THE latest school to benefit from a UK-wide scheme to try and encourage every schoolchild to have breakfast has called its breakfast club a 'success'.

For the past several months, teachers at the Stokesley Primary Academy School in North Yorkshire, said they had witnessed 'better attendance' and 'improved concentration levels' in their pupils, following a recent partnership between the Greggs Foundation and Broadacres Housing Association.

According to organisers, 'Breakfast Club,' is designed to ensure that each child benefits from 'the most important meal of the day.'

The club is currently available to around 50 children whose parents are tenants of the housing association.

Around 51 percent of schoolchildren at the school are also in receipt of free school dinners.

Scott McFarlane, headteacher at Stokesley Primary Academy School, said: “It’s important for children to be well fed and hydrated before they start their school day because this helps their concentration.

“We’ve noticed a marked improvement in the attendance of children who use the breakfast club and this has a knock on effect of better behaviour and concentration levels.

“There’s also a nice social side to the club because as well as getting a good breakfast, it gives the children a chance to play and chat with their friends before the day starts.”

According to Bruce Learner, Kellogg's senior manager for corporate responsibility, one in seven children in the UK go to school without any form of breakfast, despite it remaining largely believed that breakfast does improve behaviour and concentration.

Emily Thomas, community involvement manager at Broadacres Housing Association, said: “We are pleased the breakfast club is going well.

"Along with Greggs Foundation, we support several clubs in the areas where we have homes and it’s always good to hear about the positive outcomes schools are having through them.”

Lynne Hindmarch of the Greggs Foundation added: “Through established partnerships with organisations like Broadacres, we’re delighted to currently support 518 breakfast clubs across the UK.

“It costs just 25p a day to provide a healthy, nutritious breakfast for one child, so breakfast should not be seen as a luxury, but a necessity.”