Breakfast Club

On a single day during Term 3 of 2019, 417 Rosebank School students were asked if they had breakfast that morning – 215 said ‘no’. In collaboration with the primary’s Board of Trustees chair we established a Breakfast Club the following term to encourage a healthier start to students’ school days and provide opportunities to socialise over kai. We have since helped create a network of Breakfast Clubs across Avondale.

Since beginning the programme, a key learning has been that many students haven’t had breakfast because it’s not normalised in their household or there’s not enough time in the morning. It’s not always that the cupboards at home are empty. Kids that have eaten, but are still hungry also come. Our Breakfast Club is as much about providing a social space and normalising a sitdown breakfast for all kids, as it is about feeding those with no kai at all. It also gives us insights into local tamariki’s backgrounds and aspirations, which help inform actions we take with Eastdale Hub and other youth-focused initiatives I Love Avondale is involved with.

Our volunteers come from within and outside the school community, and we’re conscious about having some that the students can relate to. The kids often help serve or prepare the food for their schoolmates and we try to create an atmosphere they enjoy by playing music they choose, sitting down for a chat and providing cards and other games.

Due to the success of our Rosebank School Breakfast Club approach, Kai Avondale supported the creation of breakfast clubs at Avondale Primary and St Mary’s School, providing them with resources and other support. We also helped resource Avondale Intermediate’s existing club. While we only actively run the Rosebank School Breakfast Club, we continue to share our contacts and resources with the others where needed.