8 March 2019

A year ago snow caused Edinburgh to grind to a picturesque halt and put paid to the big media launch event we were hoping for, but the weather didn’t stop us for long, and soon Scottish children at 13 schools were enjoying healthy school breakfasts. We were delighted to be reaching more than 400 children every day.

We are pleased to report that over the last year the number of schools we are working with has now grown to 30, with over 1,000 breakfasts now served daily.

There has been some fantastic feedback from our partner schools in Scotland about the difference breakfast provision is making to their students. Patricia McGowan, Head Teacher at Abercorn Secondary School explains the difference it is making to her pupils:

“It is having an impact on their mental health because they are now much more settled. It is having an impact on their learning because they are much more focused, they are not hungry when they arrive in class, so concentration levels are better. And for the staff, we can’t believe the benefits it has brought to the school, it’s tremendous.”

We will be expanding further in Scotland, but as the region isn’t covered by the National School Breakfast Programme financing, which so many schools in England are now benefiting from, it is down to fundraising and the fantastic support Magic Breakfast gets from players of People’s Postcode Lottery and organisations including Amazon UK, Quaker Oats UK, Tropicana, Bagel Nash, Igloo Thermo Logistics and Morgan Stanley, as to how quickly we can reach those children who are starting their school day too hungry to learn.