The school lunch runs smoothly at De Schakel primary school

At De Schakel primary school in Utrecht, teachers and volunteers make sandwiches for school lunch three times a week. On Friday, all students receive a hot vegetable lunch. “We want the children to eat well so they can learn better.”

Tekst Maaike Lange - redactie onderwijsblad - 16 april 2024 - Minder dan een minuut om te lezen

Angeliek de Jonge

At a quarter to eleven, many bread bags are already unzipped on the table in the staff room. A tarp underneath to catch the crumbs. If, as a teacher, you don't have a class or task at that time, you join in. Like Serife Avci, a children's coach at school, who is busy removing slices of cheese from the packaging. “It goes extra fast if everyone helps. And it's fun.” Opposite her sits Esmeralda Drost, mother of a student at school and grease volunteer. “We are all attuned to each other, we know exactly how to get the students served quickly.”

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More and more people are joining the table. Seven already. “Is the bread thawed?” asks director Janet Klein, looking around. The day before, the bread was delivered by the Utrecht LunchMaatjes foundation and immediately put in the freezer to keep it fresh. This morning it was thawing on the radiator. Klein slides behind a stack of brown sandwiches. “Is there another knife like this?” she asks. “Would you like to join us too, Jesper?” “Can someone please cut the meat?”

De Schakel primary school is located on the western edge of Utrecht. The school building is located in a neighborhood with high-rise apartment buildings. At ten floors you can see the Dom Tower and the city canals in the distance. On the other side, your gaze falls into the green of the meadows, and closer to Fort de Klop, a monument of the defense line along the Vecht.

The densely populated district has several primary schools. De Schakel has 255 students. Klein: “There is now a healthy meal every day for everyone, a condition for learning well. We make three sandwiches for each student.” So more than 750 sandwiches in total. “It's nice, so much,” she says, laughing.

'Our approach is equality of opportunity and health'

Jos Lutteman is the initiator of LunchMaatjes. He saw more and more children at his children's primary school coming to school without or with an unhealthy lunch. “In almost all European countries it is very normal for children to be fed at school. I thought why don't we do that.” Research from the universities of Maastricht and Wageningen showed that school lunches ensure that children feel better, perform better and are less bullied. Lutteman quit his well-paid job at a bank and started LunchMaatjes.
“Our approach is equality of opportunity and health. We advocate a lunch culture at school where children eat together and learn to eat healthy together.” They now serve ten schools in Utrecht, including De Schakel. At most schools they come four times and provide a lunch buffet with a hot soup or pasta. “We know that many schools are resistant, they are afraid that it will be a lot of hassle, but that is not the case, everything is well arranged.”
He sees the positive effects at all schools. “I recently saw a little boy who didn't like anything two years ago. Now he eats all kinds of vegetables. I need good energy, he said, because I'm going to play football tonight. So they learn the importance of good nutrition.” Another time, a parent asked him the recipe for broccoli soup. “Because her children ate that at school. So something is also changing at home.”

The school has been organizing lunch for a few years now. Klein saw children coming to school without anything to eat, or children with moldy sandwiches. “There were also children who brought a lunch, but we then decided that we would offer a lunch for everyone, so that no one felt left out.”

While applying the cream, we clear our heads and laugh. It is good for team building

Not only the bread, but also the toppings are brought by LunchMaatjes. Jars of peanut butter, apple syrup, jam, cheese spread. When something runs out, one of the teachers drives to a nearby store. Klein: “While applying the cream, we clear our heads and we laugh. It is good for team building. It can also be about a student or something concerning the school. But mostly it's just a lot of fun.”

Director Janet Klein of De Schakel primary school. Image: Angeliek de Jonge

Twenty sausages

The chatter in the background indeed sounds cheerful. “Next year I'm going to retire and go on a cruise,” says Grade 5/6 teacher Jenny Deira. A teacher teases: “Then, why not now?” Twenty sausages, a volunteer shouts in between. Avci immediately starts counting out loud.

Janet Klein: “We are a well-oiled machine, aren't we? After every holiday we check what students want for their lunch. We apply exactly what is needed and don't have to throw anything away. The caps are saved for the teachers, so we make sandwiches out of them.”

We apply exactly what is needed and don't have to throw anything away

Janet tells the smear group that she had a conversation with someone from the municipality this morning about the lunches. “The municipality wants us to teach students how to eat new things, but we first want them to eat at all. For example, the municipality wants us to offer a vegetarian lunch. But we see that the children want halal sausage. Since the sausages are vegetarian, they don't choose it anymore. Moreover, the vegetarian sausages are not sustainable at all, you get all those small sausages in a lot of plastic. What is your target? We want the children to eat well so that they can learn better. That is what we are achieving now. All the children are eating well now.”

Different jars

Lunch at school is subsidized by the municipality and the government. There are different pots for this. De Schakel is a so-called family school. Parents can come in with questions about parenting, paperwork or money and there are a number of giveaway cabinets at the school. The school is also sponsored by FC Utrecht for the lunches.

Klein: “We have to make seedless sandwiches for students with braces.” The last box is filled with sandwiches. “You can stop spreading peanut butter,” they say. The plastic boxes are loaded onto a cart with containers of raw vegetables and delivered to the classes. There the children get their sandwiches at their table. Happy faces everywhere. If someone wants an extra slice, that is also possible.

School lunch is usually free

LunchMaatjes in Utrecht helps schools to arrange financing for lunches. She offers lunches without parental contribution, or, if there really is no other option, with a very low parental contribution. The municipality of Utrecht has a 'Health at school' programme, which includes 'Healthy eating at school'. Schools are eligible if at least 30 percent of the students come from a family with a relatively low income. The Youth Education Fund has a 'School Meals' platform. Schools can receive nine euros per child per week for lunch. The 30 percent poverty limit also applies to this.