Māruawai College year 9 pupil Leah Comptom (right, 13) tries the beef bolognaise offered under the new school lunch programme while Lavara Goodwin, 13, prepares to eat her meal. PHOTO: GERRIT DOPPENBERG
The new programme, headed by Associate Education Minister David Seymour, promises to deliver nutritious lunches to more than 240,000 students at $3 a serving.
Schools will be delivered a menu every week featuring meals such as butter chicken, macaroni and cheese and, for yesterday's dish, beef bolognaise with pasta.
The rollout has been slammed by critics, Labour education spokeswoman Jan Tinetti calling it disgraceful and accusing the government of cutting expenses at the cost of children's welfare.
However, Māruawai College principal Mel Hamilton said she was very happy with the change.
"So far, I'm really impressed. The portion sizes, the menu and the ability to keep the meals hot, very impressed."
It was a good early indicator of the programme, she said.
"It's been successful, but bear in mind it's only been two days. I don't want the commentator's curse."
Despite early concerns, the programme was a hit with students at the Gore school, Mrs Hamilton said.
"I'm really, really pleased. The service is good, the portions are good, the senior boys are coming back for seconds."
New year 9 students sat in the staff room and tried yesterday's meal, beef bolognaise pasta, served with an apple and another accessory.
Jake Duffy, 13, gave a very Southland review commenting on the menu.
"It's all right. Not bad, not bad at all. Definitely had better," he said.
Aside from a few "teething issues", principals in Dunedin also said the programme was off to a good start.
Green Island School principal Aaron Warrington said there were issues with meals for pupils with dietary requirements and some finer details needed to be ironed out, but the meals delivered were "piping hot" and
were popular among most of the children.
The food looked "alright", he said.
"I wouldn't eat them, but I'm just fussy and their mac and cheese had ham in it.
"But if anyone thinks you're going to create food for kids that is going to have 100% success rate for every meal, you don't have kids."
He thought the government was doing well to deliver the meals on budget, Mr Warrington said.
Brockville School principal Steve Turnbull said last year's lunches were better because they were fresher, but he was glad they were still around after some uncertainty.
"It's really important for children to have good nutritious lunches, I'm a supporter of the programme," he said. - Additional reporting Mark John
