The results of such a poor start to the day are inevitable: hungry, disorganised and irritable kids who - more than being unwilling to learn - are simply unable to.
To help more children jump into their day, the PwC Foundation raises ongoing funds for the Good Start Breakfast Club; an initiative of The Australian Red Cross that helps schools in disadvantaged communities throughout Australia provide nutritious breakfasts for primary schoolaged children.
The PwC Foundation recently gave an additional $10,000 to establish Good Start Breakfast Clubs for a year in two Melbourne schools - Noble Park and Southvale Primary. Appropriately, the money came from sales at the PwC Foundation Café in the foyer of the firm’s Melbourne office, where 40 cents go to Foundation charities per hot beverage sold. At schools across the nation, tales of better nutrition, more camaraderie, less truancy, enhanced concentration and improved classroom behaviour have become commonplace.
“To say the Breakfast Club has been successful so far is an understatement," says Iain Luck, Principal, Victorian P-12 College of Koori Education. “Already, we have noticed much higher levels of concentration, energy and enthusiasm across all year levels. Classroom behaviour has improved out of sight, and relationships are flourishing between students and teachers, as well as among students themselves. One thing is abundantly clear - kids who are appropriately nourished are much easier to teach."
Peter Hancock, Principal of a school in western New South Wales, agrees. “We have found the Breakfast Club to be an excellent program that directly benefits all students at our school and has positively impacted on the learning environment provided for students," he says.
Apart from a more nutritious start to the day and the multitude of scholastic benefits, volunteers say they have noticed many positive social changes in the students who regularly attend. Manners, cooperation and consideration towards others have improved; self-confidence is on the rise in quiet students; many are developing leadership qualities and life skills; and others have even learnt how to use a tea towel. One child was overheard to say: “You don’t hit each other at Breakfast Club". Says another Good Start Breakfast Club coordinator: “The children seem to have an innate understanding of the need for a calm and relaxed environment that is free of negativity, name-calling and bullying.
“This they seem to regulate mostly by themselves. Many children come into the club as bullies and within a very short space of time become a cohesive member of the Good Start Breakfast Club."
In fact it is hard to keep the kids away according to Good Start Breakfast Club Coordinators. “One child who had been suspended from school asked the principal if it was still okay if he could come to the Breakfast Club in the mornings."
"One thing is abundantly clear - kids who are appropriately nourished are much easier to teach."
Iain Luck, Principal, Victorian P-12
College of Koori Education |
