Last week, following the end of the school year, the province announced the Nova Scotia School Lunch Program served more than 4.7 million lunches to students. A release also noted Pleasant Bay School in Inverness County showed the highest consistent program participation rate with 80 per cent of students using the program.
Lindsay Corbin, coordinator of the province’s chapter of the Coalition for Healthy School Food, said the coalition believes the program is a success overall, noting Nova Scotia is the biggest investor in school food in Canada.
Corbin said one of the things the province did well was evaluating the program, with the province asking for feedback from students, families, and vendors, and then acting on what they heard.
As for areas where they would like to see the school lunch program grow, Corbin said it has to do with connection with local producers so more local food is served, connection with students to adapt the program to meet their needs, and connection with the curriculum so what kids learn in the classroom can inform their experience in the lunch room.
The plan is to expand the program next year to all middle and junior high schools and continue in elementary schools, with the goal of serving 104,000 students in 334 schools.