Jan Tinetti Labour MP

We celebrated two very important milestones recently. They are initiatives introduced by the current Government that are a making a huge, positive difference in the lives of our young people each and every day and removing the barriers that have prevented them from attending school.

Having worked in education for many years I have seen first-hand the negative impact on children who come to school with no food and for girls who have missed school because they don't have period products to use. Both are devastating for their learning and their overall wellbeing.

Since we started rolling out free lunches in schools two years ago around 63 million healthy lunches have been served and they now reach 220,000 students across the country and free period products are now in more than 2000 schools around the country.

Important milestones deserve to be celebrated so I recently met with a wonderful group of students from Heretaunga College in Upper Hutt, which was a lead supporter of the initiative to get free period products into schools. The students gave such positive feedback about the difference it is making in their lives, which is so great to hear.

I then visited children at Victory School in Nelson where I sat down with them while they enjoyed their nutritious lunches accompanied by lots of smiles and chatter. The rain was just starting to come down heavily while I was there and my thoughts are with all those affected by the devastating floods.