The charity, Magic Breakfast, is set to provide an additional 150,000 breakfasts this summer thanks to a £21,000 match-funded donation from the Wesleyan Foundation.
Magic Breakfast works with over 1,000 schools in disadvantaged areas of the UK to ensure no child is too hungry to learn. They offer free, healthy breakfasts daily to over 200,000 pupils and provide expert support to schools, giving children and young people at risk of hunger a healthy meal each morning.
Research by the Institute of Fiscal Studies has shown that pupils in primary school receiving a nutritious ‘magic breakfast’ boosted their attainment at KS1 by an average of two months’ additional progress over the course of a year, compared to children in schools with no such provision. Alongside this, 94% of Magic Breakfast partner schools report that breakfast provision has a positive impact on energy levels and boosts concentration, and 93% report increased readiness to learn.
Nathan Wallis, Chief of Staff at Wesleyan, said:
“Getting a good education is so important but sadly many pupils go to school hungry, which hampers their learning and development. “Magic Breakfast is a wonderful charity that seeks to address this issue and provides children across the country with breakfasts to help them start each day ready to tackle the challenges ahead.
"As a mutual it’s important to us that we give back to communities and support the charities that matter to our members and customers, many of whom are teachers. At our AGM our members voted to support Magic Breakfast, a charity that closely aligns with our values. We are proud to have been able to provide it with funding and hope it will make a real difference to the school experience for many pupils.”
Catherine Mackenzie, Head of Corporate Partnerships at Magic Breakfast, said:
“The current cost-of-living crisis is really stretching family finances, and this is sadly having a knock-on effect on the number of children and young people at risk of going to school hungry. When a child is hungry, they cannot learn, and this impacts their education and life chances. That’s why it’s imperative we continue our work to ensure no child is too hungry to learn. “We are incredibly grateful to Wesleyan Foundation for their generous donation which will enable us to provide free, nutritious breakfasts to more pupils across the UK, giving many more pupils the chance to reach their full potential.”
In 2017 Wesleyan launched the Wesleyan Foundation as part of their commitment to supporting great causes that are important to their members and the communities in which they live and work.
The Foundation has since donated £4.3m and has supported more than 100,000 people across 500 different charities, community groups and social enterprises, benefitting thousands of people across the UK.