300th school signs on for Fonterra-Sanitarium KickStart Breakfast programme
Leading food companies Fonterra and Sanitarium today welcomed the 300th school into the KickStart Breakfast programme, their innovative partnership with schools and communities to ensure more New Zealand children get a healthy start to the school day with a nutritious breakfast.
The 300th school to join the programme is Lincoln Heights School in Massey, Waitakere which marked the milestone with a special breakfast for the 40 young students in its Wednesday breakfast club with Fonterra Special Advisor Barry Harris and Sanitarium General Manager Pierre van Heerden.
Lincoln Heights School Principal Debbie Waikato said that joining KickStart Breakfast would be a real boost for the school’s breakfast club.
“Weekly delivery of free milk and cereal from Fonterra and Sanitarium will be the cornerstone of our breakfasts and will complement the great support we also receive from our local community to ensure all Lincoln Heights children can get the right start to their school day,” Mrs Waikato said.
The rapid uptake of KickStart Breakfast since its launch as a pilot in April last year shows the programme is meeting an important need in schools, says Barry Harris.
“We’ve had fantastic feedback from teachers which confirms the value of the programme and that a healthy breakfast is a key building block for a successful day at school. Many schools report that students in the programme are more focused and ready to get down to work, and are learning valuable new social skills through the KickStart Breakfast,” Mr Harris said.
The partnership between Sanitarium and Fonterra is a great example of two companies working together to promote health and nutrition in our communities, says Sanitarium GM Pierre van Heerden.
“Kickstart Breakfast is based around a community partnership model - Sanitarium and Fonterra providing the cereal and milk and each school and community taking responsibility for preparing and delivering this to students each week. We are committed to improving the health and wellbeing of our communities, and KickStart Breakfast helps give kids an opportunity to have breakfast,” Mr van Heerden said.
Every week, KickStart Breakfast provides Anchor Mega Milk and Sanitarium Weet-Bix to 300 low-decile schools, with the aim of educating children about the difference a nutritious breakfast can make. More than 12,000 students consume over 24,000 breakfasts a week through the programme.
The schools participating to date are approximately 80% primary and 20% secondary schools, with around 80% of the schools located in the North Island. Approximately 60% of the schools are rated decile 1 and 2, with the balance in the decile 3 and 4 range.
Mr Harris said KickStart Breakfast could not operate without the care and enthusiasm of school principals, staff, parents and whanau who volunteer their time to organise the breakfasts in each school.
Last month the KickStart Breakfast programme was recognised with a Social Heroes Award from New Zealand Prime Minister John Key.
Currently Fonterra and Sanitarium invest around $750,000 per year in KickStart Breakfast. With the milestone of 300 schools reached, they have now set their sights on providing the KickStart Breakfasts to 500 schools in the decile 1-4 range to reach even more of the estimated 100,000 New Zealand families who are finding it difficult to manage budgets and family meals.
For more information visit www.KickStartBreakfast.co.nz
