4.4 • 943 Ratings
🗓️ 14 November 2025
⏱️ 44 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
They say breakfast is the most important meal of the day - but what happens when thousands of children arrive at school too hungry to learn? In this programme, Jaega Wise looks into how the Government’s new free breakfast club scheme is being rolled out across England, seven months into a trial involving 750 primary schools. While the policy which aims to tackle hunger and improve attendance is welcomed by all, schools and campaigners raise questions about it's future funding and the exclusion of secondary schools and some special school pupils.
At Holy Trinity Church of England School in Tottenham, Jaega visits a breakfast club being run in partnership with Chefs in Schools, where hot food is cooked fresh each morning in the same kitchen that serves lunch. In Weston-super-Mare, headteacher Marie Berry explains why her school’s breakfast club is a lifeline for families - and why she’s keen to be included in the new scheme. Campaigners at Sustain argue breakfast clubs could be a powerful tool to support local food producers and promote sustainable sourcing - and urge the Government to back that vision.
We also hear from the charity Magic Breakfast, which provides food to 300,000 children at breakfast clubs every day, and from Olivia Bailey MP at the Department for Education. Food writer Michael Zee of @SymmetryBreakfast discusses Britain's breakfast culture, and why we so often eat the same thing every day.
Presented by Jaega Wise Produced by Natalie Donovan for BBC Audio in Bristol.
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts. |
| 0:07.0 | Hello, I'm Emma Barnett. For most of my career, I've been on live radio, and I love it. |
| 0:13.3 | But I've always wondered, what if we'd had more time? How much deeper does the story go? |
| 0:19.2 | I remember having this very sharp thought that what you do right now, this is it. |
| 0:24.3 | This defines your life. |
| 0:26.0 | I'm ready to talk and ready to listen. |
| 0:28.3 | I'm insulted by how little the medical community is ever bothered with this. |
| 0:33.9 | Ready to talk with me, Emma Barnard, is my new podcast. |
| 0:37.0 | Listen on BBC Sounds. Hi, I'm Jig Wise. I'm a |
| 0:40.5 | brewer, a mum and a presenter here on Radio 4. So when I heard about the government's new plan to offer |
| 0:46.7 | free breakfast clubs to all primary school children in England, I wanted to find out more. In this |
| 0:52.9 | episode, I'm looking at how the trials are going, |
| 0:56.4 | what's working and what might need to change to make them better. |
| 1:04.4 | My name is Ethan. |
| 1:06.0 | I always come to breakfast enough. |
| 1:07.8 | I usually eat just maybe an orphan. |
| 1:12.0 | We usually have this egg and tomato and muffin. |
| 1:15.4 | It's very nice. |
| 1:16.9 | We're in the hall at Holy Trinity Primary School in Tottenham, North London. |
| 1:21.6 | The doors open at 7.30 a.m. for a paid for club. |
| 1:25.6 | Then from 8.30 to 9, the school runs a free breakfast club session. |
| 1:30.8 | Good morning, everyone. This is our kitchen. |
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