News

Following the report by the Mail Online (25 September) about a school in Bristol losing its breakfast club funding from a charity, LACA gives its views about the importance of breakfast provision for children and young people 

A recent Save the Children report (“Child Poverty 2012”), estimated that 3.5 million children are living in poverty in the UK today. It also outlined the experiences of low-income families, many of whom are being forced to cut back on essentials like food and clothes.

As a result of the pressure on working parents that may be juggling working hours and struggling to make ends meet, many are letting their children go to school hungry and thirsty in the mornings.

Commenting on this increasing trend, Anne Bull, LACA National Chair says: “With reports of children arriving hungry at school, the role of breakfast clubs as well as other food services in schools, are more vital than ever before.

“Ensuring that the most nutritionally vulnerable children in our society have the opportunity to have some breakfast and a hot nutritious school lunch every day is absolutely essential. For many, school is the provider of their only proper meal of the day.

“Recent studies show that children who eat better, do better.  Therefore, food provision in school is integral to the measures being taken to close the educational attainment gap and help children achieve their potential.

“Improving diet and lifestyle can help them make the most of their education which for many is the route out of poverty.

“In schools where there is breakfast provision, teachers report improvements in pupil attendance levels as well as their behaviour and attention in class in the mornings.

“In Wales, primary schools have had the opportunity to participate in the Primary Free School Breakfast Initiative. 76% of primary schools are currently participating in this scheme. The week prior to the 2012 school census, 35% of pupils in the participating schools took at least one free breakfast.

“With Wales leading the way in school breakfast provision in the UK, the successful Welsh model could also be applied in schools in England and Scotland.

“While school catering funding is an issue for a number of English local authorities who are having to meet tight budgets and to keep school meal prices as affordable as possible, more could be done by the Government to help support schools to facilitate breakfast clubs, particularly those situated in areas of high deprivation.”