This morning at 11am, the Year 1 class at Berkeley Public School will sit down to enjoy what could be a game-changer, not just for their academic performance today but their good health tomorrow.

Healthy cooked meals are being served three times a week as part of a ground-breaking school lunch project, which principal Melanie Bowden said has been “really positive” for children, teachers and parents.

“This is just observational data, but teachers are noticing there is an increase in focus when they've had a good meal,” she said.

“Last term, there was a vegetable soup with chicken that the children really enjoyed. They loved the pasta bolognese, which had canned lentils in the sauce. There was a korma curry that at first they really went, ‘Oh, I don't like this’, but by the end, they loved that one as well.

“There were a few that were misses: there was a salmon patty and there was one that I really liked – a tomato and bean casserole – but they did not like that one at all.”

In the project’s second term, the menu has changed to include lasagne and burgers with veggies in the patties – which initially caused hesitation but are now popular.

“To begin with, some children will just sit and look at it and not engage,” Melanie said. They’ll eat the bread and the fruit – I've learned these are safe foods that kids will go for. But I have seen what exposure does, where the children are seeing a meal again … then they're able to tuck in very quickly.”

Berkeley Public School leads the way

The school lunch pilot is run in partnership with Healthy Cities Australia, who help with cook the food; the Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District, which developed the menus; and the University of Wollongong, where researchers are hoping the trial will provide important insights.

It's a local first and – as a long-time advocate of healthy eating and better food in school canteens – Melanie was keen to seize the opportunity for her students.

“I've worked in a lot of schools that are in low socio-economic communities, and just know the issues that we have around equity impacting on student achievement,” she said. “What we're trying to do here is improve the educational outcomes of our kids at Berkeley, and also just to improve their life outcomes as well; teaching them about healthy eating, about good food, where food comes from.”

Meals are served at tables neatly laid with plates, cutlery and cups in the Kitchen Garden room, near to a veggie patch established years ago as part of the Stephanie Alexander kitchen garden program.

“The plan was to try and get some vegetables grown in the garden to incorporate in the meals, but we don't have the staff to facilitate that,” Melanie said. “At the moment, we're trying things like herbs, and then the ladies are picking other things to put on the table, little vases of flowers and greenery.”

So far, the meals have been a hit with both children and parents – one supportive mother even changed her bolognese recipe to match the school’s. And in a time of rising loneliness, the lunch pilot also has a heart-warming social side.

"Some of the positive things that we're seeing is the relationships," Melanie said. "They love sitting with their teachers and being social with adults and other kids.”

The two-term trial is only for Year 1s, but the Berkeley principal would love to continue and expand it – given funding and support.

Let them eat lunch

With declining literacy and numeracy rates, Australia’s education system faces multiple challenges, including growing inequality and staff shortages. Could a simple cooked lunch prove revolutionary in helping students learn? It’s worked elsewhere.

UOW’s Dr Megan Hammersley, a public health expert involved in the Berkeley pilot, said many other countries run school lunch programs, including the UK, Japan and Brazil. 

“Australia is really lacking in that area, compared to some countries,” Megan said. “There’s been evidence that it can help with children's learning, attendance and also, of course, with their health.”

As well as improving concentration in class, and encouraging kids to try new foods and make new friends, healthy school lunch programs may have economic benefits.

"Evidence from Canada suggests that there is a return of $3-10 for every dollar spent on school food programs – relating to improvements in health, educational outcomes and productivity,” Megan said.

With more than 25 years of experience as a nutritionist and dietitian, Megan has long seen the benefits of prevention as a public health strategy.

“When I first started in nutrition and dietetics, I was seeing patients who had chronic diseases, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes. And I became really focused on prevention, thinking, ‘How can we just stop this from happening in the first place?’”

Collecting the evidence

For the CEO of Healthy Cities Australia, Kelly Andrews, prevention via healthy eating, exercise and friendship lies at the heart of her work.

Kelly said the Fairy Meadow-based charity – which already runs successful cooking programs and Food Fairness Illawarra – is hoping that Berkeley’s real-world trial will show what’s needed to expand the school lunch program.

"Our health promotion officer, Isabella, helps to purchase the ingredients, prepare and cook, serve and engage with the students to hear their feedback on the food and observe how they engage socially with each other," Kelly said.

“We hope to contribute to the evidence base and strengthen advocacy for universal access to nutritious, culturally appropriate school lunches in Australia, starting with our own region. 

“The pilot will inform policy recommendations and support lobbying efforts for long-term government investment.”

Low marks for prevention

However, with Australia investing only about 2% of health expenditure in preventive health, it’s not yet certain if a wider school lunch program will attract government funding.

“We lag behind other countries such as New Zealand, Canada and the UK where around 5% of the budget goes towards prevention,” Megan said.

“Unfortunately, prevention is one of the first things that that gets cut from from the budget. But we really need to put that investment into prevention, because – with the amount of chronic diseases that we can prevent in the long term – we can make substantial savings.”

Return on investment from prevention initiatives have been shown to be around $14 for every dollar spent, a 2017 study showed, but more studies are needed to show the savings in nutrition programs, Megan said. 

“One of the problems is with the election cycle being so short. With governments only being in for a limited term, there's much more focus on that acute sort of healthcare, rather than that long-term vision.

“Changing that viewpoint, I think, and looking at that more long-term picture is really essential.”

What's stopping healthy eating

Money, time and misinformation are three key barriers for busy, financially stressed parents, Megan said.

The Obesity Evidence Hub shows that, in 2022–23, while 63.9% of children aged 2 to 17 met the guidelines for recommended daily serves of fruit, only 4.6% ate enough veg. Instead, many Australian children are consuming more added sugars than the World Health Organisation recommends.

“The stats on discretionary food are not very good,” Megan added. “You know, 35% of children's diets are made up of discretionary foods – so junk foods, things like cakes, biscuits, lollies, chocolate, as well as the unhealthier types of fast foods, like burgers.”

Rising prices have cut into family budgets but also affect menus at childcare centres, preschools and after-school care, Megan explained. “It's really important that we advocate for changes in that area, and things like school lunch programs.”

To cap it off, the healthy eating messaging is “really jumbled”, with fad diets – such as paleo, which cuts out dairy and grains – creating confusion.

“What we recommend is the Australian Dietary Guidelines,” Megan said.

Lunches receive positive reviews 

Tasmania has been a leader in trialling school lunches Australian public schools, with a 2020 pilot showing improvements in children’s health, friendships and academic achievements. In 2023, Berrima Public School in the Southern Highlands followed up with a lunch project, with menus ranging from lettuce and tofu nachos to sausages and roast potatoes.

Now, as Wollongong takes up the research baton at Berkeley Public School, principal Melanie Bowden is enjoying dining with her Year 1 students and simply can’t think of any downside to school lunches. There might even be a takeaway for grownups.

“It has been a really positive outcome in all ways,” Melanie said.

“You're sitting and eating a healthy, cooked meal that then is impacting on the energy and focus for the rest of the day. Even for me, within a week of sitting down and eating – because often I'm eating on the run – you actually feel more focused and are concentrating more because you are fuller.”

 This story is part of a solutions journalism series supported by funding from the Walkley Foundation