Swale Council welcomes the Chancellor providing £30m in the Government’s Budget for thousands of schools to set up breakfast clubs.

By providing free breakfasts, schools will be ensuring all students start the day fed and ready to learn irrespective of their home situation. Families will additionally benefit from the peace of mind knowing that cost of living pressures will not ever result in their children starting the school day hungry and attendance will not be affected by something so solvable as hunger.

Swale Council resolves to ask the Leader of the Council to write to write to both MPs representing Swale to welcome this new government funding for school breakfast clubs and to seek their support for all schools in Swale to be able to take advantage of it.

Proposed by:  Councillor Dolley Wooster

Seconded by: Councillor Karen Watson

Amendment added 4.12.24

In proposing the motion as set out on the Agenda, Councillor Dolley Wooster advised that the new Government had proposed a free breakfast club programme which invited schools to apply for the early adopters scheme to start in April 2025. She said up to 750 participating schools could be funded, and she encouraged the local MPs to support the scheme for both KCC-funded and academy schools.

Councillor Wooster drew attention that many schools in the borough were within one of the most deprived areas in the country and that Rose Street school, Sheerness of which she was a Governor, regularly reported in excess of 60% pupil premium figures. She added that currently the school regularly subsidised funding for the breakfast club, and if successful in joining the breakfast club pilot scheme, that funding could be re-directed to support other facilities at the school. Finally, Councillor Wooster listed the benefits of breakfast clubs such as reduction in absence of pupils and spending time with peers and she encouraged Members to consider the pupil premium reports of schools in their area that highlighted how significant the issue was.

In seconding the motion, Councillor Karen Watson reserved her right to speak.

The Mayor announced that a minor amendment to the motion had been received, proposed by Councillor Hannah Perkin and seconded by Councillor Charles Gibson, which had been circulated to Members and added to the website and is set out below:

“Swale Council welcomes the Chancellor providing £30m in the Government’s Budget for thousands of schools to set up breakfast clubs. By providing free breakfasts, schools will be ensuring all students start the day fed and ready to learn irrespective of their home situation. Families will additionally benefit from the peace of mind knowing that cost of living pressures will not ever result in their children starting the school day hungry and attendance will not be affected by something so solvable as hunger. Swale Council resolves to ask the Leader of the Council to write to write to both MPs representing Swale to welcome this new government funding for school breakfast clubs, and to seek their support for all schools in Swale to be able to take advantage of it and to ask them to commit to working towards a future where no one is living in food poverty.

The proposer and seconder of the motion accepted the minor amendment, and the substantive motion continued to be debated.  Points made included:

·         Support for the motion;

·         was a laudable motion but the devil was in the detail and hoped schools did not end up funding it;

·         there was a reason it was a pilot scheme;

·         there was an impact on families that ate together and shared morning time;

·         could those not attending breakfast club miss out?;

·         would activities start early?;

·         needed to know how it worked, what the outcomes were and whether it needed to be improved;

·         writing to MPs now was premature;

·         referred to the use of foodbanks and said that breakfast clubs were an extension of foodbanks;

·         there had been an increase in schools using core funding to provide for unexpected extras;

·         hoped the Government got it right and hoped it was successful;

·         welcomed the motion and spoke positively;

·         hunger affected concentration, and long term academic and personal development;

·         all students, regardless of home circumstances deserved a fair start to the day;

·         parents could choose not to use breakfast clubs if family time was impacted;

·         it was crucial that £30million was not just symbolic, and the funding was distributed fairly;

·         single issue announcements like this were not enough to address the systematic issues that left families struggling; and

·         welcomed funding but urged continuance to address the root issues of pressures on schools.

In seconding the motion, Councillor Watson stressed the importance of education and the negative impact of not eating breakfast. She highlighted the benefits of breakfast clubs, including improved attendance and she encouraged primary schools to put themselves forward for the pilot.

On being put to the vote, Members voted in support of the motion.

Resolved:

(1)  That the Leader of the Council writes to both MPs representing Swale to welcome this new government funding for school breakfast clubs, to seek their support for all schools in Swale to be able to take advantage of it and to ask them to commit to working towards a future where no one is living in food poverty.