Magic Breakfast welcomes the Seventh Session of the Scottish Parliament 

With millions of votes cast, Scots have made their choice on who they wish to form the seventh session session of the Scottish Parliament. 

Congratulations to the tens of thousands of young people, including those in Magic Breakfast partner schools across Scotland, who cast their votes for the first time. This is why we at Magic Breakfast exist, to build a future where young people are nourished, empowered, and able to thrive. Elections are the height of empowerment, with students in S4 to S6 able to be active participants in their futures. 

Elections have consequences, and 129 of those who chose to put their names on ballot papers now have the honour of taking a seat in the Holyrood debating chamber. My congratulations and best wishes, and those of the whole team at Magic Breakfast, go with them. Being an elected parliamentarian is a job like no other with the power to make a difference for the people of your community and across the nation.  

We know MSPs can’t do it alone though, and that is why my team is ready to support members from all parties to deliver a better future for young Scots. This includes our new dedicated webpage which seeks to share the impact of what we do in Scotland and the benefits that school breakfasts can have for every one of the almost 700,000 school pupils in Scotland. 

This will be a Parliament of milestones and choices. In just over 12 months’ time pupils in primary and special schools will return from the 2027 summer holiday and expect the breakfasts clubs promised to them by the previous Scottish Government earlier this year. It must be this Parliament’s choice to deliver on their expectations. Over the next year policy will need to be developed to allow schools to deliver breakfast clubs in a way that works for children and young people and their families. It must be this Parliament’s choice to work with experts and those with lived experience to get this right. In 2030, young Scots from Leverburgh to Leith will expect their politicians to deliver on legally binding child poverty targets. It must be this Parliament’s choice to support bold policies that meet this target.  

But there are the milestones that don’t yet have policies to deliver them. In secondary schools, teens are going to school without the wide-ranging benefits that breakfast can provide and have no firm promise to see it delivered. Across the country hundreds of thousands of babies will be born within this parliamentary term into an early learning and childcare system crying out for a revolution, one that supports breakfast provision.  

Fixing these problems doesn’t lie solely at the door of St Andrew’s House. Holyrood can make change happen. That’s why between now and the next election, Magic Breakfast will be working with MSPs across the chamber to deliver on three key areas: 

• Deliver the commitment to universal primary and special school breakfast. 
• Expand the universal school breakfast offer to all of Scotland’s secondary schools. 
• Build on the success of school age commitments and expand provision to early learning and childcare settings, starting with local authority-based settings.