IT'S twenty minutes before the official start of the school day and pupils are sitting in rows chatting indoors with children in later year groups, some starting their day’s learning, all there having just had a healthy breakfast.

The Press was invited to Burton Green Primary School’s Healthy Breakfast Club on Tuesday (November 5), a free option for 144 pupils on roll at the school in Burton Stone Lane.

Part of the Hope Sentamu Learning Trust, the school in Clifton is part of a pilot project called York Hungry Minds, initiated by City of York Council in November 2023 and running since January to provide a ‘free school meal’ option for Key Stage Two (KS2)(Years 3-6) pupils.

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Current eligibility for KS2 pupils depends upon government criteria around household income, and the Labour administration pledged to ensure every primary school child in York gets a free school meal.

Funding to provide Burton Green’s breakfast option has come through donations from Persimmon Homes Charitable Foundation and the council put in £100,000 via a community fund for a universal free school lunch option for KS2 pupils for a year at Westfield Primary Community School in Askham Lane, a local authority-maintained school.

The interim report said 60 per cent of the school pupils had attended the breakfast club, although not all attended every dayThe interim report said 60 per cent of the school pupils had attended the breakfast club, although not all attended every day (Image: Kevin Glenton) An interim report into the first two terms of the universal free school meals project by university researchers showed that lateness at Burton Green had been eliminated, and that attendance improved at Westfield Primary.

At the school in Clifton, nine-year old Santiago and younger brother Fabian had the toasted bagel with cream cheese, and a fruit salad which the five-year-old said included orange, grapes, melon and green apple.

Rotated each fortnight, the daily menu includes baked beans on wholemeal toast, a mixed yoghurt bar with fruity toppings and granola, creamy porridge with fruit and fresh orange juice.

Santiago said the morning’s early start gets them ahead. He said: “We sit next to friends and have a fun breakfast.

“I think it’s good because I can have a fun time before I go into class time.”

Santiago and Fabian had the toasted bagel and fruit salad, today's option at the breakfast clubSantiago and Fabian had the toasted bagel with cream cheese and fruit salad, today's option at the breakfast club (Image: Kevin Glenton) Nine-year-old Nieve, in Year Five, said at breakfast she liked speaking to her friends and speaking with younger friends from other classes, where they talk about what classes they have ahead and what everyone is doing that day.

Nieve enjoyed the breakfast and the additional time she was able to spend with her school friendsNieve enjoyed the breakfast and the additional time she was able to spend with her school friends (Image: Kevin Glenton) Meeting pupils at the head of the queue was school cook Jo Piercy.

She said: “It’s so valuable to them and made a massive impact on their day.

“Look how the older ones look after the younger ones, they’re helping them put their jam and cream cheese on their bagels and talking to them.”

School cook Jo Piercy said the breakfast club is making a massive impact on the pupils' school daySchool cook Jo Piercy said the breakfast club is making a massive impact on the pupils' school day (Image: Kevin Glenton) Parents Emily Hupston and Laura Blake each said the breakfast club helped their kids, and them too.

Emily brings four-year-old twins Freddie and Poppy and seven-year-old Lucy in and said: “It’s made a massive difference for the kids and beneficial at home too and because they come early I can get on and do stuff earlier too.”

She said being around older children and finding out what things they like has boosted Freddie’s confidence and he’s started playing football and other opportunities have opened up for him.

Laura had brought Lacy, 7, and Lincoln, 5, in and said: “The kids are excited to come, they like the breakfast option, they get a bit more time with their friends who are also here.

She said the free breakfast option provided at the school means she can put the £25 per week she saves towards other household essentials, although her younger daughter, enrolled in the school’s nursery, was providing ideas for spending this.

Having heard from her siblings’ description of the menu options, the younger member of the family came home one day asking mum for bagels and homemade healthy blueberry muffins to match the school option, Laura said.

Emily Hupston and Laura Blake, who each bring their children to the morning club for breakfastEmily Hupston and Laura Blake, who each bring their children to the morning club for breakfast (Image: Kevin Glenton) Burton Green headteacher Ash McGann said parents had told her more about the benefits the breakfast club was bringing inside and outside the school’s gates.

Mrs McGann said: “Parents are telling me they’re finding it a lot easier to get the children up in the morning.

"Additionally, within the breakfast club, there’s quite a lot of available adults, so children get a chance to chat to them informally and in terms of safeguarding it’s a great opportunity too.

“Because I’m there every morning, they can talk to me about something, or ask me do something, rather than having to find me or come to my office.

“I’ve got a full-time pastoral lead who’s also there at breakfast club so we’re all available to talk to the children and you get to know them a lot more because you’re talking about the weekends, or yesterday about what they did at half term, or what they did last night."

Mrs McGann told The Press parents were finding it easier to get their children up in the morning for school, and that the breakfasts provided a softer transition from home to schoolMrs McGann told The Press parents were finding it easier to get their children up in the morning for school, and that breakfasts provided the children with more social time with peers and a softer transition from home to school in the mornings  (Image: Supplied) The school operates a ‘buddy system’ pairing up Year Six and reception children and the school’s head said the breakfast club takes that idea further.

The headteacher said: “You’ve got that transition from home to school, rather than it being straight in and you’re learning.

“What we noticed is the older children really looking after younger children, so they’re pouring the water for them, taking them to classes at the end, that’s been really special, which is expansion of the buddy system.

“That’s a skill, to really care for younger children, and read to younger children, so that’s been great.”

City of York Council has said the pilot could be extended to two more schools and at a children’s scrutiny committee meeting on Tuesday night (November 5), councillors agreed recommendations to support the work of the York Hungry Minds project and the expansion plans.