Free breakfasts go further
A charity-run breakfast club programme working with extended schools in London and providing more than 1,000 breakfasts a day is calling for local authorities to help roll out the scheme to other parts of the country.
The Magic Breakfast programme delivers food to 26 schools in London and plans to expand to support 45 schools by the end of the year.
Founder Carmel McConnell started the programme in 2001 after she visited schools in Hackney as part of a research project and found that teachers were bringing in food for children who were arriving too hungry to learn. The charity delivers a freezer and food such as bagels and healthy cereals to all participating schools.
Last week, cabinet office minister for social exclusion Hilary Amstrong visited a Magic Breakfast club at Kingsmead Primary School in Clapton, east London.
Ms McConnell said, 'Lots of children are not getting food at all before school. If, as a society, we want to help children achieve their potential, breakfast club funding has to be a bigger Government priority. Food is fuel for learning.'
Ms McConnell is asking for local authority funding within extended schools provision, so schools with over 50 per cent of pupils on free school meals can offer free breakfast club places. She said she wants to help local authorities to make it a bigger priority.
Schools can apply for the free breakfast programme at the website www.magicbreakfast.co.uk.
