Find out how the introduction of the free breakfast club at Saxton Church of England Primary School led to the launch of wider before and after school care.
Background
Saxton Church of England Primary School, a small school in North Yorkshire, now offers a free breakfast club available to all pupils through the Department for Education's free breakfast club early adopters scheme .
Early adopter schools are funded to deliver a 30 minute breakfast club, free and available to all pupils, which includes food. Schools have the flexibility to deliver the free breakfast club in a way that best meets the needs of their school, pupils and families.
How they staff the breakfast club
To deliver the new free breakfast club the school recruited:
- a breakfast club leader to help organise the provision, who had previous experience in running similar provision in another school
- an additional worker to ensure that they could safely manage children entering the building, eating, and cooking breakfast
The food offering
Using the school food toolkit the school involved pupils in designing their breakfast club menu, ensuring that the menu was practical and achievable with lots of variety.
The daily offer includes:
- cereal (wheat or rice)
- fruit
- toast
One day a week they offer natural yoghurt with honey.
The booking system
The school uses a booking system and asks parents to book children into the club 2 days in advance, with some room for on-the-day flexibility. This helps them ensure that they have enough food to meet demand.
Where the club takes place
The free breakfast club is held in the school hall, using the adjacent kitchen for food preparation and storage.
The pupils choose to eat together on mixed-aged tables.
Once pupils have finished eating, the school offers them a quiet place where they can do:
- homework
- reading
- mindful colouring
- games involving Lego and construction
Launch of wider wraparound childcare
Prior to the launch of their free breakfast club there was no wraparound childcare provision at the school.
The school knew there was some demand for extended provision locally and decided to use the launch of the new free breakfast club to also launch wider before and after school care.
Parents have responded well, and it has been a positive factor in attracting new pupils to the school, with one family moving specifically to the school because they wanted to access wraparound care.
Feedback and impact
The school has observed that:
- pupils have responded really well to the new free club, with take up growing week on week
- children particularly enjoy the chance to come in early to spend time with friends
- there is a reduction in lateness because children want to come to school earlier and teachers have reported that the start of the day is calmer in their classrooms, with children coming in settled and ready to learn
Parents have reported that they have found the provision very useful because it gives them more time in the morning to get to work.
