I started to develop an interest in what was happening in the school canteen.
I think that came about when my children started school and I could see that it wasn't great the options at at ours at our school.
So I was asked to actually run the school canteen and change the canteen at at my daughter's school.
I've done further studies in public health and health education to create that background that I needed, and then the opportunity to actually look at how we could feed children differently came about.
So we set up the school lunch programme initially to address the need of children who have trouble accessing food.
So it was from a food security perspective to start with, but always with the intent to link every child eating a school lunch meal to impact on their learning outcomes, their health and wellbeing and also their social connectedness to school and with the real focus of using local and seasonal produce in Tasmania. We mainly focus on primary schools because we want to develop that understanding of food from an early age.
We started off with roughly 1000 meals a week and now we're producing 16,000 so that at the moment feeds around about 6 to 7000 children. The impact has been amazing.
We've seen children trying food that they were not comfortable to try. Now enjoying that food their taste buds have been developed.
The teachers are noticing a lot calmer group of children after lunch because they've got nutritious food in their body.
They're not sugar hyped.
Seeing parents really happy and receiving emails saying how how are we getting their fussy eaters to eat the school lunch meals and really it's about them sitting down and eating together and it's a joy to sit down with them.
It is doable and really we should be investing in our children and one of the great ways to do that is actually provide a nutritious, yummy, tasty school lunch for every child.
Julie Dunbabin is a pioneer in school nutrition, who is changing the way education departments and schools prepare and deliver school lunches to children.
Julie’s vision is for all school children to receive a nutritious, sit-down meal every day, prepared from scratch in a school or central kitchen, using seasonal, local produce.
Today the School Lunch Program prepares 14,332 school lunches for 6,656 students every week. The program, which started initially with three schools, is expected to expand to 60 schools in 2026.
The program has clear benefits for children, ensuring they receive a nutritious meal each day and contributing to better social and learning outcomes. The model of cook-from-scratch kitchens also supports local producers, creates jobs for kitchen and warehouse staff, builds community involvement and addresses food security for families.
Julie’s determination to improve children’s diets is transforming how school lunches are delivered in Tasmania, inspiring a healthier food culture and enhancing food literacy.
Learn more about positive ageing at health.gov.au/positive-ageing.