Hundreds of schools in England to provide free breakfast and childcare in new trial

Hundreds of schools in England will soon offer 30 minutes of free childcare every morning as the government pushes forward with its breakfast club programme with the launch of a new trial.

Applications are now open for 750 state schools with primary aged-pupils to join the “early adopter scheme”, with the first breakfast clubs expected to be running from April, the Department for Education (DfE) said. The clubs will provide a free breakfast as well as valuable extra childcare before the school day begins.

In last month's Budget, Chancellor Rachel Reeves revealed that the government's investment in breakfast clubs would receive a significant boost, tripling to over £30 million by 2025/26.

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Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said: "This is a landmark opportunity for schools to be in the vanguard of change as we build back the foundations of an education system that breaks the link between children’s background and the opportunities they have in life.

"From helping with flexible working for families to improving behaviour and attendance, the supportive start to the day that breakfast clubs provide will help drive high and rising standards for every child.

"This Government is delivering change that will make a real difference to families up and down the country."

The £7 million trial – which will test the model ahead of a wider national introduction – was initially announced at the Labour party conference in September.

Schools interested in the scheme can apply to participate from Wednesday, November 27. The Department for Education (DfE) has announced that details of the national rollout will soon follow.

Lindsey MacDonald, chief executive of the charity Magic Breakfast, commented: "It’s vital that the free school breakfast policy set to be rolled out for all primary pupils in England is fit for purpose and will achieve its intended benefits.

"The scheme must ensure schools have appropriate, adequate funding which covers set-up costs and ongoing staffing, support and guidance, a nutritional and healthy menu, with flexibility being a key part of the offer to address the variety of facilities and needs of different schools.

"This requires a variety of breakfast models as one size does not fit all.

"Breakfast clubs offer a social and supportive start for students, and we equally want to ensure that those children who are unable to come to the club have a healthy and nutritious breakfast to kick start their day."

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT school leaders’ union, said: "It is sensible that this scheme is to be piloted on a voluntary basis, so that we can learn the lessons of what does and doesn’t work.

"There are a number of important issues that will need to be teased out through the pilot, including how schools that already provide wraparound care can support the scheme.

"It is critical that the Department for Education listens to the feedback of schools that participate in the pilot before moving on to a wider rollout.

“The scheme must be fully funded, and it is important that the scheme doesn’t drive additional workload for already stretched school leaders.”

Tiffnie Harris, primary specialist at the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “We welcome the early adopters scheme as a first step in identifying and resolving any barriers to delivering this provision ahead of it being rolled out to all primary schools.

“It is important to ensure schools have sufficient staffing, space and funding to be able to manage this expectation on top of the other expectations upon them.”