Birmingham Pupils Enjoy Free Breakfasts as Education Recruiter Tackles Child Hunger in One of City's Most Deprived Areas

Dozens of children have enjoyed free breakfasts before learning at a Birmingham school which received support this week from one of the UK's largest education workforce providers.

Christ Church C of E Nursery and Primary School in Sparkbrook is one of four schools across England receiving a week of free breakfast provision from Affinity Workforce as part of its Before the Bell campaign, which aims to tackle child hunger in classrooms.

All 200 pupils at the Claremont Road school have been receiving fruit, a croissant and a drink each morning this week before lessons begin.

The school is located in the fifth most deprived area in Birmingham, with 56 per cent of pupils eligible for Pupil Premium. The school already runs a breakfast club, but this week's provision has extended free breakfast to every child.

Tracey Adams, Headteacher of Christ Church C of E Nursery and Primary School, said: "We run a breakfast club already at our school because we feel that it's just a great way for the children to start the day. When this came through and I realised it was for every child, I just thought that is absolutely fantastic.

"If you're really hungry, you can't learn, you can't stay on task, you can't get excited about your learning. We just want our children to thrive and grow. I've always worked in schools in disadvantaged areas and children will come to school and they haven't maybe had a breakfast. It's really brought our school community together, so we just want to say thank you to Affinity Workforce for working with us."

Salma, an 11-year-pupil at the school said that eating breakfast was "an amazing way to start off the day" and "makes you feel full of energy". She tucked into the breakfast alongside her fellow students at the school.

Zarish, also 11, said she  believes breakfast is “the most important meal of the day and helps get started”. She added: “I really enjoyed having breakfast at school, the croissant was my favourite part of it. After eating breakfast I felt full of energy and ready for the day.”

Corinna Holden, Managing Director of Monarch Education, part of Affinity Workforce, said: "This morning the children coming into school have just been absolutely delightful. I've got two young children myself and I know the impact of them not having breakfast. It's really critical that every child has breakfast at the start of it, to have a good day of learning.

"We surveyed the teachers that work for us and established that nearly 70 per cent of children were experiencing hunger, which means they aren't able to learn and engage properly with their school work. Many of the supply teachers who work for us are in several different schools each week, so we're talking about the experience they have in many schools. This isn't a localised problem, it's a nationwide problem.

"One week at four schools won't solve the problem, but it has highlighted to us the importance of pushing the government to do more. We're continuing with the campaign and this should be at the top of the agenda, to make sure that children really get the most out of education."

Following the launch of Before the Bell, the government announced that it will extend free school meals to all children in households on Universal Credit from September 2026, benefiting over 500,000 children, and fund breakfast clubs in schools across England.

Christ Church is one of four schools receiving free breakfast provision in January. The other schools are in Barnsley, Wirral and London.

Affinity Workforce provides temporary staff to schools, multi-academy trusts, colleges and training providers across the UK through its brands Affinity Partnerships, Career Teachers, CER Education, Monarch Education and The Protocol Group.