A healthy start is making a big difference for pupils at Altona North Primary School.
The school’s Breakfast Club program is one of 172 across Victoria benefiting from a new partnership between the state government and Yarraville-based food charity Foodbank Victoria.
The $13.7 million program is providing a nutritious breakfast for the one in seven children who go to school hungry in Victoria every day.
Altona North Primary School acting principal Robyn Gregson said Foodbank’s support for the schools’ breakfast club was invaluable.
“The children come to school and they get to have a full belly and something to look forward to,” she said.
“The attendance is better and they are better able to learn. You often find children who are shy and haven’t been spending time with other children at lunch time start to build those relations.”
Foodbank Victoria chief executive Dave McNamara said teachers and principals had seen increases in attendance, peer-to-peer connections and positive student-teacher relations.
There will be 500 participating schools in the program by term three, serving more than two million breakfasts this year.
