Local MP Alan Mak has returned to Havant Academy in Leigh Park to see how a breakfast club he helped to create and launch is helping make sure pupils get their day off to a good start.
The charity Magic Breakfast provides free food including toasted bagels, cereals and orange juice to up to 100 pupils each school day, meaning they go into lessons ready to learn. It also works with Park Community School in Leigh Park.
Havant Academy Deputy Headteacher Kevin Gardner said it made a massive difference. He said, “We understand that we are working in an area where there is a significant amount of deprivation. Being a nurturing school, we believe it is absolutely key to be able to plug gaps in students' lives where families may be struggling to provide things such as breakfast. We want to make sure our children are fuelled up and go off to lessons ready to concentrate and learn. If they are not starting the day hungry, then they are much more likely to focus and make great progress.”
He added: 'A young person's day can fall apart very quickly if they are not in the right frame of mind and have not been fed. To have a good day, they need a good start.'
Pupils Raya Oakey, 15, and Hattie Love, 14, come to breakfast club every day. Raya said: 'I always have a toasted bagel and I like having a chat with my friends. It means I go into the day feeling calm.'
Hattie added: 'I like having some breakfast and meeting friends before school starts.'
Blossom Rand and Frankie Hopkins, both 13, also use the service. Blossom said: 'I like socialising with friends while having some cereal.'
Frankie added: 'If someone's parents can't provide breakfast at home, the club gives them the chance to have it here.'
Magic Breakfast says having a nutritious breakfast helps to improve children’s school attendance, punctuality, behaviour, classroom attainment and exam results.
Every school day it provides free breakfast foods plus expert support to more than 200,000 children and young people. Provision is stigma-free and available to all. Children also have the chance to socialise and play games.
In 2020 Alan Mak MP launched a new partnership that he initiated between the FatFace Foundation - the charitable arm of the Havant-based clothing company - and Magic Breakfast whereby the foundation agreed to work with the charity to fund 100,000 breakfasts nationwide, including at Havant Academy.
Mr Mak is a former President and Trustee of Magic Breakfast and still takes an active interest in its work. A childhood spent in a working-class area of York meant he saw some of his peers arriving for school hungry and this has inspired his campaigning.
In 2012 he was selected to carry the Olympic torch through the village of Bedale in Yorkshire because of his work with Magic Breakfast.
He said: 'I’ve campaigned against child hunger for more than 10 years and I’m proud to have helped ensure children from Leigh Park and the surrounding area get a healthy breakfast so they can have fuel for learning. Supporting local children and schools is a top priority for me, and I’m glad the Havant Academy breakfast club I helped to launch is going from strength to strength.”
