Sunbury is banding together to ensure students have a nutritious start to their day, to get the most out of their education.
Free breakfast is offered at Sunbury Heights Primary School on Tuesdays and Thursdays as part of the state government’s School Breakfast Club program.
The program funds breakfast supplies for 500 of Victoria’s most disadvantaged schools, but the community works to put it together. Students, parents and friends of the school volunteer to serve the food, provided by local suppliers.
“It is only with the added support of volunteers and local communities that breakfast clubs are able to operate regularly and we can ensure every child has a healthy start to their day,” said Dave McNamara, chief executive of produce supplier Foodbank.
With up to 80-100 mouths being fed at Sunbury Heights some mornings, Community Hub co-ordinator Sharon Ramunno said it was “most definitely” a successful initiative.
“Because we’re from a low socio-economic area some kids don’t get breakfast at home,” Ms Ramunno said. “Some parents say they can’t get children to have breakfast at home but they’ll eat when they come to Breakfast Club.”
She said teachers were seeing results.
“Teachers say children are a lot more settled and it’s easier for them to concentrate when they’ve had breakfast.”
