Campbellfield Heights Primary School is among 500 Victorian schools that will offer free breakfasts to pupils this year thanks to a state government initiative.
Last Tuesday more than 20 pupils arrived at the Laurel Crescent school to enjoy a healthy, free breakfast before the bell tolled to signal the start of classes.
The school is one of 173 offering a breakfast club for students from the start of the 2016 school year, while another 327 will follow suit before the year’s end.
The joint state government and Foodbank initiative is available at 18 primary schools in Hume and Whittlesea.
Campbellfield Heights principal Jo Howard said Foodbank provided non-perishable food such as long-life milk and tinned fruit, which the school supplements with yoghurt, fresh milk and bread.
Campbellfield Market co-owner Michael Unalan has offered to donate a box of fresh fruit to the school each week.
Ms Howard said a “breakfast club” was convened on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays and run by one of the pupils’ mothers.
“For some of our families, breakfast is a glass of milk,” she said. “Breakfast club offers students banana splits with yoghurt, toast and fruit.”
The $13.7 million initiative was announced late last year following a report that revealed the significant impact poverty and homelessness were having on schools unequipped to deal with the issue.
