School breakfast club expanded across WA as more kids go to class hungry

Free school breakfasts will be expanded to five days a week and another 130 WA schools from Term 1 next year.

Education Minister Sabine Winton met students tucking into vegemite toast, wheat biscuits, oats and tinned spaghetti at East Maddington Primary School on Tuesday, to announce the delivery of a key Labor election promise.

“This is a significant expansion, a four-fold increase of what was in place previously,” she said.

“We know that when children feel safe, supported and well, they are more engaged in their learning.

“That is why the Cook Labor government has invested $28 million to grow the School Breakfast Program over the next four years to provide more students around the State with greater access to a healthy breakfast.”

Each of the 680 schools signed up to the program will get $6,500 towards staffing costs, but the Minister conceded most will still rely on volunteers.

Foodbank is confident it can keep up with demand for food supplies, and hailed the program as hugely important for families struggling to keep up with rising grocery prices.

“The numbers are increasing. The numbers through the door every day at Foodbank, we’re supporting nearly 1000 families a week,” Foodbank Head of Nutrition Education Jennifer Tartaglia said.

“We know that some kids do come to school because they haven’t got the food in the home. So it’s really great that they can get that nutritional support through through the School Breakfast Program.”

She welcomed other families using the program as a time-saver.

“Definitely, and particularly in regional areas where we have kids travelling to school, by bus it might take them an hour to get to school, so they may have already had breakfast at home, but by the time they get to school, they’re already hungry again,” Ms Tartaglia said.

The Liberal party’s call for a trial of free lunches too has previously been ruled out.

But at Maddington on Tuesday, cheese toasties leftover from breakfast served that purpose.

Fresh fruit is not always available, but leading dietitians have backed the long-life ingredients on the menu.

“Hungry kids struggle to learn well, and this is one way to ensure that all kids in WA are getting something to eat to start their school day,” Dieticians Australia President Fiona Willer said.

“Delivering a large-scale school food and nutrition program in a State with such geographic diversity is an enormous challenge.

“Shelf-stable foods are a necessity in many areas and, of course, can make up part of a healthy diet.”