Students and whānau benefit from Ruakākā School lunch initiative

A school in Northland has taken a novel approach to feeding its students - and it's paying off for both the children and their whānau. 

Ruakākā School is part of the Government's healthy school lunches programme Ka Ora, Ka Ako. 

The school is using funding from the programme not only to provide students with healthy food, but also to employ local families to make that food.

"We've been feeding hungry children ever since I've been here," says Ruakaka School principal Marilyn Dunn. 

"We were one of the schools that was actually approached by the Ministry [of Education] to see if we wanted to be part of [Ka Ora, Ka Ako] and I just saw an opportunity and grabbed it," Dunn told The AM Show on Friday.

She says for years students have arrived at school "without lunches, or [with] really inadequate lunches", so feeding students breakfast and lunch each day is "part of what we've always done".

They have now built on that by helping local families into work by bringing them onboard too.

"We chose to employ some of our own whānau because they were unemployed and it was just an opportunity to get them into employment," says Dunn.

"If you employ the whānau the children are going to benefit anyway, and it's just completely turned their lives around. The people working in that kitchen are just so devoted because they're feeding their own children and all the other tamariki in the school, so there's a real love to the food that goes in there - they know that it's going to feed their own children."

She says it's a great confidence boost for those working in the kitchen. 

"To see the pride and just the whole mana they gain being able to do this really important thing...the people that work in there absolutely love it, and the kids love them because of course they're feeding them."

Dunn says not only has the programme help attendance, but kids "love coming to school" and are excited to see what's on the menu each day.

And the teachers are seeing marked improvements in children's ability to learn too.

"I think basically what we're noticing is they're more focused, they haven't got that afternoon drop-off," says Dunn.

"They were almost sort of falling asleep due to lack of decent food and now kids are really hooting all day, they're really on fire all day...it's certainly made a difference in their concentration and their focusing, and of course that's got to lift their achievement level."