The Breakfast Club

When I was a teacher I taught a boy, let's call him Jack.  He was small for his age, eager to please and a little bit cheeky.  He would hover round my desk rather than talk to his friends. It didn't take me long to realise his home life was tough and what he really needed was a mum.

Jack had never eaten breakfast, his uniform was filthy, he was always hungry.  A trainee teacher left her handbag in the classroom and came back to find her purse empty. Eventually, under whole class duress, Jack came forward claiming to have 'found' the missing money.

Jack's Head of Year knew the bigger picture and worked with outside agencies to try and improve things. I saw him - a grown man, capable of reducing kids to silence with one glare - with tears in his eyes over Jack, on more than one occasion.

When things were at their worst for Jack I was pregnant with Miss L.  I was full of maternal instinct and the urge to take him home, to let him have a bath and a decent meal was unbearable. Of course, there are things you are allowed and required to do as a teacher that do make a difference: praise, encouragement and the time of day go a long way.  The office staff also found him clean uniform to wear, and shoes when his started leaking.

One of the little things that made the biggest difference in Jack's life was Breakfast Club.  Back then Breakfast Clubs received funding, so Jack was quickly earmarked for the club as a means to get him a free breakfast.  Jack had little adult contact, he normally got himself ready for school. Having a good breakfast and contact with a supportive adult, before the whirlwind of a school day began, was invaluable.

So that's why breakfast clubs are a subject close to my heart. Shadow chancellor, Ed Balls described the clubs as one of the most crucial tools in the fight against child poverty. First funding was withdrawn, which has forced schools to charge. Now further budget cuts threaten many breakfast clubs completely. Education Secretary Michael Gove has stated that corporate organisations may need to ‘put their hands in their pockets’ to bridge the funding gap.


Kelloggs have stepped up to that challenge, but they need help. For every click, like or tweet via the Kellogg's Give a Child a Breakfast site you see the breakfast counter go up by one breakfast.  Very satisfying, even more satisfying than your own breakfast.  Do it now, for kids like Jack.

Kellogg’s Cornflakes will make a 3p donation for every pack sold to the Kellogg’s Breakfast Club Trust with the target of raising a minimum of £300,000 – which means one million breakfasts by the end of 2012.

This week I also went back to an inner city primary school I worked in as a consultant, to find out more about what breakfast clubs have to offer. I was really inspired by the stories of what they have made possible.  Look out for my post on Friday.

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