Northern Ireland

Fifty pupils at Co Antrim primary school to receive free, nutritious breakfast

Fifty pupils will receive a free, nutritious breakfast
Fifty pupils will receive a free, nutritious breakfast Fifty pupils will receive a free, nutritious breakfast

FIFTY children at a Co Antrim primary school are to receive a free, nutritious breakfast before school.

The new breakfast club at Knockmore Primary School in Lisburn will offer pupils who need it an early morning meal to help them be prepared for the day ahead.

The club, which has been launched by Greggs Foundation, also aims to encourage children to talk and engage with school staff before their classes begin.

Breakfast options include toast, low sugar cereal, fruit, yoghurt, juice and milk.

The foundation, which was launched in 1999, has grown to serve wholesome, free breakfasts to around 40,000 children every school day at more than 700 clubs across the UK.

So far the programme has served over 58 million free meals with an ambition to support 1,000 breakfast clubs by 2025.

The average breakfast club costs £3,000 to set up and run for an academic year.

Breakfast club manager Lynne Hindmarch said: "No child should ever start their day without breakfast, which is why we’re delighted to be opening a new breakfast club at Knockmore Primary School.

"Through breakfast clubs such as this, we’re able to support over 40,000 children each day nationally and new openings like the one at Knockmore Primary School are helping us to continue heading towards reaching our target of serving 70,000 breakfasts each school day by 2025."