TWENTY five schools in Devon, including some in Teignbridge, are among the first in the country to offer free, daily breakfast clubs.
Bearnes Voluntary Primary School, Dunsford Community Academy and St Catherine’s CofE Primary School are among 750 that will provide free breakfast clubs as part of a government scheme.
The clubs are available for half an hour before the start of the school day.
It is hoped that they will support parents getting into work by enabling them to drop their children off half an hour earlier.
Schools in the first phase were chosen from across England, in locations where there aren’t currently breakfast clubs.
All the schools will receive Government funding towards food and staffing costs.
Schools are encouraged to offer healthy, varied and nutritious breakfasts.
The club is also an opportunity to provide settings to host activities, including arts and crafts, educational puzzles, reading and more.
The Government has said that universal free breakfasts are central to its plans, removing barriers to opportunity by making sure every child starts the day ready to learn.
It said that breakfast clubs have been shown to boost children’s reading, writing and maths by an average two months.
And that breakfast clubs are part of a raft of Government measures designed to cut the cost of living for families.
Learning from the schools in the first phase of programme will shape the future of the Government’s national breakfast club policy.
For more information about wraparound care, visit Devon County Council’s website.