School has resorted to feeding its students Weet-Bix and sausage sizzles amid ongoing issues with the revamped Government lunch programme.
  • Principal Bert Iosia said teacher aides have also been pulled from classrooms to help sort through the lunches.
  • The Ministry of Education said it understands the 鈥渇rustration and disappointment鈥 felt by schools and expects the School Lunch Collective to listen to the concerns raised.

A West Auckland 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.

Kelston Intermediate School 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 鈥渇rustrating to say the least鈥.

Teacher aides have 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 鈥 when the school had allocated the drop-off time as 12.45pm 鈥 he called it 鈥渘ightmarish鈥 and 鈥渘o use to anyone鈥.

He said it was 鈥済ut-wrenching鈥 when he had to reach out to the school community last week and ask parents to provide lunches for their kids, 鈥渂ecause I just couldn鈥檛 put on lunches every single day for the kids鈥.

鈥淭he comms were pretty good from the School Lunch Collective, but you could see that they were under the pump. There were assurances that we were going to get lunches, but my gut feeling was that they wouldn鈥檛 be arriving,鈥 he said.

Kelston Intermediate School Principle Bert Iosia says they have only received lunches on three school days this year. Photo / Google
Kelston Intermediate School Principle Bert Iosia says they have only received lunches on three school days this year. Photo / Google

鈥淚 back the lunch programme so I try not to bad-mouth it in any way, but I did explain to families that there were these teething problems going on [and] there鈥檚 no assurances that the lunches could arrive.鈥

He said staff had been advised to keep a close eye on students and if anyone was seen without lunches, they would be provided by the school.

鈥淚 thought we could manage a smaller number. My teachers just went out, got loads of bread and Weet-Bix themselves and stocked up their rooms to give out to the kids,鈥 Iosia said.

Iosia called the meals 鈥渉earty鈥 and had no complaints about the quality of them, but noted multiple parents had contacted him, concerned about the inconsistency of the programme.

鈥淭he whole idea behind the programme was to promote healthy eating and to generate a discussion around that. For a lot of our working families, their options of what they can provide the kids aren鈥檛 always the best health-wise... That鈥檚 the only concern I have there.

鈥淭o be honest, I鈥檓 not stopping [their parents] from doing that until I get a good, consistent run with the lunches to know they will arrive at the right time to allow my team to get it out to the kids and there鈥檚 no muck-ups.鈥

Iosia flagged another issue, saying cuts to the programme impacted the way lunches for children with dietary requirements were distributed 鈥 and that he was forced to use teacher aides for the last third of the day to sort through them.

鈥淲hen we got our first shipment through, they were all assorted. Some of the kids that had those dietary requirements 鈥 of being dairy-free or can鈥檛 have seafood, can鈥檛 have this or that 鈥 the lunches were all labelled, but they were labelled and randomly put into boxes.

鈥淚 pulled my teacher aides out [to help sort them] and so the core purpose of supporting the teacher in the classroom, well that bloody went out the window because they needed to be here to help me with the sorting.鈥

He said under the previous lunch programme, introduced by a Labour-led Government in 2019, the meals were sorted into classrooms 鈥 making it easy to deliver to students with dietary requirements.

鈥淲e would鈥檝e sorted about 110 [dietary requirement meals] of our 430 lunches, you had to go searching. It鈥檚 a bloody operation.鈥

A school lunch described as "unidentifiable pasta ball and lentils".
A school lunch described as "unidentifiable pasta ball and lentils".

Iosia said he knows providers are 鈥渦nder the pump鈥 and everyone wants them to be successful because it means children are fed, but the 鈥渢eething process needs to be fixed quick because I鈥檓 at my wit鈥檚 end in terms of addressing it鈥.

鈥淭hey need to know that the late arrivals are problematic and impacts all our kids from being able to engage in their day at the best of their ability, and we鈥檝e had to fork out funds.

鈥淭o be honest I don鈥檛 care about the funds, we can do that, it鈥檚 not a problem. It鈥檚 just frustrating that we鈥檙e having to problem solve and I don鈥檛 want to problem solve and be quiet about it so that they [School Lunch Collective] think, 鈥極h these guys have got it in hand if we鈥檙e running late or we鈥檙e not able to come through on a delivery鈥.鈥

He said the school has put its breakfast club programme on hold to have peanut butter and Marmite sandwiches and Weet-Bix on standby. He鈥檇 also bought and frozen enough pre-cooked sausages for Kelston Intermediate鈥檚 430 students in cases lunches don鈥檛 arrive.

鈥淚鈥檓 optimistic that it will get better, but I鈥檓 sure it won鈥檛 be good for our families and that鈥檚 disheartening.鈥

New Zealand Principals Federation (NZPF) president Leanne Otene today apologised to schools 鈥渕arred by disruption鈥 after malfunctions in the rollout of the programme.

New Zealand Principal鈥檚 Federation president Leanne Otene says if the new cost-saving lunch programme continues to be disruptive, NZPF would call for a return to local delivery, 鈥渆ven if it does cost the Government a bit more鈥. Photo / Michael Cunningham
New Zealand Principal鈥檚 Federation president Leanne Otene says if the new cost-saving lunch programme continues to be disruptive, NZPF would call for a return to local delivery, 鈥渆ven if it does cost the Government a bit more鈥. Photo / Michael Cunningham

鈥淭he last thing you want is to have your senior staff and your office staff foraging for food because the school lunches haven鈥檛 turned up,鈥 Otene said.

鈥淎nd it wasn鈥檛 just a one-off incident. Some of you have had these issues every day this year.鈥

She said if the new cost-saving lunch programme continues to be disruptive, NZPF would call for a return to local delivery, 鈥渆ven if it does cost the Government a bit more鈥.

鈥淢aking small savings from cheaper school lunches must not be at the cost of the wellbeing, health and education of our children.鈥

Ministry of Education operations and integration leader, Sean Teddy, said it understands the frustration and disappointment experienced by schools during the rollout, 鈥渆specially for the students who are looking forward to enjoying nutritious meals delivered on time each day鈥.

鈥淲e expect the School Lunch Collective to listen to the concerns raised by schools, respond quickly with effective solutions, and demonstrate flexibility in adapting and evolving to meet the needs of schools.鈥

Teddy 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.

On support with the distribution of meals onsite, Teddy said schools with rolls of 350 and over will be provided grant funding to help distribute lunches to students either through their own staffing resource or by subcontracting the School Lunch Collective.

鈥淓ligible schools for onsite distribution support, including Kelston Intermediate, were notified of this approach in mid-January and a follow-up communication with term one payment details was sent again this week.鈥

The School Lunch Collective did not respond to a request for comment by the deadline.

Benjamin Plummer is an Auckland-based reporter who covers breaking news. He has worked for the Herald since 2022.

Take your Radio, Podcasts and Music with you