The factors leading to morning hunger are varied and complex – yet children who are offered a school breakfast typically have better outcomes short-term and long-term. The facts and figures included below detail some of the benefits of Magic Breakfast, alongside the number of children and families affected by poverty and other barriers to learning.
Food Insecurity
2.7 million
children live in households that have experienced food insecurity.
93%
of our partner schools believe that hunger and access to food impacts learning & success at their school, according to our annual breakfast survey.1
Magic Breakfast offers a school breakfast to over
300,000 children
and young people across England and Scotland every morning.
Attainment
Pupils in primary schools offering school breakfast achieved, on average,
two months’
additional progress over the course of a year compared to children in schools without breakfast at key stage one.5
81%
of our partner schools believe Magic Breakfast has a positive impact on educational attainment, according to our annual breakfast survey.6
85%
of parents participating in our research believe that eating breakfast has a positive impact on their child’s attainment.7
Attendance
Over one in six pupils
in England were persistently absent from school in the 2024/5 academic year.8
Magic Breakfast has a positive impact on attendance. Schools with breakfast have
26 fewer half-days
of absence per year in a class of 30, compared to those without breakfast.
Health
One in five
children and young people worry about not having enough food to eat at home, according to research with children and young people in our partner schools.9
According to our annual breakfast survey, our partner schools believe Magic Breakfast has a
positive impact
on mental and emotional wellbeing (84%), physical health and wellbeing (85%) and healthy eating habits (85%).10
Magic Breakfast
Magic Breakfast works with
over 1000 schools
across England and Scotland every school day.
- Magic Breakfast, Annual Breakfast Survey 2025, www.magicbreakfast.com/annual-breakfast-survey
- Department for Work and Pensions, Households below average income: financial years ending 1995 – 2022, March 2023, https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/households-below-average-income-for-financial-years-ending-1995-to-2022/households-below-average-income-an-analysis-of-the-uk-income-distribution-fye-1995-to-fye-2022
- Magic Breakfast, Annual Breakfast Survey 2025, www.magicbreakfast.com/annual-breakfast-survey
- Ibid.
- Education Endowment Foundation, Magic Breakfast evaluation report and executive summary, November 2016, https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/projects-and-evaluation/projects/magic-breakfast/
- Magic Breakfast, Annual Breakfast Survey 2025, www.magicbreakfast.com/annual-breakfast-survey
- Magic Breakfast, What’s for Breakfast, May 2023, https://www.magicbreakfast.com/blog/whats-for-breakfast
- Department for Education, Pupil absence in schools in England, September 2025, https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/pupil-absence-in-schools-in-england/2024-25-autumn-term
- Magic Breakfast, What’s for Breakfast, May 2023, https://www.magicbreakfast.com/blog/whats-for-breakfast
- Magic Breakfast, Annual Breakfast Survey 2025, www.magicbreakfast.com/annual-breakfast-survey