Free breakfast club pilot launched at school
Oakway Academy in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire is one of 14 schools across the county trialling the government's new free breakfast club scheme, with around 100 children attending on its first day.
The programme, which launched on Tuesday, offers families an extra 30 minutes of free childcare in the morning and is set to run until July, ahead of a possible national rollout.
Zoe Walker, catering manager at Oakway Academy, said: "[The breakfast club is] crucial to develop the kids' social skills, they get used to sitting round a table interacting with each other, friendships are formed so it's a great way for them to start the day."
The trial is part of a wider government initiative aimed at helping working parents and improving attendance and readiness to learn among primary school pupils.
Ministers say the scheme will offer families up to 95 additional hours of childcare and save them around £450 a year.
The Department for Education said breakfast clubs had "an important role to play in the government's commitment to remove the stain of child poverty".
The breakfast club was officially opened at 08:30 GMT by the MP for Wellingborough and Rushden, Gen Kitchen, and cabinet minister Heidi Alexander.
Under the scheme, schools will then be reimbursed by the government based on attendance at the clubs - a school with 50% participation in the pilot scheme could get £23,000 a year, the government said.
James Hollingsworth, one of the heads of school at Oakway Academy, said: "We hope to support the children to have a calm, orderly start to the day.
"We hope it provides them with a meal and supports our working families. We think it's a great start to the day and enables them to be ready to learn."
Children are offered cereals, toast, and fresh fruit as part of the breakfast selection.
Ms Walker added: "It's very important that children have a good start to the day – it helps them with their learning and their concentration and [the breakfast clubs] will make a huge difference."
Follow Northamptonshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
Free breakfast clubs to open at 750 schools
First 750 schools named for free breakfast clubs
https://oakwayacademy.org.uk/
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
More than one in four students who start T-level courses do not complete them
More than a quarter of students in England who started T-level courses did not complete them this summer, figures suggest, but the drop-out rate has fallen. About 16,081 students began two-year T-level courses in 2023, but just 11,724 completed their course and were assessed, according to provisional data from the Department for Education (DfE). Nearly three out of four (73%) completed the technical qualifications, which is up on last year when 71% finished their courses, the figures suggest. Students in England have received their T-level results in the fourth year that the qualification has been awarded. Overall, 11,909 students in England were awarded results on Thursday for the Government's technical qualification, which was introduced to be broadly equivalent to three A-levels. Across all 18 T-level subjects, 91.4% of students achieved at least a pass. The DfE said learners can elect to complete the T-level course over two or more academic years. The number of T-level entries in England has increased by 61.4% on last year, while the number of A-level entries has fallen by 0.5% compared to 2024. Sir Ian Bauckham, chief regulator of Ofqual, England's exams regulator, said there are 'some significant changes' taking place in the 18-year-old cohort this year. He told the PA news agency: 'T-levels are intended to be a high-quality, rigorous, full-time level-three course for students to prepare them directly for a particular occupational field. 'The extent to which they draw from people who might have done A-levels, or might have done other vocational and technical qualifications, is very hard to demonstrate because we don't know what people would have done had T-levels not existed.' Sir Ian added: 'I'm confident that T-level entries will continue to rise in the years ahead. 'Clearly when students make one choice over another then the shape of the cohort that they're not choosing – so in this case the shape of the A-level cohort – will be affected.' More than 250,000 results were also issued to students who took level 3 vocational and technical qualifications (VTQs) this year, which include BTecs.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
More than one in four students who start T-level courses do not complete them
More than a quarter of students in England who started T-level courses did not complete them this summer, figures suggest, but the drop-out rate has fallen. About 16,081 students began two-year T-level courses in 2023, but just 11,724 completed their course and were assessed, according to provisional data from the Department for Education (DfE). Nearly three out of four (73%) completed the technical qualifications, which is up on last year when 71% finished their courses, the figures suggest. Students in England have received their T-level results in the fourth year that the qualification has been awarded. Overall, 11,909 students in England were awarded results on Thursday for the Government's technical qualification, which was introduced to be broadly equivalent to three A-levels. Across all 18 T-level subjects, 91.4% of students achieved at least a pass. The DfE said learners can elect to complete the T-level course over two or more academic years. The number of T-level entries in England has increased by 61.4% on last year, while the number of A-level entries has fallen by 0.5% compared to 2024. Sir Ian Bauckham, chief regulator of Ofqual, England's exams regulator, said there are 'some significant changes' taking place in the 18-year-old cohort this year. He told the PA news agency: 'T-levels are intended to be a high-quality, rigorous, full-time level-three course for students to prepare them directly for a particular occupational field. 'The extent to which they draw from people who might have done A-levels, or might have done other vocational and technical qualifications, is very hard to demonstrate because we don't know what people would have done had T-levels not existed.' Sir Ian added: 'I'm confident that T-level entries will continue to rise in the years ahead. 'Clearly when students make one choice over another then the shape of the cohort that they're not choosing – so in this case the shape of the A-level cohort – will be affected.' More than 250,000 results were also issued to students who took level 3 vocational and technical qualifications (VTQs) this year, which include BTecs.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Experts suggest school holidays shake-up
Researchers in the South West have suggested school summer holidays should be shortened, along with lengthening half-terms. A report on tackling post-pandemic education inequalities, which forms part of a project funded by the Nuffield Foundation, said it was time to consider a reform to school calendars. Experts in the report said reducing the six-week summer holiday to four weeks and introducing an extra week to half-term breaks could help tackle "educational divides" which have grown since the Covid-19 pandemic. The Department for Education said the academic year was structured to provide plenty of time for holidays and schools had flexibility to plan term dates. Experts said they believed benefits achieved through changing the holiday structure would include balancing out childcare costs for parents and improving the wellbeing of pupils and teachers. The report also said spreading the holidays more evenly across the academic year could prevent "learning loss" - a term experts used to describe difficulties pupils when going back to school after the summer break. More news stories for Cornwall Listen to the latest news for Cornwall Prof Lee Elliot Major, from the University of Exeter, one of the report's authors, said the structure of the academic year dated back to Victorian times and it was "time to review this". He said: "We need bold ideas and ultimately trying to find ways of levelling that education playing field so all children from all backgrounds can prosper in school." Mother-of-three Helen Eaton, who runs a blog called Cornwall with the Kids, said her family enjoyed the six weeks of summer holidays. However, she said she understood other families had different issues to deal with during the break and some changes to the structure could be beneficial. Ms Eaton said: "I know a lot of people in Cornwall work in the tourism industry, so maybe when it's quieter at Christmas or October, it might benefit people to have an extra week off." She added her children - aged 11, eight and four - had been able to learn things during the holidays and put their skills from school into practice. "Sometimes you can go out and about and the children are actually learning all the time," Ms Eaton said. "They've learned how to paddleboard and fish, and sometimes you do an activity and maths and English come into that." Follow BBC Cornwall on X, Facebook and Instagram. Follow BBC Devon on X, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to spotlight@ More on this story Should school summer holidays be shorter? The schools still deciding on two week half term Cost of summer holiday clubs rises to £1,076 a child Related internet links Nuffield Foundation Department for Education
