Erina High School’s Breakfast Club has started up again for the third year in a row, supplying free breakfast for students before 7.45am every morning.
Head Teacher for HSI, Ben Joyce, said the initiative encouraged by his wife was to ensure no child misses out on breakfast.
“We have several kids who come to school who have either missed breakfast because they did not wake up in time or don’t have the means to have breakfast at home,” Joyce said.
“All we did was approach Woolworths, and they give us all of us all of our bread and some cereals for free, and we then buy the rest of the stuff involved.
“When we first started, we had anywhere between 50 and 100 kids every day.
“But by the end of last year, we had between 20 and 50.”
Joyce said they had just started a big push again this year to ensure students know the service is available.
“I think a lot of the kids wake up too late to have breakfast, so they come to grab breakfast from there,” he said.
“We have bread, fresh fruit twice a week, Rice Bubbles, Cornflakes and Weetabix.
“We sometimes have pancakes.
“Our school captain who just left would cook pancakes twice a week, so there was a bit of variety there, but we need a new pancake chef.
“We also make up cheese toasties in the middle in the day so kids who are at school in the afternoon can have one.
“We have staff who give up their morning and get there early to go run the breakfast club.
“Five to six staff members regularly help out.
“There is also a number of kids who give up their mornings to help their peers out.
“They will come in and help run the breakfast club with their teacher, so that has been a great initiative as well.”
Jacinta Counihan