Commissioner for Children and Young People calls for free school lunches for thousands of South Australian students

Thousands of South Australian kids are being given breakfast each morning by teachers. Now there is a call to start providing them with lunch as well.

South Australia needs to extend a free breakfast program in state schools to include lunches for an estimated 75,000 children living in poverty, says a prominent advocate.

Commissioner for Children and Young People Helen Connolly has called for the Education Department to examine providing lunches in primary and secondary schools to improve educational performance.

Ms Connolly said teachers in SA’s most disadvantaged schools were regularly reporting “that they are providing large numbers of children with lunch, as well as sending them home with food for dinner”.

“Food insecurity is a chronic issue in South Australia and a symptom of chronic poverty, with one in four families below the poverty line,” she said.

“We have 75,000 thousand children living in the poorest of South Australian households.

“The majority are school aged, and they would all benefit from a school lunch program being

introduced at their school.”

Kickstart for Kids founder Ian Steel with Jan Macfarlane (left) and Jan Marie (right). Picture: Roy VanDerVegt

Ms Connolly said the Red Cross had estimated about one third of South Australian schools were providing free breakfasts for students whose families could not afford to supply their children with breakfast each day.

This was supported by a national survey commissioned by the food charity, Foodbank, which found 1.2m children across Australia regularly went hungry last year, with the pandemic worsening the situation.

“The survey found 38 per cent of those who said they had experienced food insecurity had never experienced it before, while ten per cent of respondents said they went hungry because they had to self-isolate and could not go shopping,” she said.

Ms Connolly said she was raising the issue because inadequate nutrition had been directly linked to poor educational results and bad behaviour within schools.

“The benefits of feeding hungry children across our community to improve education outcomes and address behaviour issues at school have not been adequately explored in South Australia,” she said.

“One of the rarely discussed possibilities for education shortfalls might have something to do with increased numbers of South Australian children going to school hungry.

“Or in some cases not going to school at all simply because they have no food to keep them going throughout the day.”

Kickstart for Kids volunteer Rosalie Hancock, 84, with her food delivery van. Picture: Dean Martin

Ms Connolly said “multiple factors” led to individuals or families missing meals or unable to afford nutritious food.

The most common reason given for children experiencing food insecurity was because households received unexpected bills or expenses which had to be given priority.

“They may experience food insecurity as a one-off, on multiple occasions or on an ongoing basis, with the impact of the Covid-19 adding to the issue,” she said.

“Almost half of the parents deemed to be severely food insecure reported that their child went for an entire day without eating at least once a week.”

Ms Connolly said countries such as New Zealand, Sweden, India and the United Kingdom were “recognising the improvement in education outcomes that feeding children during the hours they are at school can deliver”.

“Children who are hungry are distracted, disruptive and disengaged,” she said.

“They are therefore less able to concentrate or regulate their emotions, and are very unlikely to be in a state that enables them to be receptive to learning.”

Ms Connolly said school food programs overseas and interstate should be examined by the Education Department – which was responsible for 176,847 students at 894 educational facilities across the state.

Kickstart for Kids founder Ian Steel delivers breakfasts to 360 schools each week and lunches to 250. Picture: Supplied

“While the department does not provide direct funding to schools for provision of meals, it does help fund breakfast programs,” she said.

“Some charities and other organisations already are providing free breakfasts to students who need them.

These included Foodbank and Kickstart for Kids, a charity which delivered 60,000 breakfasts and 10,000 lunches to hundreds of South Australian schools each week.

Kickstart for Kids founder Ian Steel said lunch consisted of a cheese sandwich with fresh fruit.

Mr Steel said volunteers dropped off breakfasts to 360 schools, with lunches also delivered to 250 schools.

“All this work we do for breakfast gets undone if the kids don’t have any lunch,” he said.

‘We know that if they are going to school without any breakfast, then they aren’t going to have any lunch.”

Mr Steel said the food was stored in fridges and handed out by teachers, starting with cereal, toast and fruit for breakfast.

SA Commissioner for Children and Young People Helen Connolly

SA Education Minister Blair Boyer.

Education Minister Blair Boyer said spending taxpayers money on the breakfasts was “an important part of supporting the wellbeing of students”.

Mr Boyer said Foodbank and Kickstart for Kids would receive funding of just over $1 million over the next four years.

“If the wellbeing of children and young people doesn’t improve, we can’t expect academic performance to improve,” he said.

“That is why we have increased funding to school breakfast programs across South Australia.”

Mr Boyer said the extension of financial support would “contribute to the continuing supply of food to some of the most vulnerable children in South Australia, allowing them to fulfil their potential”.

“While the program has obvious health benefits, we know it also has a positive effect on their social, cultural and emotional wellbeing,” he said.

Mr Boyer said he would seek a briefing from Ms Connolly on the need for a school lunch program.

“I will carefully consider this proposal and how we can build upon our investment in school breakfast programs,” he said.