Magic Breakfast

Through the charity ‘Magic Breakfast’, we support breakfast clubs at 3 schools: Marner Primary School in Bow, St. Pauls Whitechapel C of E Primary School and Cyril Jackson Primary School in Tower Hamlets.

It costs just £28 to give a child a nutritious breakfast for a whole year – yet many children are deprived of this. Child Poverty Action Group reported that for one in four UK school children the only hot meal they receive each day is at school.  The report shows that many children who arrive at school having had nothing to eat since the previous lunchtime, have difficulties at school through behaviour issues and are unable to concentrate . 

Carmel McConnell, the founder of Magic Breakfast made this discovery whilst researching her book ‘Change Activist’ in 2000, and  decided to leave her City career  to start delivering breakfast to six schools in Hackney – funding the entire project by herself.  After many years of campaigning for support her work has led to around 3,000 breakfasts being delivered to children each morning of the school term.

Prior to Magic Breakfast, stories such as the one below were not uncommon:

‘Some of our children come to school with the remains of yesterday’s take away in their lunch box – some cold fried chicken (mostly bones) and a few cold chips.’

It costs us £2,500 to support the breakfast club at each of our sponsor schools each year.  Breakfast consists of bagels, porridge, orange juice and breakfast cereals and encourages children to come into school early each morning. The clubs are also helping parents with childcare problems, who are then able to go to work without having to worry about leaving their children unattended outside school gates. 

Fore more information please visit the Magic Breakfast website: www.magicbreakfast.com.