The interim evaluation report of the Healthy School Lunches Programme was commissioned to help the Ministry of Education assess the early impact of the pilot programme based on the priority outcomes of food availability, consumption, hunger reduction, wellbeing and attendance.

Key findings:

• ‘large benefits’ for all primary and intermediate learners in respect of the types of food available and consumed
• ‘large gains’ in fullness for learners who previously had insufficient food, with these learners, on average, feeling an 20% fuller after lunch than before the programme
• ‘large gains’ in mental wellbeing by the most disadvantaged learners
• a statistically significant reduction in the proportion of learners with low health quality of life
• ‘small but significant' improvements for learners, on average, in terms of their overall health quality of life, as well as in their physical and emotional functioning.