Childcare in extended schools guidance
Case study 4 – Newham Early Starts Breakfast Clubs
How do you help children to improve their performance and achievement at school? Newham EYDCP’s approach was to invite primary schools to form a consortium, which would design and manage subsidised on-site breakfast clubs for each of the schools. The express intention is to encourage a positive attitude to school, while providing extra support for working parents and their children.
Following discussions with parents and the circulation of questionnaires, five schools (Ellen Wilkinson Primary School, Beckton; St Antony’s RC Primary School, West Ham; St James C of E Primary School, Forest Gate; Tollgate Primary School, Plaistow; and Vicarage Primary, East Ham) formed the Early Starts Breakfast Clubs, a company limited by guarantee.
By June 2002, four of the clubs were launched, all offering a healthy breakfast and a range of activities organised by playworkers employed by the company, which is funded by NOF and the Children’s Fund. The company (the project’s management board) includes representatives from each school, as well as the EYDCP in the person of the project officer.
Some places are subsidised; others are supported by the Working Families’ Tax Credit. A small number are free to those who meet criteria set by the Children’s Fund, which range from children speaking English as an additional language to children from refugee families or even excluded children. Parents are encouraged – and helped – to submit applications for funding, which are kept simple.
The company is also drawing up a range of policies that each school can adapt to local needs, including equal opportunities, health and safety and child protection. But, crucially, the children at each breakfast club are to be involved in the decision-making. The first step is to draw up a behaviour management policy, now in progress.
The outcomes? While it is still early days, the clubs are providing an opportunity for socialising, one-to-one contact with adults in a relaxed setting, space to do homework without distractions – and the chance to enjoy themselves without annoying residents.
The schools expect to see raised self-esteem and, as a result, improved
performance in school work, while a proper breakfast should raise concentration
levels.
