Free School Breakfasts and Lunches

Countries across the world provide breakfast and lunch to students at school. As the cost-of-living crisis bites, families are under enormous pressure to put food on the table, and too many kids are missing out. Being hungry makes it difficult to grow and learn.

In South Australia, one in four children is growing up in a family that is overwhelmed by increasing challenges, including poverty, substance use and addiction, homelessness, domestic and family violence, intergenerational trauma and mental health problems¹.  

By making free school meals universal across South Australian state schools, the Greens will support families from all economic backgrounds to ensure they have a fair chance at a healthy start to the day.

^{1. https://www.childprotection.sa.gov.au/about/child-protection-initiatives/south-australian-child-protection-expert-group/trust-in-culture-a-review-of-child-protection-in-sa-nov-2022.pdf}

The South Australian Greens free school breakfast and lunch program would see improvements in concentration, ability to socialise, attendance rates and educational outcomes for students. It would ensure no kid goes hungry and every student gets the best chance in life regardless of their parent’s income. 

Following a free breakfast trial in Victorian schools, Victoria University found 95 per cent of teachers surveyed reported substantial increases in children’s moods, concentration, ability to learn and socialise, and reported improved grades among the children who attended the free breakfast.

The State Government currently works with its not-for-profit partners to provide breakfast and lunches to school kids, providing $5.1 million to Foodbank SA and other charity organisations². Schools need to apply for a grant to receive funding. The Greens plan would roll out the program without needing to apply for a grant, funding for $80 million over 4 years would be directly allocated to the Department of Education’s Engagement and Wellbeing – Food and Nutrition group.  

All meals would be required to adhere to the Australian Dietary Guidelines outlined by the Australian Government³, with particular focus on fresh food, and schools would be resourced to accommodate dietary and cultural requirements. 

School meals have been shown to improve kids’ attendance, classroom attention, cognition, academic performance, social skills, nutrition and overall health. They can also provide one measure of preventive action for youth crime, keeping vulnerable kids in school and out of the youth justice system⁴.

Our plan for free school meals sits alongside our commitment to triple funding to emergency food programs like food banks, emergency relief and food recovery organisations, to $20 million per year.

^{2. https://www.education.sa.gov.au/department/media-centre/our-news/more-than-50,000-extra-breakfasts-served-in-school-breakfast-program}

^{3. https://www.eatforhealth.gov.au/guidelines/guidelines}

^{4. https://www.aic.gov.au/publications/tandi/tandi481}

To allow schools to get set up for free breakfasts and lunches, we’ll establish a $300 million capital expenditure grants fund to cover the costs of basic infrastructure like fridges, microwaves, freezers, crockery and utensils, as well as expanding kitchen space or eating areas.

Community gardens are an opportunity for kids to integrate scientific learning into their everyday lives, learn more about where their food comes from, develop practical skills and contribute to sustainable food production. 

The Greens believe schools should operate not just as academic institutions, but hubs for child wellbeing and community resilience.

The South Australian government offer community garden grants with a total of $250,000 in funding via their food security program⁵. The Greens see this amount as only the beginning of a bigger push to make fresh food available to kids in schools and we would quadruple this amount to $1 million each year for 4 years.

The grant fund will allow every state school in South Australia to apply for $2500 annually to establish or maintain their community garden.

^{5. https://www.education.sa.gov.au/parents-and-families/safety-and-wellbeing/health/food-security-grants-for-south-australia-government-schools-and-preschools}