Who makes the lunches for Ka Ora, Ka Ako

Ka Ora, Ka Ako has a range of delivery models to meet the unique needs of schools and kura.

• The 'external model' is where a school | kura outsources. Lunches are provided by an external supplier, the School Lunch Collective.  

• The 'internal model ' is where a school | kura chooses to prepare and deliver lunches to students. Lunches are delivered to students in their own school, and can also be a meal provider to other schools in their region. 

• The 'Iwi and Hapū model' is where a school | kura  receives meals from  their local iwi or hapū provider. 

The 'alternate provision' model 

In the 2024 budget, the Government announced a change to funding for Ka Ora, Ka Ako | Healthy School Lunches Programme. Its aim is to deliver healthy school lunches every school day for less, under the 'alternate provision model'.

Secondary, intermediate, full primary (years 0-8) and composite schools (years 0–15) moved to the alternate provision model from term 1, 2025. 

Contributing primary schools with year 1–6 students will move to the new model from 2026.

There is no change to the price point for specialist schools and team parent units in 2025 and 2026.

The School Lunch Collective will receive $3 per meal, per student for external model schools they serve.

Internal model schools and iwi/hapū meal providers will receive $4 per meal, per student. This is slightly more than provided to the School Lunch Collective, to help with staff costs as they do not have same economies of scale.

Healthy, safe and nutritious meals

Lunch providers must follow the same safety standards as any other commercial food provider. They must provide safe options for all children including those with cultural, special and complex dietary requirements - for example, children who are vegetarian, vegan, coeliac, or eat according to religious beliefs, such as halal food.

The nutrition standards were developed in consultation with the Ministry of Health, schools, and nutrition stakeholders. 

Every meal is to meet the minimum weight and vegetable or salad requirements. Like a lot of parents cooking at home, sometimes those vegetables are hidden in the sauces to make the lunches more appealing to students.

Eligibility

We aim to reach the 25% of students in schools and kura that are in most need of support.

The Equity Index is used to work out which schools we need to include to reach these students. Each year the Equity Index is reviewed, and other regional insights are considered to identify new schools and kura to invite into the programme.

Every student at a school | kura in the Ka Ora Ka Ako programme will receive a lunch, every school day. 

Ka Ora, Ka Ako is currently funded until the end of 2026. The future direction of the Ka Ora, Ka Ako programme from 2027 is in development.

Evaluations

We commissioned 5 independent evaluations of the programme, and a technical evaluation report. The evaluations aimed to help us understand:

• the impacts of the programme on learners of different age groups
• the nutritional value of the lunches.

Evaluation findings included identifiable shifts in engagement in education and wellbeing, as well as wider societal impacts from the programme. Schools also frequently report on the programme's positive impact on attendance.