Minister welcomes Fonterra Milk for Schools programme

Education Minister Hekia Parata welcomes Fonterra’s nationwide ‘Milk for Schools’ rollout to all New Zealand primary schools today.

“I congratulate Fonterra for this great initiative. As a Government we continue to encourage business communities and other agencies to work together with our school communities to grow the momentum of raising achievement for five out of five kids,” says Ms Parata.

“It is exciting to see the Fonterra pilot programme at Northland primary schools has had huge success. This is a great way to add value to our children’s lives as they spend their hours getting a great education. Well done Fonterra.”

The programme will operate on an ‘opt-in’ basis for interested primary schools. Schools opting in will receive a daily serving of 180ml of low-fat milk for each participating child each day. Fonterra will also provide fridges to keep it cool and an associated recycling programme.

In addition, the Government provides a fruit in schools scheme, which all decile one and two primary and intermediate schools are able to opt into. Around 480 Decile 1 and 2 schools currently participate, seeing around 96,806 children receiving one piece of fruit per day.