December 2008 A study to assess the benefits that breakfast clubs provide in 15 primary schools.
There has been a trend over the last ten years for schools to introduce breakfast clubs, especially primary schools. This has mainly been driven by concerns that a substantial proportion of pupils are not eating breakfast and arriving at school hungry, which may impact negatively on learning and behaviour. The main aims of many breakfast clubs fit into four categories:
- provision of food at the start of the day
- improving pupils’ education
- meeting the social needs of children and improving social skills
- improving school relations with parents
The three aims of the study were to:
- assess whether the introduction of a breakfast club in primary schools was associated at the school level with improved academic performance, punctuality and reduced absences compared with schools with no breakfast club
- describe the perceived benefits of breakfast clubs to individual pupils and to the school community
- establish which aspects of the breakfast club contribute to any perceived benefits
