Commenting as Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) and Parentkind publish a survey which shows that more than one in seven lower income parents with children at primary school in Wales can’t get a breakfast club place, Laura Doel, director of school leaders’ union NAHT Cymru, said:

“It is absolutely the right ambition for every child to have a space at a breakfast club. It’s so important for learning and wellbeing for children to start the day with a healthy meal. And most schools do everything they can to provide as many places as possible. Unfortunately there are huge challenges facing schools in providing enough places. Capacity, staffing, availability of space, and school transport are all issues, and the strain of covid on staffing has compounded existing problems. The government needs to fully engage with schools and support them to overcome those challenges and look at alternatives ways of supporting a national breakfast club provision. In most cases that will come at an additional financial cost.”