Free breakfast clubs will roll out to a further 500 primary schools from April – use our searchable widget to find if your kid’s school will benefit from the scheme
Free breakfast clubs will roll out to a further 500 primary schools from April – saving parents up to £450 a year.
The fresh rollout of Labour’s flagship manifesto scheme will this time target the most disadvantaged areas of the country.
Bridget Phillipson said free breakfasts are “revolutionising morning routines” across the country. “From settling a child into the school day to helping parents get to work, free breakfast clubs are giving every child the best start in life,” the Education Secretary said.
READ MORE: Free breakfast clubs will roll out to 500 more schools with huge funding boost
“I was raised by a single parent, so I know first-hand the struggles facing parents trying to make ends meet and how important it is to tackle outdated stigmas with practical support that people can feel every day.”
The extension to 500 more schools is set to benefit 300,000 students, ministers said. It comes after 750 schools joined a pilot of the scheme last year. The Department for Education (DfE) says free breakfast clubs save working parents up to £450 a year.
Schools and trusts engaged on the programme must deliver a breakfast club that is open to all pupils on roll in Reception to Year 6. They must last at least 30 minutes, giving parents access to extra free childcare.
They must be free, accessible and located on or in the vicinty of the school site. Breakfasts offered must meet the School Food Standards for England.
Use our searchable widget to find if your kid’s school will benefit
The next phase of the breakfast clubs rollout will see schools get an extra £6,500 per school. The department decided to revise its funding model after headteachers in rural areas and smaller schools reported particular difficulties in operating a free breakfast club.
The extra funding – some £80million in total for the next phase – will come from the Department of Education’s settlement at last Spring’s Spending Review.
This will fund a further 2,000 schools to get breakfast clubs, 500 from April and 1,500 from September. Applications open on Monday for schools wanting to join the scheme in September.
Labour has promised for every primary school in England to have a free breakfast club by the end of the Parliament.
Evidence also shows breakfast clubs boost attendance, attainment and behaviour.
Parents are increasingly hoping their school provides one of the clubs, with polling commissioned by the department showing nearly half (45%) of parents prioritise primary schools with free breakfast clubs.
The DfE is encouraging more schools to sign up as universal access is thought to help remove the stigma of breakfast support, with six in ten (60%) parents more likely to use it when it’s available to everyone.