Dagenham and Rainham MP, Margaret Mullane, has been informed by the Government that seven Dagenham primary schools will receive funding to provide free breakfast clubs for students from this September.
Children attending Thomas Arnold, Henry Green, Beam and John Perry primary schools, William Ford Junior and Eastbrook and Robert Clack Primary schools will be able to access quality before-school childcare as Labour pushes ahead with rolling out free breakfast clubs across the country.
The clubs will support parents to work the jobs and hours they choose, less restricted by school drop-offs and saving them money on childcare. That means for a family using their club every day that’s worth up to £450 and 95 hours a year, or nearly two working weeks saved on the morning juggle.
From September, schools in Dagenham and Rainham must comply with the new legal limits on the number of branded uniform items. It means parents can buy more of the everyday basics, like trousers and shirts, from any shop or supermarket rather than one pricey supplier. Taken together, heading back to school under Labour is now set to be almost £1,000 cheaper for many families.
Margaret Mullane MP has demanded that children get the ‘best start in life’ with free breakfast clubs, helping to boost school attendance, attainment, readiness to learn, wellbeing and behaviour.
The breakfast clubs form part of Labour’s mission to break the unfair link between background and opportunity; pledging to get a record proportion of children school-ready – hitting key targets on personal, social and physical development as well as communication, literacy and maths.
Margaret said “This is a great initiative and is part of an an ambitious strategy to reduce child poverty and will be a big help for parents.
So this is good news for primary school students at Thomas Arnold, Henry Green, Beam, William Ford, John Perry, Eastbrook and Robert Clack schools.
Labour will make them available to every primary school age child in England to give the best start in life and help take some of the cost of living pressure of families. I will be making the argument that all primary schools in Dagenham and Rainham be included for early participation in the national roll out to all primary schools.”