Students across Nova Scotia continue to enjoy healthy, affordable lunches that help them focus on learning.
Students at Portland Estates Elementary School on January 30. (Education and Early Childhood Development)
As of January 30, more than two million lunches have been served through the new Nova Scotia School Lunch Program.
"This is an exciting milestone for our school lunch program," said Brendan Maguire, Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development. "With rising costs impacting many Nova Scotians, I'm pleased that our government has been able to deliver free, healthy lunches for children."
More than half of eligible Nova Scotian students are benefiting from healthy, affordable lunches. In some schools, up to 100 per cent of students are ordering and enjoying school lunches.
Since ordering began in October, the most popular meal has been mini cheese pizza with vegetables. Other favourites have been pasta with tomato and beef sauce and the beef burger with vegetables and fruit.
Online ordering for the school lunch program happens in two-week cycles where students can choose between two options (one is vegetarian) for each school day. Families can choose to pay the full cost of the meal, the partial cost or nothing at all.
Quick Facts:
- 258 schools are participating in Phase 1 of the Nova Scotia School Lunch Program, with more than 75,000 students eligible to order
- the participation rate for the program is more than 50 per cent
- 2,033,299 lunches have been ordered since the program launched
Additional Resources:
- Nova Scotia School Lunch Program website: https://nslunch.ca/
