This week has brought really welcome news for parents in Southampton Itchen, and yet more evidence of this Labour government delivering on our Plan for Change.
The government has chosen St Johns Primary and Nursery School as one of the first to offer free, daily breakfast clubs as part of our landmark scheme that will ensure children are school-ready and parents are better off.
St Johns Primary School & Nursery was the first school I visited as the MP for Southampton Itchen, where I spoke about Labour’s offer of nursery places and free breakfast clubs; so, I’m pleased to see they have been accepted as one of the first adopters of the scheme.
Labour’s Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which I voted for last month and worked on in the bill committee, legislated to create these clubs and also to put a cap on the number of branded uniform items schools can require. The Bill will save some families over £500 per child, per year.
That comes alongside the government’s childcare expansion, providing 30 free hours of early years education from September. The measures show Labour is focused on supporting working parents.
The breakfast club at St Johns Primary and Nursery School, set to open in April, is a testament to the school and the Labour government’s dedication to improving children’s attendance, attainment, wellbeing, behaviour and readiness for school.
Evidence shows that breakfast clubs can boost children’s reading, writing, and maths attainment by an average of two months’ additional progress.
At the same time, the club will save local families on the cost of sending children to school while providing valuable source of childcare for working parents at the beginning of the day.
Taken together, Labour’s breakfast clubs will boost parents’ work choices and children’s life chances. That’s why it’s such a shame that under the Tories, these clubs were available in just one in ten primary schools. Labour will make them available for all our children.
There’s another important element to this policy: it will help Labour bear down on the levels of child poverty that were left far too high by the Conservatives.
I believe that children growing up in Southampton deserve the best start in life, nothing less. That’s why I’m backing this measure.
Labour’s mission is to break down the barriers to opportunity for every child so where you’re from, doesn’t determine where you end up and that if you work hard, you can get on in life.
I know those are principles local people hold dearly, I know that’s what these clubs will help make a reality.
Labour is wasting no time in rolling out free breakfast clubs in primary schools and I cannot wait to see the opening of St Johns Primary and Nursery School’s club in April.