School Lunch Programs are common practice in many countries around the world for school children. In fact, I have heard that the mayor of each town in Italy is elected on the quality of their School Lunch Program! In Australia, parents have the responsibility of packing lunchboxes each day, leaving some Australian school children without lunch to eat or many with convenient but highly processed foods in their lunchbox.
Annesley has built a partnership with key thought leaders to create a program at Annesley that can show Australia what can be done!
- Duncan Welgemoed, Owner and Chef from Africola,
- Australian of the Year 2020 Dr James Muecke AM
- Professor Bec Golley, Annesley parent and Deputy Director of the Caring Futures Institute at Flinders University
On Wednesday 9 November, all students in Reception to Year 5 are encouraged to register for a lunch prepared by Africola in the Annesley Dining Room. I encourage all families to consider signing their child/ren up for this lunch, as I’m sure the children will not want to miss out on the day.
The Budding Lunch Program at Annesley aims to:
- Cater for all food allergies
- Cater for all food preferences and tastes (it is evident that children eat more widely when eating with friends)
- Increase health outcomes for our students by providing delicious, nutrient dense, seasonal food for lunch
- Increase learning outcomes due to consumption of healthy food
- Increase social eating skills by building into the day a sit-down meal with friends
- Reduce litter from lunchboxes in the schoolyard
To run this program more frequently and at a reduced cost for Annesley parents, we are hoping to attract some funding to support the program in 2023. We have invited government representatives and industry connections to the event in Week 4. I welcome the opportunity to discuss this further with any other interested Annesley community members!
We require students to be registered to participate in the Budding Lunch Launch on 9th November. Please complete the School Stream form by Monday 31st October at 9am for catering purposes.
On the day, please do not send them with an alternative option in their lunchbox to eat. There will be something they can eat at the lunch, no matter how fussy they are! Please send them with just a snack and a water bottle.
