Department For Education
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Overview
The government is committed to offering a free breakfast club in every primary school in England. Breakfast clubs support childrens attendance and attainment, enabling them to thrive academically and socially.
Schools with primary-school-aged children can apply to become an early adopter of our universal free breakfast clubs scheme.
We will fund up to 750 participating state-funded schools to provide children with access to a breakfast club that involves free food and childcare, starting from April 2025.
Purpose of the scheme
If you become early adopters of our breakfast club scheme, you will have the unique opportunity to shape national breakfast club policy, contributing directly to its design and implementation. By participating, you will help the government to provide positive outcomes for children, families and communities across England.
The scheme will directly benefit the children and families of participating schools. It will also help us test and learn what works for a national rollout.
If you take part in the scheme, you will support us to:
- understand how schools design and implement their offer at a local level
- identify any barriers to implementation and delivery challenges to understand the support that schools need, such as space and premises requirements
- better understand parental demand and pupil take-up over time
We will select early adopter schools across different school types, sizes and geographical areas to ensure a wide representation. We want to test and learn with as many different types of schools as possible, including schools that work with or are considering working with private, voluntary and independent (PVI) providers to deliver their breakfast clubs.
How to apply
Use this form if you wish to apply for the breakfast clubs early adopters scheme:
You will need to apply directly using your DfE Sign-in. We cannot accept applications via consortiums, groups of schools or local authorities. While trusts may express interest in implementing the programme across multiple schools, each school must submit an individual application, logging in with its own DfE Sign-in. Within the form, you can indicate if you want participate either individually or as part of a wider rollout across multiple schools within your trust.
The form will close on 20 December 2024. We will not accept applications after this point.
You should notify us as soon as possible if you have applied to the scheme and subsequently changed your mind.
We will contact you in January 2025 to confirm whether your expression of interest has been successful, at which point we will invite you to confirm acceptance.
Application webinar
You can register online to attend our webinar on 5 December 2024 to learn more about the scheme and the application process. Use the registration form to submit questions in advance and we will answer these during the session.
Eligibility to apply
All state-funded schools with primary-school-aged children in England are eligible to apply for the scheme. This can include:
- state-funded primary schools for pupils in reception through to Year 6
- special schools and registered alternative provision with primary-school-aged children
- all other state-funded schools with primary-school-aged children, includinginfant, junior, first, middle and all-through schools
We are expressly looking to understand how the breakfast club policy is implemented in a range of schools. We welcome interest from those:
- with an existing breakfast or before-school childcare offer (see wraparound childcare and National School Breakfast Programme (NSBP) section)
- without any existing provision
- that already work with, or are considering working with PVI childcare providers, including childminders,to deliver their breakfast clubs
- that may face initial challenges with setting up breakfast club provision (this will help us to understand how best to support schools to rollout new breakfast clubs in the future)
If you are already receiving funding to deliver breakfast provision from another source, our expectation is that you will end current funding or engage with the relevant funder to agree how it can be used in a way that ensures there is no duplication of funding.
What we expect from you
We expect that all schools taking part in the scheme will, as a minimum:
- deliver breakfast club provision that provides healthy food, compliant with the Requirements for School Food Regulations 2014 (also known as the School Food Standards)
- deliver breakfast club provision that provides at least 30 minutes of free childcare before the start of the school day
- ensure the club is open to all children of primary-school age on roll at the school
- provide this club free to parents and carers
- regularly report data and take part in an evaluation of the scheme as requested
Beyond the minimum expectations, you have flexibility in how to deliver breakfast clubs. You know your pupils, families and context best.
We want you to have the opportunity to test different ways to implement the breakfast club policy to meet the needs of your pupils and their families. For example, you may wish to:
- deliver beyond the minimum expectations
- work with PVI providers to offer breakfast club provision
- offer the provision at another site, as long as it remains convenient for parents and carers
We will support you to actively test and innovate your approaches. We will use this learning to inform the rollout of breakfast clubs on a national scale.The scheme is part of a wider package of interventions to ensure support is available to families before and after school. The government continues to expect that all schools that educate primary-school-aged pupils have school-run or PVI-provider-run wraparound childcare, so that families have access to the childcare they need.
To support you in implementing the scheme, we will publish guidance and supporting materials (including case studies and templates) in January 2025. We will also provide further targeted support, including on food procurement, to successful early adopter schools before the April 2025 launch.
Funding
Early adopter schools will be funded directly by the government. You should use this funding to cover:
- food
- delivery
- staffing costs
We will publish full details of how funding will be determined alongside the guidance in January 2025.
We will make a:
- one-off payment between April and May 2025 to assist with set-up costs
- second payment, in arrears, between September and November 2025
The amount you receive in the second payment will be based on the number of children attending the breakfast club. Some schools will also be eligible for an additional amount depending on:
- additional need (Ever 6 FSM)
- the variation in staffing costs based on geographical location
We will aim to communicate payment schedules for the following academic year in summer term 2025.
In addition to direct funding, we recognise the importance of ensuring that practical support is available to schools as they seek to establish high-quality breakfast club provision. This is why we are funding a package of support for all schools in the scheme. We will confirm further details of the support available in early 2025.
Wraparound childcare and National School Breakfast Programme (NSBP)
Participating schools in the breakfast clubs early adopters scheme will provide access to a free, universal breakfast club lasting at least 30 minutes that involves food. This will go further than existing programmes by ensuring that breakfast and a soft, supportive start to the school day is both free and available to all those who need it, regardless of where they live or their circumstances.
The scheme will focus o