A housing association has once again joined forces with national bakery chain Greggs to set up a new breakfast club at a Northallerton school.
Broadacres has provided funding for two years to enable the club to be set up by The Sunbeck Centre.
Despite only being set up a few months ago, staff say it it is already proving successful, with the school saying it has had a positive impact on the children.
Sunbeck works with local schools to support children who have found mainstream school challenging.
Headteacher Alison Keane said: “Our children come to us from a wide geographical area so that means in a lot of cases they need to leave home early to access school transport.
“In a rush, that means they sometimes don’t have time to get breakfast, so we wanted to provide that for them at Sunbeck.
“We started providing breakfast in November and it has had a very positive impact on the children both in terms of their concentration levels but also socially as it enables them to sit down a group each day and enjoy having breakfast together.”
“We are grateful to Broadacres and Greggs for their support.”
Sunbeck is one of several breakfast clubs now being funded by Broadacres, through its community investment budget.
Greggs – through the Greggs Foundation – provides the bread for the toast each week.
As well as toast, children have a choice of cereal each day, as well as porridge, yoghurt, fruit, juice, milk and water.
One in seven children in the UK goes to school without any breakfast, even though research has found that pupils who have eaten breakfast are more punctual, concentrate better in class, and have more energy and enthusiasm, leading to improvements in learning and academic performance.
Chris Fawcett, Broadacres’ business transformation director, said: “In partnership with Greggs, we are pleased to have been able to fund another breakfast club to help a school in an area where we have homes.
“The feedback we receive from the schools which have breakfast clubs is very favourable and it’s great to see the positive impact they have on children.”
Lynne Hindmarch, breakfast club manager for the Greggs Foundation, said: “Every child deserves access to a healthy school breakfast, with no barrier or stigma.
“In addition to funding for breakfast club the schools can also access Greggs Foundation hardship programme and community holiday programme.
“Since Covid we have seen a huge rise in families struggling, in particular those who have always ‘just managed.
“It’s with thanks to Broadacres for supporting us and the communities over several years that these families feel that someone cares.”
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