Fruit & Vegetables in Schools
Fruit & Vegetables in Schools (FIS) is a government-funded initiative that provides daily fresh fruit and vegetables to children in low-decile schools. The initiative was piloted in 25 schools in 2004 and grown to reach:
- 21 regions across New Zealand
- 565 schools (around 25% of NZ primary schools)
- Over 120,000 children and staff
- 27,000,000 servings of fresh fruit and vegetables every year
The 5+ A Day Charitable Trust supports FIS by providing curriculum-linked resources that support learning with a selection of engaging eBooks and accompanying interactive activities in the areas of germination, composting, physical activity and eating seasonally.
Criteria for schools to join FIS:
- Decile 1 or 2
- Years 1-8 students
Download the 2023 FIS Fact Sheet here.
Information & Research
Term 1 2023 Feedback: FIS beneficial to school communities
Counties Manukau - Clayton Park School
"Ngā mihi for the email and the fruit! Our kids love the fruit, they get a bit grumpy when the bananas run out. Just this morning a Y6 student walked into school, came straight to me in the staff room and asked for a couple of apples for his breakfast. Our kids love to munch through the fruit over the day and get it delivered to their classes at 8:45am so it's ready to go if they haven't had enough breakfast. If we ever have leftover fruit, our parents come for it on Fridays and are very appreciative. Sometimes they even ask if there was any fruit leftover if we haven't put it out. It has a big impact on our community as fresh foods are expensive to buy and there is peace of mind, knowing their kids are getting the fruit at school. The kids love the grapes, bananas and apples. Thank you for your work in this space".
Mid Central Levin School
"FIS is absolutely great, some of our new parents think it's fantastic and they are saying it has increased the children's consumption of fruit at home as well as having 5+ A Day fruit at school".
Counties Manukau – Holy Cross Catholic School (Papatoetoe)
"Fruit in Schools has been very worthwhile for our children. We have noticed improvements in our children's health with less children presenting with skin infections. Children are also eating fruit regularly and not eating so much snack food which can be high in sugar. The selection of fruit offered has given our students the opportunity to try types of fruit that they may have not eaten before. If we have leftover fruit, we offer fruit to the children in our pre-school reading group who visit weekly or to our families who are facing hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Our students look forward to receiving a piece of fruit each day and we wish to thank you for your ongoing programme".
