Breakfast at school, 500 times over

What the School Breakfast Program means for Emma’s family 

For Emma, it feels like juggling a mountain on a tightrope. With two growing boys, the rising cost of living has squeezed their budget tighter than ever. 

School fees are one thing but it’s the extras that really sting. New shoes, lunches, excursions – it just keeps adding up. By the time we’ve covered everything, there’s barely enough left for groceries, let alone filling lunchboxes.” 

Emma’s story isn’t unique. Thousands of Western Australian families face the same dilemma – the squeeze between back-to-school expenses and feeding their children. 

The power of breakfast: filling more than just tummies 

In over 500 schools across the State, a special program is feeding change, one breakfast at a time. Our School Breakfast Program is bringing breakfast to kids, ensuring hunger has no place in our school system. 

But the benefits go beyond just a full stomach. A large-scale, multi-year study conducted in Western Australia showed that School Breakfast Programs contribute to healthy child development by supporting social-emotional learning, wellbeing and school connectedness. The results speak for themselves: 

Benefits relate not only to improvements in nutritional quality and caloric intake, but […] improvements in school attendance, readiness to learn, ability to concentrate, on-task classroom behaviour and academic performance.” 

More students, more need 

Expanding from 501 schools in 2022 to 524 schools in 2023, demand for food and nutrition education is rising fast. Five per cent year-on-year, in fact. And with over 120,000 Western Australian children in food insecure households tonight, providing a nutritious breakfast is one way we can level the playing field for all school children. 

Join the movement 

To learn more about starting a School Breakfast Program at your school, email or call Foodbank WA on (08) 9258 9277. 

Together, we can rewrite the narrative: no child should have their education overshadowed by hunger. 

Published on 2 February 2024.