Tuesday 28 September

 

Shadow Ministers visit school breakfast club to see benefits of Magic Breakfast charity’s vital provision during Labour Conference

 

Children’s food charity Magic Breakfast yesterday welcomed Shadow Secretary of State for Education Kate Green MP and Shadow Schools Minister Peter Kyle MP (MP for Hove and Portslade) to a school breakfast club in Brighton during the Labour Party conference. 

The MPs spent the morning at Brighton Aldridge Community Academy (BACA), a co-educational secondary school that has worked with Magic Breakfast since 2014 to ensure pupils at risk of hunger receive a free, stigma-free breakfast each school day. 

The Academy is one of four schools in Brighton and Hove supported by the charity, collectively reaching more than 800 children in the area with free, healthy breakfasts.  

Kate Green MP and Peter Kyle MP met with BACA’s staff, students and Magic Breakfast representatives, and saw first-hand the benefits of the charity’s vital breakfast provision for children at risk of hunger.  

Magic Breakfast is the UK’s leading charity for school breakfast provision, providing expert support to schools and healthy breakfasts to hungry children to ensure they start the school day with the energy and nutrition they need to learn.  

In addition to tackling child hunger, school breakfast provision has been proven to boost attainment, with research by the Education Endowment Foundation and Institute for Fiscal Studies finding that KS1 children who attended a school with a Magic Breakfast supported universal school breakfast provision made two months’ additional academic progress over a year. 

In March, Kate Green MP announced Labour’s commitment to the policy of free school breakfasts for children as part of their Children’s Recovery Plan. Yesterday’s visit to the Magic Breakfast club at BACA re-affirmed Labour’s commitment to universal school breakfast provision to help close the educational attainment gap and support children catching up from learning lost due to the Covid-19 pandemic.  

The Department for Education recently announced funding for a new breakfast project, to supply food to at least 2,500 schools for two years, starting this September. Magic Breakfast is concerned by the model of the government’s new school breakfast provision which, the charity believes, is not designed to reach children most at risk of hunger.

Kate Green MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Education, said: 

"Breakfast clubs are a fantastic start to the school day, giving every child fuel to learn, boosting academic progress and creating time with friends. It was a privilege to visit BACA’s breakfast club and hear from children and staff about the positive impact Magic Breakfast’s provision is having in their school. Labour wants every child to have this opportunity, as part of our plan to ensure all children can bounce back after the pandemic. It’s time the Conservatives match this ambition and deliver breakfast clubs for every child.” 

Peter Kyle MP, Shadow Schools Minister and MP for Hove and Portslade, said: 

“Speaking with teachers and students at BACA about the benefits their breakfast club brings was eye-opening. Through my role as Shadow Schools Minister, I’ll do all I can to support Magic Breakfast in their call for the Government to provide a school breakfast to every student that needs one. The Government’s current school breakfast policy isn’t designed to reach all children at risk of hunger, and so I urge the Government to listen and learn from the brilliant work Magic Breakfast is doing to improve the education and life chances not only of children locally in Brighton and Hove, but nationally as well.”

Bob Speight, Principal of Brighton Aldridge Community Academy, said: 

“We were so proud to be able to show members of the Shadow Education Team our breakfast club and the brilliant work that Magic Breakfast does to make it possible here at BACA. Every day we see the very real impact our breakfast club has on our students’ school days. It gives them such a positive start to the day and sets them up perfectly for their lessons. At BACA it’s great to be a small part of the difference made by Magic Breakfast across the country to ensure that hunger and disadvantage isn’t a barrier to a child getting the most out of their education.” 

Magic Breakfast now partners with over 1,000 schools across England and Scotland to support children at risk of hunger. Nationally, the charity provides healthy breakfast food to over 200,000 children each school day. Find out how you can support the charity at www.magicbreakfast.com 

ENDS  

 

From left to right: Bob Speight, Principal of Brighton Aldridge Community Academy (BACA); Kate Green MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Education; Paul Lovegrove, Chair of Governors at BACA; Peter Kyle MP, Shadow Schools Minister and MP for Hove and Portslade. 

Photo credit: Magic Breakfast. 

For more information please contact [email protected]

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About Magic Breakfast  

Magic Breakfast is a registered charity providing healthy breakfasts to children in the UK who arrive at school too hungry to learn, and expert support to their schools. The charity works with over 1,000 Primary, Secondary, ASL/Special Educational Needs Schools and Pupil Referral Units in disadvantaged areas of England and Scotland, offering breakfasts to over 200,000 children to ensure they start their school day with the energy and nutrition they need to be able to make the most of their morning lessons.