A-plus for breakfast club

Kids at Matipo Primary are going to classes full of energy, thanks to a sponsored breakfast programme.

Principal Wayne Bainbridge noticed some students were arriving each morning at the Te Atatu school without having eaten. He was keen to put that right.

"I can't quote the medical evidence, but there's lots to suggest that breakfast is the most important meal of the day," he says.

"It's like putting gas in the tank. If kids have a reasonable breakfast, a good night's sleep and home support, then it's more conducive to good learning."

Mr Bainbridge says it was only a small number of pupils going to school hungry – about 15 of Matipo's 365-strong roll – but that was enough for it to be an issue.

"It was a concern," he says.

"It's about identifying all the things that have an impact on kids and ticking them off as best you can, one-by-one," he explains. The school had help from an outside source to tick off the breakfast problem.

Avondale business Akzo Nobel Coatings heard about the principal's concern through a school newsletter and stepped in to offer assistance.

"Most of our staff are from west Auckland," company spokesman Kevin O'Flaherty says.

"It's therefore very easy for them to identify with the needs of children in our area.

"It seemed the ideal project for us to be involved in."

The Rosebank Rd company put forward $20,000 for the project and has supplied its own staff to run it.

Te Atatu cafe Fuze has also got on board by donating muffins and other items.

The programme is now into its second year and the students have been quick to snap up the free food.

"We normally get about 30 kids through, but on a busy morning it would be more like 50," Mr Bainbridge says.

"No names are taken and there's no judgment passed. At the start there was a bit of suspicion on the part of some parents because they thought we might pass their details to Child, Youth and Family, but that's not the case. The good thing is that the publicity about it has actually prompted parents to give their kids breakfast. The numbers coming to school with nothing has fallen right away."

- © Fairfax NZ News