I met with the Ministry of Education and our supplier Kāpura this week to discuss concerns I have about our school lunches.

· A big piece of fruit has been removed from the lunches. Now there is cut up little bits and this will help reduce waste. This was really important as we get many boxes of fruit every week already and the waste was far too high.

· Titahi Bay School is going to trial a hot meal delivered hot by Kāpura – meatballs and pasta as the children like this already and if popular will include a chicken paella. We will trial this to ensure that the process of getting the meals to our tamariki doesn't take too long.

· Kāpura are going to provide smaller portions for the years 0 – 3 students. This is to reduce wastage. Our younger children do like the lunches but they get the same lunch as our year 4-6 tamariki so this will also stop so much waste.

· Kāpura will continue to provide the ham and lettuce basic sandwich but will look at additional simple sandwiches that the students will enjoy e.g. marmite and cheese. Our tamariki actually like the lunches to be quite simple and less dressing and relishes.

· Kāpura will remove the spice and condiments as the children do not like them as well as the less popular pulled pork and open taco. Thank goodness as this will make a huge difference.

Look out for an email tomorrow with the updated menu for next term, we hope that our tamariki enjoy these lunches more.