By Hannah Kennelly
The chime of the lunchtime school bell at Bellarine Secondary College usually triggers a mass exodus of hungry students racing to line up single file outside the canteen, eagerly waiting to collect their sausage rolls and hash browns.
However, the college’s traditional tuckshop lunch is facing a growing obstacle.
Bellarine School canteen assistant manager Kerri Farrar serves up food and drinks to eager students. Credit: Jason South
“In a perfect world our canteen would be staffed by parents,” school principal Wayne Johannesen says. “But I absolutely acknowledge that many parents nowadays don’t have the capacity to volunteer.
“Consequently, we’ve needed to look elsewhere to keep our canteen open.”
Faced with declining volunteer numbers, school canteens across Victoria are struggling to operate, with some schools forced to outsource help.
Bellarine Secondary College has been searching for volunteers for their Ocean Grove and Drysdale campuses since the pandemic.
Johannesen said “trying economic times” had undoubtedly contributed to lower volunteer numbers.
“There’s the cost-of-living crisis and everyone is so busy, so I feel like there’s a reluctance sometimes to volunteer,” he said.
Michelle Patterson has worked at Bellarine’s canteen for nearly eight years and said people were hesitant to volunteer.
“Lots of people right now can’t afford to work for nothing, and in this economy, who could blame them?” she said.
Most of Bellarine Secondary College’s canteen volunteers are from EdConnect, a national organisation that helps connect schools with trained volunteers.
EdConnect east coast manager Danie McNeil has noticed a growing demand for volunteers over the past five years.
“Usually, our volunteers are used in learning support roles to act as an extra set of eyes, ears and hands for the teacher,” she said.
“But we have a few volunteers in our western metro region who give a considerable amount of help to school canteens.”
Last year, the EdConnect volunteers lodged 409 hours at school canteens across Victoria.
Michelle Patterson has worked at Bellarine’s canteen for nearly eight years and said people were hesitant to volunteer.Credit: Jason South
“Families have greater demands and more commitments, and the tightening economy puts a lot of pressure on the need for volunteers,” McNeil said.
“Even our own volunteers sometimes need to take breaks to go back to work or care for their families.”
While organisations like EdConnect are seeking volunteers, other schools are reducing the need for them entirely.
Many, including St Joseph’s Primary in Hawthorn, St Leonard’s Primary School in Glen Waverley, St Raphael’s Catholic Primary School in Preston and Sunshine Heights Primary do not have canteens and rely on third-party suppliers such as Classroom Cuisine.
Other schools have transitioned to online ordering services such as Flexischools — a platform that allows parents to order their children’s meals for the week.
“At Flexischools, we put the technology into the hands of the school canteen operator so they can really improve the efficiency of their operations,” chief executive officer Rachel Debeck explained.
“Rather than interpreting scribbles on a brown paper bag and tallying up orders, canteen operators now have technology to make things easier.”
Founded in 2008, Flexischools operates in more than 1650 schools across Australia.
Debeck said the platform helps reduce waste and is particularly beneficial for the “busy parent community”.
“Flexischools is all about bringing school canteen lunches into the digital age and really improving the experience for parents,” she said.
While some parents have welcomed online canteen ordering, others have pushed back.
In 2023, parents at St Bernadette’s Primary School in Ivanhoe decided to reopen their school’s dormant canteen after years of online ordering.
The group created a roster and brought homemade and store-bought baked goods to school, dubbing the event Hot Lunch Fridays.
Parents and Friends president Alina McGrath said the group was eager to give students a taste of “the tuckshop childhood we had”.
“The school used to have a staffed canteen, but that person retired, and it was a hard role to fill, so we transitioned to online ordering through a supplier,” she said.
“The meals were great, but it was the type of food that mum and dad would normally pack, there were no fun treats for kids.”
Originally intended to be a once-off, Hot Lunch Fridays was so popular and profitable that it now runs every fortnight.
“It’s a great opportunity to give back to the community and I know the kids really appreciate having a treat on Fridays,” McGrath said.
Bellarine year 12 students Edi Henderson-Craig and Tom Mills are regular canteen patrons and love purchasing wedges and meat pies at the end of the school week.
“The tuckshop is great because you can always grab something if you haven’t had breakfast and it’s also a cool opportunity to socialise with friends,” Mills said.
Johannesen acknowledged school canteens were in a precarious position, but believed there was “still some hope left”.
“Availability of volunteers certainly impacts a school’s capacity to offer canteen services and I know several schools have had to shut or reduce their canteen’s operating hours,” he said.
“But our tuckshop is open every recess of every school day, so it’s not dead yet.”
With Alex Crowe
Get the day’s breaking news, entertainment ideas and a long read to enjoy. Sign up to receive our Evening Edition newsletter.