Pupils will get a healthy and tasty start to their day after joining the National School Breakfast Programme.
Since Monday 7 January, all 670 pupils at the Dick Lane school have been tucking into a free healthy breakfast packed with the right energy and nutrients to set them up for their school day. Research has shown that having a nutritious breakfast can increase alertness, improve behaviour and give children greater motivation to learn.
Through the National School Breakfast Programme, which supports schools in disadvantaged communities to improve access to healthy breakfasts and learning, We will receive free breakfast foods for its pupils and a grant of £500 to cover start-up costs. The programme is being run by national charities Family Action and Magic Breakfast, with funding from the Department for Education. The charities will work with the school to help it develop new and effective ways of improving breakfast provision and maximise the number of children reached. As well as copious boxes of cereal, the schoolchildren are expected to eat their way through a thousand bagels each week.
Principal Clare Daddy said:
“We are really pleased to have been chosen to be part of the National School Breakfast Programme. This is a great opportunity to help give our children not only a nutritious breakfast but also benefit from the proven impact it will have on their educational attainment outcomes, learning, behaviour and health that come with a having a good start to the day.”
David Holmes CBE, Chief Executive of Family Action, said:
“Breakfast provision plays a key role in ensuring children have a healthy start to their day. Family Action is delighted to be working with the Department for Education and Magic Breakfast on this ground-breaking programme – changing lives and life chances by preventing thousands of children from being too hungry to learn.”
Carmel McConnell MBE, Founder of Magic Breakfast, said:
“Crucially, it will ensure a nutritious breakfast reaches many more thousands of hungry schoolchildren, unlocking up to four hours of learning each morning to support their education. This is an excellent investment in these children and in the future of this country.”
At least half a million children in the UK arrive at school each day too hungry to learn. Research has shown a direct link between the breakfast habits of children and their educational attainment, with children in primary schools where breakfast is provided achieving on average up to two months’ additional academic progress over the course of a year.
BREAKFAST CLUB: Thornbury Primary Leadership Academy are munching through 1,000 bagels a week