Free breakfast clubs have opened in 11 more schools across Hull and East Yorkshire. This takes the total number in the region to 35.
The expansion of the scheme is part of the Government’s pledge to establish a club at every state-funded school with primary school-aged children. The Government says the rollout offers immediate help to working parents juggling childcare costs by saving them up to £450 and giving back up to 95 hours of time, which equates to over two and a half working weeks each year.
In total there are now 26 free breakfast clubs in Hull, and a further nine in the East Riding. To celebrate the extension of the breakfast club programme, which includes over 500 new clubs nationally, the Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, visited a breakfast club in Greater Manchester.
List of new schools in Hull and East Yorkshire that now offer the clubs:
- Southcoates Primary Academy
- The Parks Primary Academy
- Craven Primary Academy
- Chiltern Primary School
- New Pasture Lane Primary School
- Lift Green Way
- Biggin Hill Primary School
- Wansbeck Primary School
- Cleeve Primary School
- Bude Park Primary School
- Woodland Primary School
The new rollout has coincided with the launch of a consultation on an overhaul of school dinner menus. Schools will no longer be able to offer unhealthy ‘grab and go’ options like sausage rolls and pizza every day, while deep fried food will be banned completely. The Government also says fruit will need to be served instead of “sugar-laden treats” for the majority of the school week.
To ensure schools follow the new standards, the Government says it is committed to developing a “robust enforcement system”, to monitor which schools are complying. The enforcement system is set to come into effect from September 2027.
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said: “Today we are launching the most ambitious overhaul of school food in a generation, and it is long overdue. Every child deserves to have delicious, nutritious food at school that gives them the energy to concentrate, learn and thrive – meals that children will actually recognise and enjoy, backed by robust compliance so that good standards on paper become good food on the plate. From our Free Breakfast Clubs to extending Free School Meals to over half a million more children, this means good-quality food from the moment children arrive at school to the end of the day.”
By: Andrew Spence, LDRS
