23rd March, 2016.

Cambridge Park Academy in Grimsby is a fantastic school for 200 children with special educational needs. Since Magic Breakfast first started providing healthy food to the school, in January 2015, every member of staff has embraced the importance of breakfast and it is clear to see that it is now a pivotal part of the school morning. Staff have said that since introducing Magic Breakfast, children are much calmer going into their lessons.

Breakfast at Cambridge Park Academy is used to teach everything from social, independence and life skills, through budgeting, shopping and healthy eating, to PHSE, History, Religion, Science and Maths (pupils have made bar charts to measure the most popular cereal choices).

Every morning all pupils eat breakfast in their classrooms and this is having multiple benefits for the children, many of whom arrive at school hungry and tired after a long bus journey. Each week Year 10 and Year 11 children collect forms from each of the other classes with an ‘order’ for that week. They then assemble the orders and fill each class’s bag or tub with the required cereal, bagels, milk and other items. The bag or tub is then delivered back to each respective class.

At first one of the classes were resisting eating bagels so staff challenged them to explore their potential via different toppings. The children were given a budget then set to work, delivering each new recipe to the Principal for his verdict. They were quickly won over and are producing a recipe book with all their topping ideas!

Because pupils love their breakfasts so much they held a special event on 23rd March to say “thank you” to players of People’s Postcode Lottery who have awarded Magic Breakfast an amazing food and drink budget of £225,000 for 2016. This will fund over one million healthy breakfasts, not only for Cambridge Park Academy, but for more than 23,500 other schoolchildren across England. 

Mark Eames, Principal of Cambridge Park Academy, told us that breakfast was now “part of what we do”. He said, “You can teach anything through food".

You can see a short clip of Mark Eames in the You Tube video below (apologies for the less than ideal sound and picture quality).

Our thanks to everyone at Cambridge Park Academy for hosting such a brilliant event, and to players of People's Postcode Lottery for their generous funding which is giving so many children the best start to the day. 

Photo: Pupils of Cambridge Park Academy; Mark Eames, Principal; Mim McCulloch, Supporter Relationship Manager, Magic Breakfast.