Cost-of-living crisis feeds Leicester breakfast club demand

Emily Wilkie said families were finding it tough to make ends meet

An education charity, which provides breakfast for hundreds of thousands of school children every day across the UK, has said the cost-of-living crisis has prompted a higher than ever demand for their services.

Magic Breakfast works with 56 schools across the East Midlands, providing breakfast options including porridge, cereal and bagels for 11,500 pupils before each school day.

Schools pay a fixed membership fee to the charity for the food provided, which makes it more affordable than buying it directly, and children receive it for free.

'It is concerning'

Shahinoor Kapadia says the breakfast club makes life more convenient

Shahinoor Kapadia's children are students at North Mead Primary Academy, in Leicester, one of the schools that works with the charity.

Shahinoor, who uses the school's breakfast club as both him and his wife start work before the school day begins, says the rising cost of so many things is a concern among parents.

He said the breakfast club made life "a lot more convenient".

"We don't have to worry about rushing to feed them for breakfast," he said.

"The fact that all of us have seen prices go up [in other areas] - mine specifically have doubled over the past few months - is concerning for a lot of the parents.

"The fact that schools can help with these kinds of things, if it helps even a small amount, then of course, we're going in the right direction."

'It helps my children concentrate'

Sonar says having a nutritious breakfast helps her children concentrate

Sonar Patel, who is a parent and also works as a teaching assistant at the school, said her children enjoy attending the breakfast club.

Staff put out games, crafts and colouring supplies for those in attendance.

"I work here as well as a teaching assistant, so it's their choice to be in the breakfast club," she said.

"We get ready early in the morning at home, so they just don't want to sit - they just love this at school."

She said a nutritious start also helped her children to concentrate and be "fresh" for the start of their school day.

'Families are finding it really tough'

Emily says the breakfast provision means families have one less thing to worry about, amid concerns about rising bills elsewhere

Magic Breakfast, which has been operating for 21 years and is partly funded by the People's Postcode Lottery, has seen a big rise in the number of schools wanting to work with them.

In 2019, the charity was working with 480 schools and more than 48,000 pupils. By 2021, that number had risen to more than 1,000 schools and more than 215,000 children.

The charity says it is helping children most at risk from hunger

Emily Wilkie, the director of fundraising and development at the charity, said: "Unfortunately, we have seen an increase in demand across the country.

"We have so many families who are finding it really tough to make ends meet and despite multiple jobs, they're doing what they can, but they're just not able to cover the rising cost of bills.

"So, being able to offer them breakfast at the beginning of the day is just one less thing for them to have to worry about."

Alex Curran says lots of families are finding it difficult to make ends meet

She added the charity worked with schools to help children most at risk from hunger.

"For so many children it's an investment in them," she said.

"It's an investment in their education. By having access to a healthy breakfast at the beginning of the day they can go on and unlock their potential.

"We need to invest in universal breakfast provision for all children who need it across the country.

"If we don't, then we risk the potential education of a whole generation of children who just won't be able to learn."

The school says the meals are helping families at a difficult time

Alex Curran, the executive principal at North Mead Primary Academy, said the provision helped the school provide meals within budget and helped families during a difficult time.

"All schools are under pressure at the moment with the cost-of-living crisis, with the energy prices going up," she said.

"It makes such a difference because, for an affordable amount, we know that we can feed every single child, every single day.

"Without that, we wouldn't be able to provide that universal offer, and that's really important to our ethos here: that it is accessible to everybody.

"That includes working parents, it includes children eligible for free school meals, but it also supports families who are just managing.

"Lots of families are finding it really hard to make ends meet and it's a small thing we can do to support everybody."

The government says it is looking to support children in disadvantaged areas

The Department for Education said support is on offer for struggling families.

In a statement, it said: "We have expanded access to free school meals more than any other government in recent decades, which currently reach 1.9 million children.

"We are also investing up to £24m in our National School Breakfast Programme, which provides free breakfasts to children in schools in disadvantaged areas."