What we do

Magic Breakfast is a charity that delivers free breakfasts to school children facing hunger every day.  A hungry child cannot concentrate, so could miss out on half a day of lessons every school day if not given anything nutritious to eat in the morning.

We work with schools to ensure that no child is too hungry to learn and thrive. Our partner schools usually open their doors a little early each morning to offer their students a free, nutritious magic breakfast and ensure they start their day the right way. 

We work in schools working within high levels of disadvantage, helping head teachers target the children most in need without making those children stand out or feel embarrassed. We believe that breakfast provision should always be stigma free and open to all. 

We work with Primary, Secondary, ASL / Special Educational Needs Schools and Pupil Referral Units, with a total roll of over 200,000 children and young people.

 

One boy’s behaviour was so bad we were about to exclude him. Before I did, I thought, let’s just try asking him to breakfast club. It was magic – he settled. He was just hungry. So simple.

- Member of staff at Randal Cremer Primary School, Hackney.

 

Why we are needed

Our work has never been more needed.

Just a few years ago, before the pandemic, 1.7 million children were at risk of hunger in the UK (Department for Work and Pension). As if that were not bad enough, by early 2022 this number had risen to 2.7 million before rocketing still further to 4 million in September 2022 (The Food Foundation).

That's one in four children who don't have enough to eat.

These figures are staggering. This is happening to children in communities like yours right across the UK.

Not only are millions of children starting their day without the meal they need to feel fulfilled and grow... they are also having to tackle some of their most important lessons of the day without the fuel to focus, learn and thrive. When a child is too hungry to learn, when they’re aching for something to eat, they can’t concentrate. They can’t absorb information. Big feelings and worries can be impossible to control. They fall far behind in their studies.

In fact, by the time a child leaves primary school, the effect of repeatedly going to school hungry is like having missed 9 months of lessons (Education Policy Institute). Breakfast can literally change lives, directly impacting children's educational attainment and future prospects.

 

The impact of the cost-of-living crisis is really taking hold. The children are coming to school hungry and in the need of basic food. Without Magic Breakfast these children would simply be starving all day until lunch.

- Member of staff at Magic Breakfast Partner School

  

The impact of breakfast

Spellings stick. Timetables go in. Reading and writing improves. Listening gets easier. Concentration kicks in. Emotions are easier
to control which also helps children get better at making friends.

A recent study by the Institute of Fiscal Studies showed that a nutritious magic breakfast can boost attainment in key school subjects by 2 months over a year at the end of Infants, while Leeds University found that students who ate breakfast regularly achieved nearly two grades higher in their GCSEs than their peers.

Not only that, our schools tell us that breakfast improves attendance, punctuality, behaviour, wellbeing and social skills (Magic Breakfast M&M Survey 2022).

Now that's magic!

 

My concentration levels are better after I have eaten in the morning. I'm grateful for the breakfast that the school provides.

- Magic Breakfast student, Scotland