Free breakfast club keeps students fed at Leopold Primary School

A Geelong health group has called on the government to support a program supplying free meals, with one local primary school club feeding more than 120 students.

Breakfast clubbers Aiden, Tilly, Lily, Bella, Tamsyn and Jesse (front). Leopold Primary School Breakfast Club runs 5 days a week and is attended by up to 120 students per day, some of whom would otherwise go hungry. Picture: Alan Barber

Some Leopold Primary students would go hungry without the school’s free breakfast club.

Every weekday morning at 8.30am it serves a sit-down hot breakfast like cheese or spaghetti toasties, alongside cereals, toast, cut fruit and more.

The program started nearly five years ago as part of a statewide trial of school breakfast clubs.

Leopold Primary School wellbeing leader Skye Cook, who doubles as breakfast club co-ordinator, said numerous school families struggling financially relied on the program to keep their children fed.

“Sometimes they come in without any food for the day, and we’ve be making up toasted sandwiches for their lunch,” she said.

One family in particular, she said, came in every morning to pack lunches.

“We’ve given that family food boxes that have some staple foods in them too,” she said.

Alongside healthy breakfasts, the program also provides snacks, lunches and home food packs to families in need within the school community, while linking them in with local emergency food charity partners in the area such as Food Bank and Feed Me Bellarine.

The breakfast club is run by community volunteers and now has more than 120 students regularly attending from all year levels.

The club’s aim, Ms Cook said, is to keep children nourished, coming to school, and engaged in the community.

“It’s become very much a social interaction,” she said.

“And moved away from the stigma of ‘it’s for kids who can’t afford (food)’, which makes it less daunting for kids who need it.”

“For our school it’s also provided a link between the community and us.

“It couldn’t run without our volunteers giving up their time every morning — parents, grandparents.”

Breakfast clubbers Jesse, Tamsyn, Bella, Aiden, Tilly and Lily. Leopold Primary School Breakfast Club runs 5 days a week and is attended by up to 120 students per day, some of whom would otherwise go hungry. Picture: Alan Barber

There are currently 1000 Victorian schools participating in the program, including Northern Bay College; North Geelong Secondary College; Newcomb Park, Bell Park North and Whittington primary schools; and Ocean Grove’s Surf Side Primary School.

In May Premier Jacinta Allan and Education Minister Ben Carroll announced plans to expand the program to every government school, starting with 150 additional extra schools at the beginning of 2025, before rolling out to remaining schools from June 2025.

Bellarine Community Health (BCH) last month made a submission to the Parliamentary Inquiry into Food Security in Victoria calling on the government to support meals in schools to reduce food insecurity.

BCH health planner Pen Lynch said it had been collaborating with Bellarine Secondary College and the Farm My School project and saw first-hand the importance of nourishing food for students first hand.

“And we’ve had many conversations about ways to approach school lunches differently,” she said.

“Not every school will have access to produce grown on site, but we can see the value in all Victorian students being given access to a good quality lunch as part of a school meals program.”

Originally published as Free breakfast club keeps students fed at Leopold Primary School