8th November, 2018

We are delighted to have been able to announce that well over 15,000 healthy breakfasts are now being served to schoolchildren in England every day as a result of the government’s new National School Breakfast Programme (NSBP), which Magic Breakfast is helping to deliver alongside Family Action.

More than 600 schools have been recruited into the National School Breakfast Programme since its launch in March, but we need to get the word out urgently to schools in disadvantaged areas who may not yet have heard of the NSBP so that they can get the full benefit of the offer of four terms of healthy free breakfast food, a start-up grant of £500 and expert support from the NSBP team.

Last week the Minister for Children and Families, Nadhim Zahawi MP, visited St Mary’s RC Primary School in Battersea, South London, to see for himself the benefits of school breakfasts. He was clearly impressed by what he saw and urged other schools to take advantage of the National School Breakfast Programme: “All schools that are interested come forward, talk to us, talk to Magic Breakfast and Family Action to see if we can set up a breakfast club in your school”.

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From left to right: David Holmes CBE, Chief Executive of Family Action; Nadhim Zahawi MP, Minister for Children and Families;
Carmel McConnell MBE, Founder of Magic Breakfast; Claire Mitchell, Associate Head Teacher of St Mary’s RC Primary, Battersea.

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On Friday morning, Mr Zahawi spoke on BBC Breakfast TV and on BBC Radio 5 live about the difference breakfast provision makes to attendance and learning. He told BBC Breakfast presenter, Jon Kay: " I saw at first hand at St Mary’s school in Battersea yesterday… that the breakfast club is making a huge difference to attendance, to learning, we have the evidence from the Education Endowment Foundation that children with a healthy nutritious breakfast learn much better, whether it is maths or English, reading or writing, they do much better if they have a nutritious breakfast.”

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It has been great to see coverage of the progress of the National School Breakfast Programme this week, including articles in the Times Educational Supplement, i newspaper, ITV News online and the Daily Mail.

If you know of a school in a disadvantaged area of England that could benefit from free breakfast provision from the National School Breakfast Programme please send them this link www.family-action.org.uk/breakfast. To get the maximum benefit from the Department for Education’s funding, schools should apply by the end of November 2018.

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Pupils at St Mary's RC Primary School in Battersea, South London enjoying their breakfast as a result of the National School Breakfast Programme. 

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