Cares for Kids - Breakfast Clubs

In April 2004 Jon Collins, leader of Nottingham City Council, gathered business leaders to set out his aspiration for the City to feed its most needy young children a breakfast before the start of the school day. By February 2006 the partnership had been formed, a charitable trust established, funds raised, methods piloted, every primary school in Nottingham visited and briefed, volunteers mustered, equipment and food purchased, and 1,250 children were being fed every school day, with the numbers growing term by term.

The delivery model was trialled in five schools before being used on a wide-spread basis and consists of:

• A grant of £1.45 per child per week for bread, cereal, milk and juice and a commitment for a minimum of one year’s renewable funding
• The provision of all toasters, crockery, cutlery and storage boxes
• Assistance in finding volunteers to staff the Club
• Posters and other materials to publicise the Club
• Advice on running a Club
• Attendance must be free for all children

The Partnership objectives comply with a grant from One Nottingham. It monitors the performance and submits quarterly returns. It maintains a database to track the status of each Club, the number of places funded at each school, and the spending power of unallocated funds.

Funding is underpinned by One Nottingham, Nottinghamshire Cares, and the founding sponsors, e.g. Experian has committed three years of financial support and Capital One has made additional donations. Each club is staffed by an average of two people per schools from a mix of business and parent/family volunteers.