Breakfast clubs
Breakfast clubs are being set up in many schools throughout Scotland and are seen as having several important benefits, including:
- increasing the number of children eating breakfast regularly
- providing a stimulating, social environment for children
- promoting healthy eating and the importance of tooth brushing
- providing childcare before school
- encouraging children to arrive promptly at school
- introducing children to the importance of food hygiene
- improving educational attainment.
Breakfast clubs should include the children, parents, carers and the wider community, gathering ideas about the type of club and activities they want and involving them in the day-to-day running of the club or at special events or theme days.
Starting a club
If there is not a breakfast club in your local school but you would like one, raise the idea with the school, either directly or via the parent teacher association, pupil council or School Nutrition Action Group (SNAG).
The SNAG, or other group, could help gauge demand and gather ideas for the style of club, as well as sourcing funding and discussing how much pupils should pay. Special deals could be struck with local food providers, for example a discount if the club agreed to buy all breakfast supplies from them.
It may be that the breakfast club only runs two or three days a week, or only during the winter; the important thing is to create a club that suits the needs of the school community.
Useful resources
Community Food and Health (Scotland), formerly called the Scottish Community Diet Project, has produced a very useful step-by-step toolkit, which is in its second edition, '
PDF file: Breakfast Clubs: More of a Head Start'. The toolkit is available free or downloadable from the website.
Community Food and Health (Scotland)
c/o Scottish Consumer Council
Royal Exchange House
100 Queen Street
Glasgow
Tel: 0141 226 5261
Fax: 0141 221 0731
Email: cfh@scotconsumer.org.uk
The community learning charity ContinYou, in association with Kellogg's, runs a UK-wide network, Breakfast Club Plus, which helps support breakfast clubs through:
- a national breakfast club award scheme
- research into breakfast club provision
- development of a training programme for schools, education authorities and local strategic partnerships
- Breakfast Club Plus membership, which includes bespoke information and resource pages on the website, access to specialist funding guidance and individual telephone/email support. Membership costs £25 per year.
More information is available on the Breakfast Club Plus page of the website or by contacting Eleanor Moore on 020 8709 9900 or by email administrator@breakfastclubplus.org.uk
