New data reveals a shift towards packed lunches in primary schools throughout the last calendar year.
This follows a drop after the introduction of a new menu in September 2025, though officials caution the figures are approximate and inconsistently recorded.
Statistics provided by the Department of Education, Sport and Culture show comparative numbers from the start of January, September, October, November, and December 2025.
The figures show that in 15 of the island’s primary schools there had been a drop in school meals and a rise in packed lunches.
Packed Lunch
For example, at Ashley Hill in January, 147 pupils had school meals versus 65 packed lunches. By December this had switched to 102 and 106 respectively.
However, three schools did see the opposite trend with more children now on school meals, while five saw marginal change in either direction.
The department, in response to Manx.News’ FoI request has emphasised data limitations.
It said that primary schools “log packed lunch numbers in a variety of ways,” noting the figures “do not account for any other circumstances, for example, going home for lunch”.
It also explained that “school meals taken may not have been logged on the reports used to extract this data,” and that “work is ongoing to improve accuracy”.
Other factors like pupil absences, seasonal events, and varying use of the ParentPay system also cause daily fluctuations, making it difficult to attribute changes solely to the new menu.