Military community win national award for starting the day in the right way.

The best breakfast club providers across the country will share a prize fund of £16,000 as recognition for their excellent work in extended schools and community services.  The National Breakfast Club Awards, supported by Kellogg’s and learning charity ContinYou, celebrate the achievements of all the clubs who help ensure thousands of children across the country get the best possible start to their day.

The awards reward those clubs that demonstrate excellence in health and nutrition community involvement, learning and sustainability as well as awards for the best clubs in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Le Cateau Primary School in Catterick Garrison, winner of the best club in England award, is a great example of how a breakfast club can enhance the lives of children and their families. 85% of the pupils at the school have one or both parents in the military with many currently serving in Iraq or Afghanistan, not only do the children at the breakfast club get the chance to start their day with a nutritious breakfast and fifteen minutes exercise, they also get the opportunity to send E-Blueys to their family.

John Harrison celebrates with pupils from Priory, Carville, Goathland and Whitehouse Primary and Marden Bridge Middle schools

“E-Blueys are emails which are printed as letters by a terminal in the Operational Area overseas,” said Mrs Margaret Merrall, Deputy Head at the school. ““Having this facility available at breakfast club gives the children the opportunity and time to communicate with parents that are away.”

The three member of staff all have family with military experience and so talk to the children about any concerns they may have regarding their serving parents. “The team put a tremendous amount of work to make the start of the day nutritious, healthy and fun. We are looking forward to growing from strength to strength in the future and our prize will help us do this,%22 Mrs Merrall continued.

Pupils from North Tyneside celebrate their win

Blue Peter presenter Helen Skelton was on the judging panel of the awards and said: “Picking the best breakfast clubs in Britain wasn’t an easy job as there’s such a lot of great work going on!  I've seen them in action as part of this year's Blue Peter appeal, and have been hugely impressed with the positive impact they have on children's lives.”

Another example of truly best practice is The Sunshine Breakfast Club at Craig Yr Hesg Primary School in Pontypridd. The club started after a request from the local community who wished to improve the health of the locals through nutritional education. The breakfast club targets pupils and families most in need, for example, pupils whose parents are drug and alcohol dependant, so that they can ensure that the pupils have access to a healthy, nutritious breakfast.

In the award application, Ms Maggie Hudson, the Head Teacher at the school, explained: “The club has been such a success – it’s reduced truancy, raised standards of attainment, aided the development of key skills, addressed bullying issues and improved the self-esteem and self-confidence of the pupils and their families.”

Bruce Learner, Community and Social Responsibility Manager at Kellogg’s, comments:  “It’s great to be able to recognise such great breakfast clubs as our award winners,  they are an inspiration and really make a difference to the local children, young people and families in communities all over the UK. Not all children have access to a breakfast club like this which is why Kellogg’s is investing £340,000 over the next three years to develop and support breakfast clubs in the areas that most need them.”
 
Tony Apicella, National Programme Director at ContinYou, said, “ContinYou is delighted to recognise the rich breadth of delivery that many breakfast clubs provide. Once again, our national awards have spotlighted 'What Works Well' and rewarded all those who have demonstrated how breakfast clubs can support a range of needs for children, young people and families in both school and community settings.”

Winners table

Joint research by Kellogg’s, ContinYou and the New Policy Institute (2001) has shown that breakfast clubs in schools are considered to be one of the most effective environments for promoting healthy and nutritional eating, for enriching and extending the curriculum through informal learning, and for tackling issues of social exclusion and academic under-achievement

• Kellogg’s has invested more than £1m into the development of breakfast clubs since 1998. Each day between 3,000-5,000 children are served breakfast in a club that has received support or guidance from Kellogg’s and ContinYou – that equates to over half a million served breakfasts each academic year.   
• For more information on breakfast clubs visit www.breakfastclubplus.org.uk, which offers extensive advice, tools and resources on setting up, developing and sustaining breakfast clubs 
• ContinYou is one of the charity partners for this years Blue Peter appeal: Mission Nutrition, which is raising money to fund breakfast clubs across the UK.