Eight Lewisham primary schools have been selected to take part in the early adoption of a country-wide scheme to provide free breakfast clubs.
Across England, 750 schools have been confirmed to take part in the first phase of a £315million government initiative to provide all primary school children a free healthy breakfast and eight of those are in the borough of Lewisham.
Deptford Park, Downderry, Edmund Waller, Elfrida, Lucas Vale, Rushey Green, John Ball and Brent Knoll have all been chosen to be part of it.
Deptford Park headteacher Leona Baffour, who has worked at the school for 18 years, said: “We are thrilled to be part of the programme.
“It’s an opportunity to meet a real need within our community.”
A third of children in Lewisham are living in poverty, as reported by Trust for London.
Through providing a meal and 30 minutes additional child care, the Department of Education has said the breakfast clubs will help working families save up to £450 a year.
Like many schools in Lewisham, Elfrida is located in an area of high deprivation, with 43% of its students eligible for free school meals.
The school already runs a paid breakfast club, which will become free thanks to the programme, and staff are predicting to see the number of pupils attending increase to 75% as a result.
Elfrida head Nathalie Dummer said: “That will help with the cost of living.
“Knowing that your child is going to have a healthy start to the day at low cost to yourself is a huge benefit for our parents.”
The programme will enable the school to open their gates earlier, and add juice, fruit, yoghurt and cereal to their existing breakfast provisions of toast and bagels.
With the additional child care, parents may be able to further their studies, access training or extend their working hours.
Baffour said: “The breakfast clubs are potentially a game changer for lots of our families.”
Lucas Vale Primary School adopted the scheme early and has been able to make their existing breakfast clubs free since January.
For parent Creola Samuels, the previous paid breakfast clubs were inaccessible because they were too costly.
Since they have become free, however, her son has been loving attending every day and they have been a lifeline in helping her manage her schedule as a shift worker.
She said: “Even sometimes I say to him we’ve got breakfast at home and he’s like, no, I like the school one!
“I guess he’s with so many different friends there.”
Schools will receive a funding rate which works out at 60p per pupil and rises to 78p depending on the number of children covered.
In addition, the schools receive a £500 lump sum to cover set-up costs, and £1,000 each term for day-to-day running expenses.
However, the pilot scheme has been criticized in other parts of the country for not fully funding the cost of the breakfast clubs.
One school in Lancashire has withdrawn already after the headteacher claimed this was not enough to pay for the extra food supplies and staff salaries.
The head of a primary school in Derbyshire also pulled out of the scheme, stating it would leave the school with a £9,000 deficit.
Lucas Vale headteacher Dean Gordon said: “We will struggle to afford to keep it going for free.”
Deptford Park head Baffour said: “Like many schools out there, we have concerns about budgetary pressures.
“It may be that we have a shortfall. But it’s the right thing to do for our community.”
Lewisham’s other pilot schools were contacted for comment.
The number of children accessing free school meals has risen steadily over the past decade, and the figures for Lewisham are higher than both the London and national figures, according to Trust for London data.
For Dummer, it is important to be able to provide feedback ahead of the next phase of the rollout.
She said: “The 60p per meal will be a challenge but that funding should hopefully increase moving forward.
“And it was really important for us to be part of the trial because we wanted to inform part of that policy.”
A Department for Education spokesperson said: “The early adopter scheme is about testing and learning how best to provide a universal breakfast club, and schools will be fully funded for food, delivery and staffing costs to provide free breakfasts and 30-minutes of childcare, ahead of the national rollout.
“The free breakfast clubs will put up to £450 per year back in parent’s pockets, supporting working families with the cost of living, and improve every child’s behaviour, attendance and attainment.”
Featured photo credit: Rehan Jamil
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