FEARS that many of Bolton's children may be going to school having not eaten for more than 12 hours has prompted health and education officials to expand a scheme to provide them with free breakfasts.

Officials from Community Healthcare Bolton NHS Trust and Bolton's Local Education Authority (LEA) are preparing to expand the free breakfast scheme at the town's primary schools to provide youngsters, who otherwise may be going without, with a good start to the day.

The "Breakfast Club" initiative has already proved successful in a number of Bolton's primary schools and officials are now looking to create a network of such clubs targeting their resources at the areas of greatest need.

Brenda Griffiths, a public health practitioner with the Community Healthcare Trust, said: "Teaching staff within a number of schools recognised there were a significant number of children turning up for school each morning without having breakfast.

"In some cases this meant the last meal the child had eaten was the previous teatime which could very well have been more than 12 hours previously."

She added: "It is widely considered that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, providing us with the fuel our bodies need after fasting for hours through the night.

"The need to prepare children for the school day by providing a healthy nutritious breakfast should not be overlooked."

The scheme will be funded through the North West Regional Health Authority which will provide cash to buy crockery, cutlery and electrical equipment.

Offers

While Bolton's business community have also come on board with sponsorship offers to provide bread and other food at discounted rates.

The scheme will see children arriving for school early to be given their free breakfast with assistance from parents and teaching staff.

In January the BEN featured the success of the Breakfast Club at Johnson Fold Community Primary School which had been instigated by new head-teacher Paul Smith.

Speaking at the time Mr Smith told the BEN: "This is a primary school in a socially and economically deprived area of Bolton. Some of the children are getting themselves ready for school and are not getting any breakfast.

"I am concerned, and if we can help out then we are glad to do so. This is a community school and we have the full support of the community in this venture."

Pupils are invited to come to school at 8.10am to enjoy cereal and toast and since the scheme's inception the school has seen numbers rise and in-school performance rise.

Mrs Griffiths said: "In some cases the children were struggling to get to school on time but staff have noticed that the club has had a positive impact on attendance rates which is obviously very good news."

Mrs Griffiths said schemes had been established in four schools with two more on the way but said many others would be running their own versions of the Breakfast Club and she believed more would follow.

She said: "Through the breakfast clubs we are aiming to provide that healthy, nutritious start to the day and by involving parents in the club, hope to encourage a more considered approach to the family's diet in general and increase parental participation in school life."