This February, Pupils from Colegrave Primary School, Newham, celebrated their first 100 days of free, healthy breakfasts this week, provided by the charity Magic Breakfasts with support from John Lewis Stratford City in Westfield.
Pupils from the primary school marked the occasion by making smoothies and healthy pizza's at John Lewis Stratford City's A Place to Eat, helped by John Lewis employees.
Noel Saunders, Managing Director of John Lewis Stratford City, said: “We’ve developed a great relationship with Colegrave Primary ever since they cut our opening ceremony ribbon in September. Our catering Partners and I were thrilled to welcome them to The Place to Eat so they could enjoy a special start to their day and celebrate a future of free healthy breakfasts for any child who needs it.
“Providing children with a nutritious breakfast is essential to make sure they have a good, productive day at school, and we are proud that our contribution is making a real difference to local children.”
Assistant Head Teacher, Jimmy Demetriou said: “We’re so happy that John Lewis Stratford City has contributed such a significant amount towards Magic Breakfast and our school; it’s making a difference in the lives of our students. The children had a great time visiting The Place to Eat to celebrate.”
Charity Founder Carmel McConnell said: "Magic Breakfasts is delighted to be working with John Lewis Stratford City to deliver free healthy breakfasts to the children at Colegrave School. We support 200 schools across the country, with another 80 on our waiting list, desperately in need of our support. By working with companies like John Lewis we are not only able to continue to provide essential food aid to schools and reach even more who need our support, but are also able to show the importance of a healthy breakfast and diet through these events."
The morning was a big success with all the children having a great time, before sitting down to enjoy their healthy creations.
Last week Channel 4 News paid a visit to Keyworth Primary in South London- one of our partner schools, to observe the difference their breakfast club makes to the children arriving at school hungry. The 70 children attending Keyworth's breakfast club are amongst the 6000 we already provide for across 200 schools. Channel 4's article reports on the further 80 schools waiting for our help and what this means for the state of child poverty in the UK. Our founder Carmel McConnell said of the waiting list: "All of those application forms from schools - they're stories of real deprivation, where kids are going home to empty cupboards."
Magic Breakfast founder, Carmel McConnell, on the BBC Breakfast sofa on Monday 23rd January, talking about the charity's work to feed over 6000 hungry children each school morning.
Bing.com, Microsoft’s search engine, is today handing over its daily homepage to Magic Breakfast to launch its Help Your Britain Campaign. To mark the day, Bing is running an exclusive image that celebrates the work of the charity, as well as providing in-depth information about us, reaching Bing’s 13 million users.
Carmel McConnell said of the promotion: “The support that Bing is providing is warmly welcomed and we are delighted to be the first charity featured in Bing’s Help Your Britain campaign.”
Peter Maxmin of Bing said: “The need for children to start the day with a healthy breakfast cannot be overstated and Magic Breakfast provides an invaluable service that ensures children across the country do not start the day too hungry to learn. It is an excellent example of the great work that smaller charities are doing to make Britain even greater.”
Magic breakfast are excited to be promoted on such a wide-reaching platform and extremely appreciative of Bing’s campaign support.
Magic Breakfast and schools have formed this partnership from a shared commitment to ending the negative impact of child poverty upon well being and readiness for learning in our primary schools.
