Breakfast clubs
Breakfast is widely recognised by health and education professionals as being very important for children to help prepare them for the day ahead.
Breakfast clubs are seen as a way of not only providing a healthy meal to start the day but also providing social, health and education elements. Attendance at clubs also helps encourage children to arrive at school on time.
There is a distinct difference between breakfast provision and breakfast clubs, with the latter being an important part of a child-centred health promoting school approach. Breakfast clubs should include the children, parents, carers and the wider community to help improve the health and health behaviours of everyone involved.
Breakfast clubs should share the following aims.
- Increase the number of children eating breakfast regularly.
- Provide a stimulating and safe environment for children to have breakfast.
- Improve educational attainment.
- Raise awareness of the importance of a healthy breakfast and teeth brushing.
- Introduce the importance of food hygiene.
- Provide childcare before school for parents at work or in training.
- Promote social inclusion by providing breakfast for the most vulnerable children.
A club that suits your school
There is no one model for breakfast clubs as each should be created to match the particular needs of the children, school or community. Four basic models of breakfast club are shown below.
- Tea and toast – school-based but not using kitchen. Staffed by volunteer teachers.
- Service provision – using catering service with paid supervisor.
- Value added – employs catering assistant and club coordinator to plan activities.
- Community – in another venue, for example church hall, independent of the school.
A school breakfast club is something that the School Nutrition Action Group (SNAG) could become involved in, helping to gauge demand and gather ideas for the style of club. They could investigate sources of funding for the club, how much pupils should pay to attend and whether local food providers could offer a discount, for example if it was agreed they would buy all the breakfast club 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 model that suits the circumstances of the school.
The SNAG could also take a lead in marketing the breakfast club, which is another vital consideration. If you have a great breakfast club you have to let people know about it so that it is well used and sustainable in the long term.
Your local health promotion department may also be able to offer breakfast club training.
Useful resources
Community Food and Health (Scotland), formerly 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 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
PDF file: Glasgow's Big Breakfast
'A Summary of the Evaluation of Glasgow's Big Breakfast Pilot Project' published by NHS Greater Glasgow in March 2004 examines the impact of the scheme to deliver free breakfast provision in the city.
