A Hounslow primary is one of 750 schools nationwide to participate in the trial run of Labour’s free breakfast club scheme from April.
Ahead of the launch in Cavendish Primary School, school business manager Jacolyn Daly, believes the scheme will better support students, parents and the wider community.
The Government introduced an ‘early adopter’ test and learn phase of the free breakfast clubs initiative before national rollout in 2026.
Participating schools are expected to deliver a free-of-charge breakfast club with no limit in size and at least 30 minutes in duration, before the start of the school day.
The school’s current morning wraparound care serves an average of 12 students daily, but Daly expects the changes to attract larger numbers.
Daly is hopeful a positive turnout will improve general pupil performance as schoolchildren will be steered towards a soft start transition to the day.
Cavendish’s new breakfast club is provisionally set to revolve around 30 minutes of physical activity, designed to increase alertness whilst incorporating a healthy lifestyle.
It is predicted it will particularly benefit children from working-class backgrounds.
She said: “I see families for whom this would really benefit who can’t really afford the token amount. There are quite a lot of people that are just getting by but just don’t have the money to throw at things like this.”
Daly added many parents may rely on this additional time to commute, work, and improve their career prospects given the school’s location in a deprived area.
She emphasised their commitment to inclusivity but is concerned how the lack of funding will impact the meaningful participation for those unable to join the active sessions.
The Department for Education have allocated £500 for initial costs and a lump sum of £1,099 to cover administration and staffing expenses from April to July.
The per-pupil rate – set at 60p per child per morning – will be paid in arrears between October and December based on attendance.
Additional funding will be provided for every Pupil Premium recipient, set at 78p per day.
No similar offer is presently available for children with special educational needs.
Daly said: “We want this to be completely inclusive, so that anybody can come along but we will need additional staff to accommodate them, and the funding doesn’t account for that. But we will make it work.”
These concerns have been echoed by the National Association of Head Teachers trade union.
Paul Whiteman, the union’s general secretary, said: “It will be crucial that these [financial] concerns are addressed before the programme is rolled out across the country to ensure that it does not place further pressure on already strained school budgets.”
Daly confirms that insights will be shared with the Department for Education throughout the year, but the type of data required is yet to be disclosed.
On 23 February, the UK Government announced the full list of the 750 ‘early adopter’ schools to offer clubs from April.
There are 15 in Southwest London across Lambeth, Wandsworth, Richmond, Sutton, Merton and Hounslow boroughs.
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