Central Co-op has marked Children’s Mental Health Week with an extension of its partnership with Magic Breakfast that promotes learning by providing children and young people at risk of hunger with breakfast. The importance of a child's formative years continues to be an area of focus for charities and wider society, being most recently highlighted by Catherine, Princess of Wales who launched her Shaping Us campaign earlier this month, aimed at raising awareness of public understanding of the first five years of a child’s life.
Magic Breakfast is a charity who say they deliver free breakfasts for up to 200,000 children facing hunger every day. It aims to help children learn and thrive by partnering with schools who will open a little early each morning to offer students a free, nutritious 'magic breakfast' and ensure they get the best start to the day.
There are currently six schools in the scheme, here is the list:
- Kilburn Junior School in Belper, Derbyshire
- Whittington Moor Nursery & Infant School in Chesterfield, Derbyshire
- Northfield Road Primary in Dudley, West Midlands
- Silkmore Primary Academy in Stafford, Staffordshire
- Northfield St Nicholas Primary Academy in Lowestoft, Suffolk
- Buswells Lodge Primary in Leicester, Leicestershire
Central Co-op is supporting Magic Breakfast with funding raised from compostable carrier bag sales. This support will be in place over the next two years, and the schools are in close proximity to Central Co-op stores.
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This means Central Co-op can educate students on important topics like healthy eating and Fairtrade foods as well. An annual £300 voucher has also been given to schools who can redeem the voucher in a Central Co-op store to help bolster their breakfast provision.
This year Magic Breakfast used Children’s Mental Health Week to highlight the positive impact eating breakfast has, not just on educational attainment but on mental health and wellbeing as well. Breakfast is thought not only to solve the immediate need of hunger, it is also thought to increase a child’s confidence and focus, whilst reducing stress and anxiety.
