Breakfast with the best!
Looking for ideas? Feel its all good in theory?.... Search our case studies below for great ideas and examples of how others around the country have tackled the breakfast challenge.
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- Activity focused
- Attendance and punctuality
- Community based
- Community focused
- Family focused
- Music focused
- Nutritional support
- Older pupils
- Pastoral support
- Pupil involvement
- Rural
- Skills building
- Staffing
- Transition
- Volunteer run
- Whole school approach
Activity focused
Every day before school, pupils at a Hampshire secondary school have the opportunity to eat a healthy breakfast, take part in paired reading, hockey coaching and junior sports leadership activities and make use of the IT and library facilities. The quality and quantity of provision attracts over 100 pupils to the school from 8am each morning. To support it's strategies for inclusion and promoting positive behaviour, the school applied for funding to pay an educational welfare officer to offer a counselling service for targeted pupils before school each day. The funding also allowed whole tutor groups in Years 7 and 8 to meet socially with their class teachers over breakfast each term. These tutor-group breakfasts will support pupils’ transition into the school and reinforce its ethos of 'learning and caring go together'.
Woolmore Primary School in Tower Hamlets have about 40 children regularly accessing their club. The school is based in a very multi-cultural community and the children represent families from Bengali, Chinese and Vietnamese as well as English backgrounds. With support from ContinYou the club has now introduced a family reading breakfast on Tuesdays and have about 7 parents who come along regularly and read alongside the children. The children have all benefited not only from the reading activity but also from the increased time and attention of parents and adults. The club has also linked up with learning mentors from local secondary schools who also come in and read with the children. This will prove an invaluable link to assist the children with their transition to Secondary schools.
St Bartholemew’s School in Wiggington is a small rural school that embraces a whole school approach to healthy living. During the schools healthy living week the breakfast club tried out different types of fruits and made fruit smoothies. The school also put on special healthy eating events throughout the day and had a local Chef attend the school and cook a fruit based menu with each class. Alongside a healthy breakfast of orange Juice, water or hot chocolate, toast, low sugar cereals or grilled bacon rolls they also offer seasonal variations through the year including, croissants, fruit smoothies, scrambled eggs, porridge and pancakes. The club is run by a staff member but really excels in involving the wider community. The breakfast club is based around a morning cross country run and all members run before breakfast. Around 15-18 parents regularly help out with the breakfast or with the cross country running. They go for a run first and then come back to school for breakfast which has been prepared by two of the parents. One father reported to the co-ordinator that he would never have taken up running again if it had not been for the club but had really enjoyed it and found he was now much fitter.The club acts as a community meeting place for the local parents who all enjoy pitching in. Club members also take part in the local cross country community races (and have won on several occasions - a real achievement for the size of their school).
Attendance and punctuality
A large primary in New Addington Education Action Zone has invested heavily in its breakfast club in an effort to halve the rate of unauthorised absences and to boost children’s communication and social skills. The club is managed by a nursery nurse. She also leads other New Addington EAZ club coordinators in sharing ideas and good practice. Over 60 pupils attend the club each day. Ongoing monitoring of the club has identified that it has a marked effect on pupils’ punctuality and attendance, as well as their confidence and achievement. The club has become a drop-in centre for older siblings who attend the local secondary school, as well as other family members. The club can provide up to 150 breakfasts each day.
Community Based
Melville and Brompton breakfast club is based in Melville and Brompton Community Centre situated in Gillingham, Kent on a large estate with high levels of unemployment and single parents. The club serves the children from the estate, who are afterwards walked to the local primary school, Brompton-Westbrook School. The club was established by co-ordinator Terry Capp, in response to the number of children from the estate who were going to school without having breakfast. The club offers food and activities for the children and has books, dance mats, pool tables and other games that the children can play before going to school. The dance mats, in particular, are very popular, having to be replaced often because they get worn out. There are also computers available if any child needs to do some homework or look something up. About 36 pupils attend on a regular basis and they are charged 50p per day. This provides a basic income for the club with additional sustainability funds being provided by the local Primary Care Trust and the Medway Children's Fund. These cover the wages for the co-ordinator and three part-time staff and funding is guaranteed until 2008.
The club has good partnership relations with the school and the community and often act as an intermediary with parents when children fail to attend school. All the hard work is worth it as the school sees an boost in their attendance records, children benefit from the nutrition and social aspects of the club and parents have somewhere safe to leave their children if they are going to work. Terry’s top tip looks at healthy eating choices. She says ‘we offer healthy choices first. We use this as an incentive and then if they want a bowl of more sugared cereal they can have it for seconds. Most children chose the healthy option and fill up on this.’
Community focused
A primary school in Shetland serves a rural catchment area with some public facilities. The school was concerned that pupils have few opportunities to socialise with other children out of school. It also wanted to encourage more parents to get involved with its work. The breakfast club offers pupils a welcoming environment in which to play and learn together. Children are encouraged to feel a sense of ownership towards the club by organising activities and resources and counting the takings. Every pupil at the school attends the club and many bring members of their family. To build on the club’s success, the school has developed a parents’ room, which enables those with young children to make use of the school’s facilities throughout the day.
Family focused
A community school serving a large estate in Norfolk set up its breakfast club to support two key areas of the school development plan: improving attendance and improving punctuality. The club also supports the school’s desire to improve links with the local community. The club caters for 10 families at each session and does not involve unaccompanied children. This ensures that children and their parents have the opportunity to spend quality time together in a relaxed environment. It also encourages families to mix together and counters the sense of isolation that many of them feel. The club is staffed by three support workers who offer a range of art, craft and literacy activities. Other staff attend occasionally to give parents advice on educational and learning opportunities open to them. The club is extremely popular and parents now play a large part in organising activities at the club and in the school.
Music focused
A primary school used its “Breakfast with Beethoven” club to play a key role in raising standards. The club offers children the opportunity to play musical instruments, which the school feels “has given them self-esteem and has a big effect on their learning”. Running the club at breakfast time enables the school to simultaneously ensure children do not become lethargic mid-morning and breakfast also acts as an incentive to join in with music activities. The club was such a success the school sought to use the same strategy for a new European project. Children were to be invited to use the school’s computers before school to write to penpals across Europe and jointly compose short stories. Complementary activities would give pupils an opportunity to learn about other countries’ languages and culture. It was hoped the club would support many areas of the curriculum and develop students’ ICT skills.
Nutritional support
A London school, serving visually impaired children from 12 local authorities across the South East, was concerned that many pupils did not eat breakfast before school because they left the house so early or because they suffered from travel sickness. As a result their levels of concentration and energy in class were poor. The aim was to consult widely with parents and nutritionists to ensure a broad and balanced choice of foods. In addition, the school plans to link the club to pupils’ independence training by encouraging them to take responsibility for preparing the food.
Older pupils
A high school in Worthing serves a number of deprived wards in the town. The school wished to target pupils who were underachieving because of disaffection and who were at risk of exclusion. It was also keen to support these pupils during their transition into work or higher education. As well as providing a nutritious breakfast, the Breakfast Club gives children added support in completing their homework and coursework. The club engaged the support of local businesses and the Careers Service who offer guidance on employers’ needs, interview techniques, writing a CV and training opportunities.
Pastoral support
A junior school based in an area of significant social deprivation with low levels of punctuality and attendance had many students with poor social skills. The school also felt that attitudes to the school in the area were poor. In response, a breakfast club was set up in 1999 to offer a varied, nutritious breakfast and a range of art, IT and reading activities. Central to the club’s success have been six “Breakfast Buddies”. Their role has been to create a welcoming environment, to encourage social interaction and to listen to pupils’ concerns. The buddies report back to teachers about students’ problems or improvements. The buddies also encourage parents and children from the neighbouring infant school to join the club. This enables pupils to interact with children of different ages and eases pupils’ transition from Key Stage 1 to Key Stage 2. The club is so popular that over 100 meals are now served each morning.
Pupil involvement
An isolated school in the Scottish Highlands was concerned that many pupils were missing breakfast and were lethargic by mid-morning. Staff also noticed that many others were arriving at school very early after being bussed in from outlying villages. The school felt a breakfast club should cater for these pupils. The emphasis of the Academy’s club was on ensuring that pupils felt they had ownership of the project. To achieve this, all students at the school were to be surveyed termly about the club; older students would play the key role in drawing up staff rotas, compiling shopping lists, collecting fees and designing questionnaires; and pupils with special needs would do all the shopping and calculate the budget for the club.
Papdale Primary School is a medium sized primary school in the main town of Kikwall in the Orkney Islands. The school open the doors of their Early Bird Bar to all pupils before the start of the school day. The bar provides a friendly and safe environment for children to meet and offers a healthy alternative to the sweets and snacks children were often purchasing on the way to school in place of breakfast. The school helped children make the shift to healthy options by making the food choices as attractive as possible and publicizing the benefits in the school newsletter and in classroom debates. The bar is run by a member of school staff and all items are sold at cost price. Any additional costs are absorbed by the school budget to help ensure sustainability. The school have seen a return on this investment as children are seen to reap the benefits of a healthier breakfast, have a heightened awareness of health related topics and benefit from the social interaction they have with other children and staff. The Early Bird Bar plans to continue into the future and encourage more children to attend. Their top tip, however, is to start small: ‘Plan what you know is sustainable and the build up’. They also suggest encouraging children to get involved as much as possible and keeping your menu varied and attractive.
Rural
Ysgol Pentrecelyn breakfast club serves a community of just 48 children, with very few living within walking distance of the school building, which is situated in a rural area. About 13-14 children attend the club each day getting nutritious breakfast and a safe place to go before school if their parents are working. The club charges £2 per week for attendance and the pupils are offered a range of social and constructive play activities that encourage them to develop their interpersonal skills. The club also takes a proactive stance on pupil involvement and health promotion: discussions are held on the type of food provided and appropriate portion sizes and then children are encouraged to take responsibility for serving themselves. The club is run by the school cook who ensures that each meal is healthy and varied and also contributes to school lessons on healthy diet. She also feeds into the wider school health policy running an after school cookery club every Tuesday and a gardening club every Wednesday. The club was a Breakfast Club 2006 Award winner.
Skills building
A rural secondary school in Penrith uses its club to develop older pupils’ skills. The breakfast club forms a key part of the school’s healthy eating policy and offers students the opportunity to do quick, fun quizzes and brainteasers. The club is partly run by 6th form students who are studying for a GNVQ in Hospitality and Catering. The club is however over-subscribed and many students from outlying villages arrive too late to attend it. The school bid for funding to develop a larger seating area for the club and to offer breakfast at break time too. They sought the support of a team of local architects, who had prepared the plans free of charge, and hotels who had donated cutlery, crockery, tables and chairs.
Staffing
A Scottish community school in Ayrshire is set in an area with a high number of single parent families. In addition to providing children with a healthy breakfast, the school wanted to involve more parents in the life of the school and to support them in their search for work. The breakfast club launched with the voluntary support of two parent helpers. They have now taken responsibility for managing the club and have recruited other parents and pupils from the linked secondary school to help them. As a result of volunteering, the helpers have developed new skills, and the school knows of at least three parents who have found work because of the club. The school then sought funding from the Kellogg’s Breakfast Club Award Scheme to provide training for the parent helpers in health and safety, risk assessment and constructive play, as well as to purchase additional resources and storage equipment.
Transition
A Sheffield comprehensive school set up its ‘Ignition’ breakfast club to support the school’s strategies for transition at KS3 and to create a positive school ethos. The club has used a range of innovative marketing techniques - such as daily and monthly prize draws - to build up attendance. It has also introduced a cashless payment system that enables pupils who choose healthy foods to earn bonus credits. ‘Ignition’ attracts over 80 pupils of all ages daily. Analysis of the club’s attendance revealed, however, that many pupils with special needs or on free school meals did not attend. The school was particularly keen to target this group in order to give them added support for their literacy skills and low self-esteem. They successfully sought funding to provide this target group with free breakfasts and engaging new literacy materials.
Volunteer run
The Florence Melly Primary School is located in an area of severe economic depression in Liverpool. The breakfast club began in 2003 by school Learning Mentors and supported by 10 staff who would each attend one morning per fortnight voluntarily. Fourteen parents and staff were subsequently trained up to achieve food hygiene accreditation. Each morning over 60 children and staff come together for a healthy breakfast of toast, cereal, fruit & juice. There is a maximum charge of 50p per day. After eating there are numerous activities for the children to engage in and some of the older children also help out with the running of the club and help to support the younger children. This helps to promote a sense of responsibility and respect. The school has obtained the ActiveMark award and three Healthy Schools Awards.
A breakfast club in South Wales runs entirely on the support of parents and carers of the pupils who attend. Supported by Gregg’s the club received all the start up resources and white goods from the bakery who also fund its food provision. Staffing, however, is done entirely on a voluntary basis by the local community and the club has proved such a success over half of the school population attend regularly. One of the volunteers reports ‘I've got two grandsons at the school who refused to eat any breakfast at home but now I bring them up to the school every morning and they enjoy an hour or so with their friends in the school hall and eat a bellyful of breakfast.’
Whole School Approach
Cale Green breakfast club is based in Cale Green Primary School, Stockport. The school serves one of the most deprived areas in the borough and almost 20% of pupils have English as a second language. The breakfast club is open to the whole school, has 108 children on the register and on average serves around 40 breakfasts a day. Three parents also have breakfast every day.
The club opens its doors at 8.00am and children can choose from a wide menu of foods – charged at 10p per item. There is also a tasting table with small dishes of food for children to sample. In addition to the regular menu the club offers re special themed days such as typical breakfasts from Pakistan, Angola, Spain, France and the United States and parents of club members often contribute food and recipe ideas. The children celebrate religious festivals in Breakfast club including Eid, Chinese New Year and Divali.
As well as these special events the club offers these regular features: Tasting Tuesday, Breakfast from around the world; an award system and certificates e.g. Star of the Week and Super Buddy. Every day children are able to play with games, toys and craft activities or sit quietly in the reading corner. Children also have the opportunity to socialise with their friends before school and his has been identified as being very important to them in the annual club survey.
The club is run by the Learning Mentor as part of her role in school and a cook is employed for 5 hours a week. Their wages come from the school budget. A further three parents help on a volunteer basis. The club received start up funding from Stockport Excellence Cluster and the PCT which lasted 3 years. The charging policy built up a reserve of funds and the club is now self sustaining outside of staffing costs.
The school has noticed a wide range of benefits since the introduction of the club including improved attendance and behaviour and enhanced relations with parents. The club has also contributed towards the development and regeneration of the community as several parents have secured employment after volunteering with the club and the Community Police Officer, Local Crossing Patrol and Oral Health Promotion Unit have all been invited to the club. Mr. D. Marshall. Head Teacher says ‘The introduction of the Breakfast Club has transformed the experience of school for so many pupils in so many ways and its success in breaking down barriers to learning has far exceeded what I thought possible.