Policies

National School Breakfast Programme (NSBP)

Context

The National School Breakfast Programme (NSBP) was launched in England to provide free, nutritious breakfasts in schools situated in disadvantaged areas. Initiated in 2018, the Department for Education entrusted the two charities, Family Action and Magic Breakfast, with a £24 million contract to jointly lead the NSBP for an initial two-year period.

Solution

The NSBP introduced breakfast provision models across 1,811 schools, including traditional sit-down breakfast clubs, healthy 'grab and go' options, and classroom breakfasts. It targeted schools where at least half of the pupils hailed from disadvantaged backgrounds and where existing breakfast provisions required improvement or were absent.

Impact

The evaluation of the NSBP scale-up revealed significant achievements in recruitment, with 1,811 schools enrolled and 38.6% of students served breakfast, compared to 6.5% before the intervention. The program's approach of offering a range of breakfast provision models facilitated broader reach, reduced staffing requirements, and proved cost-effective. However, sustaining the program beyond the initial funding period posed challenges due to the tight scale-up timeline and the simultaneous need for expansion and embedding in schools.

Analysis

While the NSBP succeeded in scaling up and reaching, ensuring long-term sustainability emerged as a key concern. The program's focus on early expansion limited its capacity to address sustainability issues effectively. Moreover, plans for innovation projects to enhance parental engagement and attendance faced obstacles, leading to the discontinuation of one project. This underscores the importance of early consideration of sustainability in future scale-up efforts and highlights the complexities of implementing innovative approaches within educational settings.