Next week the Fruit in Schools initiative begins another year of providing an essential service to our youngest New Zealanders.

More than 7100 children in 46 schools and kura across the Bay of Plenty will receive a healthy snack of fresh fruit or vegetables each school day.

The successful scheme has been recognised by the World Health Organisation for performing a pivotal role in supporting the health and wellbeing of our children for over 17 years.

Te Whatu Ora fund the FIS initiative, managed by United Fresh and supported by the 5+ A Day Charitable Trust.

Trust chair David Smith says that FIS will provide critical nutrition for children as inflation hits many whānau in the pocket.

"It's no secret that families throughout the Bay of Plenty are doing it tough this year. FIS is a great way to ensure the healthy kai grown on orchards and farms around the country gets to where it's most needed," he says.

"We produce some of the highest quality fresh produce in the world, and the fresh fruit and vegetables that tamariki receive through FIS provide vital dietary nutrients for growing bodies and minds," says Smith.

Maketu School is just one of the schools enrolled in the FIS initiative. School representative, Andrea Paki says the fresh produce deliveries are very effective for tamariki.

"We use the fruit in food technology. We also get the lunches, and they work well together. Lunches come with fruit sometimes too. Some of our autistic children only eat apples and we only get them with FIS. It provides other benefits, like our seniors learn to cut fruit up and how to handle knives.

'FIS is a success story, our children never ate fruit before it was provided by your organisation.”

5+ A Day Trustee, Dr Carolyn Lister, says fresh seasonal produce is delivered twice a week to schools or kura enrolled in FIS so that tamariki and kaiako (staff) can eat it every day, and have the opportunity to try more than two dozen fruit and vegetable varieties during the school year.

"Around 80 per cent of FIS schools also participate in the Ministry of Education's Ka Ora, Ka Ako – Healthy School Lunches.

"Feedback from schools shows these initiatives work well together. For example, many schools have provided feedback that tamariki are more engaged with their learning as the nourishment they receive from FIS at morning tea and Ka Ora, Ka Ako at lunchtime provides the energy they need throughout the school day.

"FIS is about so much more than a piece of fresh produce. Nine out of ten principals enrolled in the initiative said FIS led to a sense of equality between students regardless of their family circumstances, and 83 per cent of principals said their children's overall health would decline if FIS ended..

"We also know that the role-modelling of eating a variety of healthy kai together at school has much wider benefits for tamariki and their whānau and influences long-term changes. Our research found that 70 percent of parents said that their child liked eating fruit more because of FIS, and 37 percent said they like eating vegetables more."

Initially developed in 2004, FIS deliveries are organised at no cost to schools or local communities. In addition, the 5+ A Day Charitable Trust provides free curriculum-linked resources in English and Te Reo to help promote healthy eating and teach students how to grow their own produce.