Free breakfasts improving attendance - school

A free breakfast scheme for all pupils at a York primary school has improved attendance and behaviour, its head teacher has said.

Burton Green Primary School joined the council-run pilot scheme Hungry Minds, which was set up to address disadvantage and the impact of the cost of living crisis on families, last year.

About 50 children from Reception to Year Six regularly attend the breakfast club.

Headteacher Ash McGann said the scheme had "impacted on so many areas of school life" and become an important social fixture of the school day.

"It's really improved behaviour, because children have that soft start to the day, so they're not immediately in with the learning," she said.

"It's hugely improved attendance, we've halved the number of persistent absentees and it's having a real impact academically because children are here at the start of the day, ready to learn, and they're not missing a minute of their education."

Ms McGann estimated that attendance has risen to 95.5% in 2025, up from 93% at the same time last year.

The breakfast club is funded by York Council's Hungry Minds Appeal, and is also offered at Westfield Community Primary School and Fishergate Primary School.

Pupil Seb, aged seven, said his favourite food served at the club was "waffles and pancakes".

"We can play games and we can have breakfast," he said.

"Because we can have second breakfast, we can get more energy. It helps to concentrate with the questions [in class]."

This week, the scheme, which is part-funded by donations from businesses and the public, celebrated serving 50,000 free school meals since its launch last year.

Councillor Bob Webb said the aim was to provide resources for families who don't qualify for the the government's national free school meal scheme, but may still be struggling.

He added that the council's ambition was to extend the scheme to other interested schools, if the funding and public donations continued.

Burton Green is now entering the second year offering the breakfast club, and Ms McGann expressed her hope it can continue for as long as possible.

"Before, children were coming into school without having breakfast and obviously you can't learn if you're feeling hungry," she said.

"Now, no child in this school should go hungry because they have a full, nutritious breakfast."

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