Schools prepare for National Breakfast Week

 

Schools across the county are gearing up to celebrate National Breakfast Week with a range of special options and competitions for pupils that attend their breakfast clubs.

Carmarthenshire Catering Service runs the Primary Free Breakfast Initiative on behalf of the Welsh Assembly, and has the highest take-up in the whole of Wales.

As well as providing an opportunity for parents to drop their children off at school half an hour earlier, they also ensure that children are having a nutritional meal to start their day.

During National Breakfast Week, January 23-27, many schools will be laying on more healthy options for children to choose from.

They include a ‘breakfast trifle’, which is made up of cornflakes, yoghurt and fruit, or porridge, served with fruit pieces.

Children will also be entering competitions to design a breakfast club logo, and a new outfit for healthy eating mascot Dylan the Dragon.

The winner will claim cycle hire for a family of four at Llanelli’s Millennium Coastal Park, and the runner-up will win a £10 gift voucher for County Cycles.

Catering services manager Sandra Weigel said: “Breakfast is recognised as the most important meal of the day and evidence shows that a healthy breakfast is linked to better health, concentration and behaviour in our schools.

“National Breakfast Week provides us with the perfect opportunity to highlight this message, and to encourage more children to join their school’s breakfast club.”

The majority of Carmarthenshire primary schools run a breakfast club.

They are open from 8am, and pupils enjoy a free breakfast consisting of a choice of non sugar-coated cereal, toast, fruit and a glass of milk or fruit juice.

Cllr Gwynne Wooldridge, executive board member for education and children’s services, said: “It is fantastic to see children gathered together before the school day to enjoy a healthy breakfast. The clubs not only provide an extra service to parents who may need to drop their children off at school earlier than normal, but also gives children a good start to the day – it helps them maintain a healthy, balanced diet, and helps them to concentrate on their work when they get in to the classroom.”