Changing a lunch order system that has been in place for years has turned out to be an easy, smooth process for Maungaturoto Primary School.

In term two after discussions with their Energizer Sarah Snowden, Maungaturoto Primary School put the challenge out to local businesses to come up with a healthier alternative to their current lunch order system and following this, they had options to choose from!

Margie Hutchinson, Maungaturoto Primary School Principal says “we did not find it hard to make the change.   We wrote a letter to all cafes in our town and explained that we wanted to change our menu so we could provide healthy options.  We invited them all to submit a menu and also invited them to contact me if they had any questions.  The cafe that submitted the menu that we chose came and saw me and I did make a couple of suggestions which they incorporated. We felt this was an important change to make in our school as we were promoting healthy lifestyles within our class programmes, and then we were offering a lunch menu of pies and pizzas. To confirm that we were committed to our Energize Programme we needed to ensure we were giving the children consistent messages”.

The change in menu has seen a substantial increase in the uptake of lunch orders – from between two and five each day prior to the change to now getting between 15 - 30 and sometimes even more lunch orders in a day! Initially the school thought the change would be a five day wonder and it would settle down again but a full term later and it is still going strong!

Kids love the new options and many parents have been vocal about their appreciation for the new, much healthier menu with one parent saying "it is great to have the healthy options for lunches - it gives me the freedom to let my children order lunches.   I never used to let my children order lunch we now use this service at least once a week - thank you".

Not only are the parents and students happy but teachers are also frequently utilising the service and ordering their own lunches.

It is great to see Maungaturoto Primary School aligning their lunch orders to reflect the messages Energize gives in regards to nutrition and providing healthy options for their school community to eat better and learn better as a result.