Chris visits school breakfast club

The Labour MP for Milton Keynes North, Chris Curtis, has paid a visit to St Mary Magdalene Catholic Primary School in Greenleys today, as it becomes one of the first schools in the country to benefit from the Government’s new roll-out of school breakfast clubs.

Attending in the morning so he could see the club in action, Chris met with children and teachers, as well as parents benefiting from the scheme. It is hoped that the free breakfast clubs will help to ensure all pupils start each day ready to learn, which will in turn improve behaviour, attendance and attainment. 

As well as a meal, the scheme offers the benefit of thirty minutes of free extra childcare in the morning, which is estimated to save parents a significant £450 a year. This will give parents much-needed additional time at the start of the day - approximately 95 hours a year - to attend appointments, run errands, or juggle parenting with working, training or studying.  It is no surprise, then, that major employers like British Airways, Accenture and Rigby Group have all backed the clubs to support parents to work more flexibly.

This rollout, which has begun in five schools in Milton Keynes, delivers on Labour’s manifesto promise to ensure state schools offer free breakfast clubs to all pupils while supporting its Plan for Change milestone to ensure tens of thousands more children start school ready to learn. This pilot rollout will shape how the scheme moves forward into other schools.

Chris Curtis, Labour MP for Milton Keynes North, said “I had the best start in life growing up in Milton Keynes under a Labour Government, and giving that to the next generation is so important to me - so it was fantastic to see children benefiting from Labour’s free breakfast club this morning.”

Chris concluded, “I’m glad that these breakfast clubs will not only ensure kids start the day ready to learn, but will also allow parents to have some much-needed extra time in the mornings and save them money, too. I can’t wait to see this roll out to even more schools in Milton Keynes.”