PUPILS will be full of beans after their school secured breakfasts for two years thanks to a North-East property developer and a popular national bakery.

UK Land Estates has partnered with the Greggs Foundation to give pupils at South Street Community Primary School in Gateshead the most important meal of the day.

Greggs, which has its headquarters in Newcastle, will provide the school with fresh bread, whilst UK Land Estates will cover the cost of additional food items needed to provide children with a balanced breakfast to kickstart the day.

The Greggs Foundation Breakfast Club Programme has been running since 1999 and aims to provide primary school children with a nutritious breakfast to keep pupils healthy, energised, and focused for the day ahead.

The programme serves up more than 7.5 million breakfasts a year to schoolchildren in disadvantaged areas, including 11,000 children in the North-East, and is proven to boost pupils’ attendance levels, behaviour and learning.

Hazel Marchant, finance director at UK Land Estates, said: “Since our inception 30 years ago, we have been proud supporters of our region and the communities within it.

"We are therefore delighted to now partner with The Greggs Foundation and support the tremendous work they do with young children across the country.

“Being so close to our head office on the Team Valley Trading Estate, South Street Community Primary School is firmly in the heart of our local community and it’s going to be incredibly rewarding to see the next generation receive the nutrition and energy they need to do their very best.”

Lynne Hindmarch, Greggs Foundation Breakfast Club manager for the North and Pennines, said: “Eating a balanced and nutritious breakfast is key for schoolchildren to start the day properly and be ready to learn. So, the work our programme does is incredibly important.

“We could not provide breakfasts to the thousands of children across the region without the support of firms like UK Land Estates who really give back to our community and ensure that the Greggs Foundation Breakfast Club Programme continues to go from strength to strength.”

Julie McGrow, headteacher at South Street Community Primary School, said: “No child should ever have to go hungry, which is why are delighted to have partnered with The Greggs Foundation and UK Land Estates to make sure all pupils at our school can enjoy a healthy balanced start to their day.

"I am excited to see the impact the breakfasts have on our children and measure the progress that they make across the curriculum as a result.”