What is a School Breakfast Club?
6 min read
A healthy breakfast sets a child up for a great school day. This supports them to make the most out of their education and gain skills that support them throughout their lives. Breakfast clubs are a way to ensure that children have access to healthy and nutritious food at the start of the day. Not every child has the chance to start their day with a good meal, or in some cases, a meal at all. Breakfast clubs ensure that every child, regardless of their background, has the chance to achieve and thrive in school by having the necessary energy to focus and learn.
Whilst many schools already provide free breakfast clubs, under the new Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act every state funded school with primary-aged pupils in England will be expected to offer a free breakfast club to all pupils. Missing breakfast can affect energy levels, concentration, and a child’s ability to sit in a classroom and learn. School breakfast clubs can provide this vital meal for children whilst helping parents who may have early work commitments or be tackling poverty. In this article we will explore what school breakfast clubs are, schools’ new legal responsibilities and provide a free downloadable poster of the school breakfast standards.
Want to Learn More?
We have a number of Food Hygiene Training Courses that you can complete online and at your convenience. From Level 2 Food Safety & Hygiene to Conducting a Food Allergy-Safe Breakfast Club, you will find a range of training suitable for food handlers in schools.
What is a School Breakfast Club?
A school breakfast club is a club for children that takes place before school starts. They’re typically run on the school premises, allowing children to walk to their classrooms when the school day begins. They can be led by teachers, teaching assistants, school catering staff, volunteers, or people who are employed specifically for the club.
At a school breakfast club, children have the opportunity to have fun with their friends and have a filling breakfast before the day’s learning begins. Some children who attend a breakfast club may not otherwise have breakfast and so breakfast clubs can be crucial to preparing them for the upcoming school day.
School breakfast clubs are known to improve attendance, punctuality, concentration, behaviour, and educational attainment. They can also benefit parents by fulfilling a childcare function if they must start work earlier than school begins.
School Breakfast Club Regulations
The government invested £80 million in the financial year 2026 to 2027 to support 2,000 new schools joining the 750 schools that have already successfully delivered free breakfast clubs. For schools that are part of the free breakfast club programme, or those joining the programme in the 2026 to 2027 financial year, there are set grant conditions that they must meet.
Schools and trusts engaged on the programme must deliver a breakfast club that is:
- Open to all pupils at the school in reception to Year 6
- At least 30 minutes in duration, immediately before the start of each compulsory school day
- Free and accessible
- Providing a breakfast that adheres to the school food standards in England
- On, or in the vicinity of, the school site
Schools are required to offer a place at their breakfast club that meets all the criteria above to all pupils who want one. Schools cannot limit the number of places available.
Whilst schools must meet the minimum requirements, they do have flexibility over how they design their free breakfast clubs. The Department for Education (DfE) recognises that schools are best placed to decide how to deliver for their pupils and their local communities. In order to create clubs that pupils want to attend, the DfE advises that schools consider:
- They types of food to offer
- The environment the club is hosted in
- Activities tailored to children’s interests and needs
- Space for them to use
- Who the staff are and who they are looking after
You can read the DfE’s free breakfast club guidance here.
Schools must also have regard for their safeguarding responsibilities when providing wraparound childcare, along with the statutory guidance on keeping children safe in education. Schools must ensure that all staff receive safeguarding training and that they know the identity of the designated safeguarding lead (DSL).
Schools can also benefit from investing in additional training such as High Speed Training’s free course Conducting a Food Allergy-Safe Breakfast Club. Created in partnership with Natasha’s Foundation, the training will teach learners how to run a food allergy-safe breakfast club that enables all children to feel safe and included. When preparing any food for children, it’s important that staff understand good food hygiene practices and how to prepare food safely. Level 2 Food Safety and Hygiene for Catering training will provide staff with the appropriate knowledge to prepare, cook and handle food safely.
Secondary School Breakfast Clubs
The new regulations mandate the provision of free breakfast clubs for primary school children. The provision of free breakfast clubs is currently not mandatory for secondary schools in the UK. As such, any breakfast clubs that a school put on for older students are voluntary. However, there are still school food standards that must be adhered to when providing breakfast for secondary school pupils. These standards will be outlined later on in this article.
What Should be on a School Breakfast Club Menu?
The school food standards are a set of legal requirements for state-funded schools in England. They came into force on 1st January 2015 and were introduced in the Requirements for School Food Regulations 2014. They establish standards that apply to the food and drink that is provided to pupils on school premises. The school food standards were designed to help children develop healthy eating habits and to ensure that the food they eat at school provides them with sufficient energy to get the most out of their school day.
Subject to Parliamentary approval, changes will be introduced to the school food standards that will come into effect from September 2027. These changes will reflect the latest government dietary recommendations by introducing more fresh fruit, vegetables and fibre-rich foods. The proposed changes will also introduce new breakfast standards. Introducing breakfast standards will help to ensure a healthy, balanced offer at breakfast that is in line with the rest of the school day. A starchy carbohydrate must form the basis of the breakfast offer.
While the existing standards apply across the whole school day, including breakfast, there are no specific standards for breakfast provision.
The new breakfast standards are expected to be as follows:
Breakfast cereals: 
- Cereals permitted at breakfast are:
- Cereals with a maximum of 5.5g/100g total sugar
- No added sugar muesli
- Plain unflavoured porridge
Breads and bakery goods:
- All breads to be at least 4g fibre/100g (or at least 50% wholemeal flour), and no more than 5g fat/100g.
- On 2 days a week, one of the following bakery goods can be served:
- Teacakes
- Crumpets
- Unsweetened pancakes
Crumpets, teacakes and unsweetened pancakes are excluded from meeting the fibre requirement of containing at least 4g fibre/100g or at least 50% wholemeal flour.
Fruits and vegetables:
- A portion of fruit or vegetables must be available at breakfast.
- This can be fresh, dried, canned in juice (not in syrup), defrosted from frozen, or cooked.
- Fruit does not include fruit juice, smoothies and fruit purees.
- Vegetables do not include potatoes, canned pasta in tomato sauce or baked beans.
Dairy and plant-based versions:
- Plain unsweetened and unflavoured semi skimmed, skimmed, 1% or lactose free milk.
- Plain soya, pea and oat drinks. Must be unflavoured, unsweetened or no sugar and fortified with each of these micronutrients: calcium, iodine, vitamin D, riboflavin, vitamin B12.
- Dairy yoghurt to be less than 10g/100g total sugar and not contain non-sugar sweeteners.
- Plant based versions to be less than 7g/100g total sugar, not contain non-sugar sweeteners, and are fortified with each of these micronutrients: calcium, iodine, vitamin D, riboflavin and vitamin B12.
- Cream cheese permitted at a maximum of twice a week.
Proteins:
- Eggs (not fried).
- Baked beans.
- Pulses.
- Meat alternative products, (such as vegetarian sausages) once a week.
- Secondary schools: Processed meat from specified products list can be served once a week. Processed meat may be served only once per week, either at breakfast or during the school day, but not both. Any processed meat served at breakfast counts towards the weekly maximum of one portion.
Spreads:
- Reduced sugar jams and marmalades must be limited to sachets or portions of no more than 10g or one teaspoonful.
- Savoury spread must be limited to sachets or portions of no more than 10g or one teaspoonful.
- Chocolate spreads are not permitted.
Sugar and no and low-calorie sweeteners:
- Sugar, honey, syrups and non-sugar sweeteners must not be available to add to food or drinks after cooking or preparation.
- Foods and drinks containing no and low-calorie sweeteners must not be served in primary school.
- Foods containing no and low-calorie sweeteners must not be served in secondary school.
Drinks
- Free, fresh drinking water at all times and must be available where food is served.
- The only drinks permitted are those listed in the school food standards for the whole school day.
Compliance with the new breakfast standards is a legal requirement for state-funded schools. The standards help to ensure that children have enough energy to support their learning throughout the school day, enabling them to make the most out of their education. Moreover, they teach children healthy eating habits and the importance of a varied and balanced diet. As such, the school food standards can be seen as more than a legal requirement, but as a vital foundation to lifelong healthy habits. To help support the implementation of these standards we have created free downloadable posters which can help staff and catering providers with menu planning by ensuring that the necessary requirements are met for each food category.
These posters can also be used as a checklist when menu planning to ensure that each standard has been adequately met. This can help school leadership to remain confident that they are providing a healthy and varied selection of foods that meet the necessary standards.
The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act
The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act gained Royal Assent in April 2026. Amongst measures to support children and families, the Act introduces provisions for breakfast clubs. Under these measures state schools will be required to ensure that all registered children from reception to Year 6 have access to a free breakfast club before school. The Act also introduces the minimum requirements for breakfast clubs, as listed above, that schools must meet in order to receive the appropriate funding.
You can read an overview of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 here. In order to gain an in-depth understanding of the Act, it is advisable to read it in full.
Allergy Awareness: Benedict’s Law
Benedict’s Law was introduced via Section 34 of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act. It received Royal Assent in April 2026 and placed a legal obligation on state schools to follow the mandates of Benedict’s Law and to comply with DfE statutory guidance, Allergy Safety in Schools.
Allergy awareness saves lives and Benedict’s Law mandates provisions to keep children with allergies safe. As such, any school that runs a breakfast club must ensure that they are legally compliant and allergy safe. This can be achieved by ensuring all staff are trained, allergy safe alternatives are offered and that cross-contact is prevented.
Creative Ideas for Your Breakfast Club
As well as being a place where children can receive a healthy and nutritious breakfast for the day ahead, a school breakfast club should be a place where children can socialise with their friends and have fun.
To bring some creativity to your school breakfast club, you could:
- Get arty – Give your students an opportunity to get arty and creative before the school day starts. You could create posters for things like healthy food choices, create decorations for your workspace, such as bunting, or get involved in a crafty team project like making a wall display.
- Be puzzled – Puzzles are a great way to get our brains working and our minds ticking. Encourage children to piece together a jigsaw, play board games, or complete a brain-teaser challenge, like a word-search or a sudoku.
- Read and read some more – We cannot dispute the power of reading for children. There’s no such thing as reading too much, and we should be encouraging children to read as often as they can. Have a supply of books at your breakfast club, both fiction and non-fiction. You could even set up a book club to discuss books or encourage older and younger children to pair up as ‘reading buddies’ and read books together.
- Move it – Getting active at the start of a day is a proven way to wake us up and kick our metabolism into action for the day. Try to implement a physical activity into your breakfast club at least once a week. This can be as varied as you want, from a game of football in the school playground to a gentle stretching routine.
- Celebrate special events – Mix your breakfast club up a bit! Rather than always sticking to the same foods and activities, celebrate special events and occasions. For example, bake some Christmas treats in the festive period, design some decorations to celebrate Eid, or make cards for Mother’s Day. You could even invite parents along to celebrate special occasions, such as having a teddy bear’s picnic for Father’s Day.
School breakfast clubs are a great start to a child’s school day. They give children the opportunity to have fun with their friends, learn and play, and most importantly have a healthy, nutritious breakfast.
Further Resources:
- Level 2 Food Safety and Hygiene for Catering Training
- Conducting a Food Allergy-Safe Breakfast Club Training
- How to Start a Food Business from Home
- Take Our Designated Safeguarding Lead Quiz
- What are the Food Hygiene Requirements in a School?
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