Toast, Cornflakes and a visit from the Home Secretary
Sarah Sackman MP and Home Secretary Yvette Cooper visit the first free breakfast club at Tudor Primary School.
This week I had the pleasure of visiting Tudor Primary School in West Finchley with the Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, for the opening of their first free breakfast club. Alongside Claremont Primary School in Cricklewood, this school has been chosen as one of 750 primary schools nationwide to be part of this Government’s free breakfast club roll out scheme. Under Labour, no child will start their school day on an empty tummy.
The scheme also means that parents can receive at least 30 minutes free childcare every morning. This will have an enormous impact on parents, especially mothers, in their efforts to get back to work and pursue a career. Free childcare coupled with savings to the tune of £450 per year means that parents can expect to see the policy put more money back in their pockets.
The children and staff at Tudor Primary school gave me a spring in my step as I headed back to work after the Easter holidays. The Executive Headteacher, Andy Griffiths, was rightly proud to be able to show a Cabinet Minister the community he, along with the other brilliant staff, had built in the school.
Indeed, the children I met were brilliantly inquisitive, polite and insightful. I had a great discussion over a bowl of cornflakes with a girl in Year 6 about her future career in business and then a heated debate with a boy in Year 1 about the probable outcome of the upcoming Arsenal v PSG match. They really were a testament to the school. I am so pleased that this Labour Government will nurture their learning and development by providing a free breakfast club everyday before school. I look forward to seeing this rolled out across Finchley and Golders Green.