Labour proposes breakfast clubs for every child in Crawley

A Labour Government would roll out breakfast clubs to every primary school in England, providing access to fully-funded childcare and a healthy meal for every child. Currently 569,731 primary school pupils in Crawley’s region have limited access to breakfast clubs, according to the Party’s analysis.

78% of primary schools in the South East have “barriers” to disadvantaged children and young people accessing provision, including the cost both families and schools of running breakfast clubs, a perceive lack of need in areas of high deprivation and caps on places for children on Free School Meals.

Figures from Magic Breakfast show that, nationally, 3,021 primary schools, 18% of the total, do not offer breakfast clubs, leaving 838,000 primary school children with no access to breakfast clubs equivalent to nearly 28,000 classes of 30. Among schools that do offer a breakfast club 55% of schools in England had barriers to access.

The plan will enable parents to work as well as strengthening children’s development, driving up standards in reading, writing and maths, contrasting this with the Conservatives’ failure to close the education attainment gap and support parents with young children to continue working the jobs and hours they choose.

The evidence is clear: breakfast clubs raise standards of learning for children, give parents choices and will help us build the economy of the future and that’s why the next Labour government will offer a breakfast club in every primary school in England, as the first step on the road to a modern system of childcare.