Mosgiel’s Silverstream School receives funding through the Ka Ora, Ka Ako — Healthy School Lunches programme to prepare school lunches on-site.
Principal Greg Hurley said healthy and prompt school lunches meant more to students than just good food.
"We’re eating like a whānau," he said.
Some Otago schools reported receiving the same lunch — mac ’n’ cheese — for five days in a row, while Silverstream pupils ate pasta bolognese and loaded potatoes.
Making meals on-site was "the way it should be".
"It’s a much, much bigger thing than just some ... old macaroni and cheese."
Five years ago, the school opted for funding to internally provide lunches, rather having them supplied by a company, and now had 90% uptake from students.
Lunches at these schools could not become internally provided, Mr Hurley said.
Reports of cold, incorrect or even absent school lunches frustrated Mr Hurley.
"It’s not just about the food ... if we’ve got kids that come here and have that real sense of belonging here, we have less behaviour issues."
Silverstream and other schools in its situation could continue making the meals themselves and receive funding at just over $5 per meal, which would reduce to $4 per meal in 2026.
Mr Hurley disagreed with critics who said it was parents’ responsibility to provide lunches.
"They would have sent their kids along with a beautiful lunch ... but it meant that they were going without themselves."
Two students a week helped make the lunches, learning about food preparation and kitchen hygiene.
The school knew daily how many meals to prepare and adapted the lunches to a student’s needs.
"There’s a lot of social capital built when we all sit together and eat the same kai every day."
He had been approached by two schools wanting to begin a similar, internal model but the government had refused funding because external providers, like Compass, needed a "critical mass" to supply a high number of schools.
"There’s a lot of talk from Mr Seymour to say that if you’re hungry, you’ll eat anything. It doesn’t work with kids like that.
"It’s not all about money ... access to good meal is a basic right."
Ministry of Education operations and integration hautū (leader) Sean Teddy said under the previous school lunch model schools were generally not able to switch from external to internal. An internal model had significant set-up costs and was not a suitable option for all schools.
