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Breakfast<br />
Every Day<br />
fuel to learn<br />
and energy to<br />
excel<br />
A ‘how to’ guide<br />
to establishing a breakfast<br />
program at school<br />
Written by Tracy Spark<br />
<strong>Healthy</strong> <strong>Cities</strong> <strong>Illawarra</strong><br />
Funded by the NSW Department of Community Service’s<br />
Area Assistance Scheme<br />
1 Breakfast Every Day
<strong>Healthy</strong> <strong>Cities</strong> <strong>Illawarra</strong><br />
Ground Floor, Victoria Square<br />
Cnr Victoria & Belmore Sts<br />
Wollongong NSW 2500<br />
PO Box 1492<br />
Wollongong DC NSW 2500<br />
Phone:(02) 4226 5000<br />
Email: mail@healthyillawarra.org.au<br />
Web: www.healthyillawarra.org.au<br />
DISCLAIMER<br />
This resource has been developed for general information and education purposes only. The<br />
information contained in this reference manual is believed to be reliable, and whilst every effort has<br />
been made to insure that the information is accurate at the time of writing, <strong>Healthy</strong> <strong>Cities</strong> <strong>Illawarra</strong><br />
cannot accept any liability, including for any loss or damage, resulting from reliance on the content.<br />
Information on third party organisations, products, and services is provided however inclusion does<br />
not imply an endorsement or recommendation by <strong>Healthy</strong> <strong>Cities</strong> <strong>Illawarra</strong>. The information provided<br />
is intended as a general guide only and is not a substitute for independent professional advice.<br />
Readers should obtain any appropriate professional advice relevant to their particular circumstances.<br />
2
TABLE OF CONTENTS<br />
PREFACE 7<br />
Chapter One:<br />
THE IMPORTANCE OF BREAKFAST FOR CHILDREN 8<br />
Chapter Two:<br />
IS A SCHOOL BREAKFAST PROGRAM THE ANSWER? 9<br />
Chapter Three:<br />
BEFORE YOU START – The needs assessment 10<br />
Chapter Four:<br />
PLANNING THE BREAKFAST PROGRAM – Whose responsibility? 11<br />
Chapter Five<br />
STAFFING THE BREAKFAST PROGRAM 12<br />
Chapter Six<br />
RECRUITING VOLUNTEERS FOR THE BREAKFAST PROGRAM 14<br />
Chapter Seven 16<br />
VOLUNTEERS – Legal issues<br />
• Insurance 16<br />
• Working with children checks 16<br />
• Disclosure 17<br />
Chapter Eight<br />
WHERE & WHEN? 18<br />
Chapter Nine<br />
FUNDING – How much do you need? 20<br />
Chapter Ten<br />
FUNDING – Sources: 21<br />
• Sponsorship 22<br />
• Donations 22<br />
• Fund raising 23<br />
• Grants 24<br />
3 Breakfast Every Day
Chapter Eleven:<br />
FUNDING – How to apply 26<br />
• Making contact in the community 26<br />
• Applying for grants: 27<br />
administrative details 28<br />
the need/issue 29<br />
the solution: the project – its aims & objectives 29<br />
the project 30<br />
the budget 31<br />
community networks 31<br />
monitoring & evaluation 32<br />
sustainability/exit strategy 32<br />
proof reading. 33<br />
Chapter Twelve:<br />
PROMOTING THE BREAKFAST CLUB – 34<br />
• To students 34<br />
• To parents 35<br />
• To teaching staff 36<br />
• To potential sponsors 37<br />
Chapter Thirteen:<br />
WHAT TO SERVE? 39<br />
• Good nutrition<br />
• Menu suggestions 41<br />
• Encouraging children to eat well 45<br />
• Recipes 46<br />
• Equipment 58<br />
Chapter Fourteen:<br />
HEALTH & SAFETY AT BREAKFAST 59<br />
• Personal hygiene 59<br />
• Hand washing 60<br />
• Kitchen hygiene 60<br />
• Food safety 60<br />
reheating food 61<br />
eggs 61<br />
food intolerance & allergy 61<br />
• A safe environment 62<br />
4
Chapter Fifteen:<br />
ACTIVITIES AT BREAKFAST 63<br />
• Theme days & celebrations 64<br />
• Dental health activities 64<br />
• Links to lessons 65<br />
Chapter Sixteen:<br />
BEHAVIOUR 66<br />
Chapter Seventeen:<br />
MONITORING & EVALUATION 68<br />
NEED TO KNOW MORE? 69<br />
REFERENCES & USEFUL CONTACTS 70<br />
APPENDICES 78<br />
Appendix 1: ‘Ten Great Reasons to Eat a <strong>Healthy</strong> Breakfast every Day’ 79<br />
Appendix 2: ‘Breakfast Every Day’ 80<br />
Appendix 3: Breakfast posters 82<br />
Appendix 4: ‘Benefits of Breakfast Club’ 84<br />
Appendix 5: Need Survey 85<br />
Appendix 6: Coordinator Duty Statement 86<br />
Appendix 7: Checklist 88<br />
Appendix 8: Volunteer Code of Conduct 89<br />
Appendix 9: Prohibited Employment Declaration 90<br />
Appendix 10 ‘Donation of Food and the Law’ Fact Sheet 92<br />
Appendix 11: Sample Funding Letter – community support 93<br />
Appendix 12: Sample Funding Application 94<br />
Appendix 13: Parent Flyer 102<br />
Appendix 14: Volunteer Newsletter Advert 103<br />
Appendix 15: Sample Media Release 104<br />
Appendix 16:’ Frequently Used Nutrition Claims’ fact sheet 105<br />
Appendix 17: Lesson Plan 106<br />
Appendix 18: Student Code of Conduct 109<br />
Appendix 19: Sample Evaluation Report 110<br />
5 Breakfast Every Day
Scrambled<br />
eggs on toast<br />
for breakfast..<br />
6<br />
Cereal with fruit<br />
& yoghurt<br />
for breakfast..<br />
“I couldn’t surf without it”<br />
Sally Fitzgibbons - 2 x Junior World Champion 2007<br />
Eat breakfast every day..<br />
fuel to learn & energy to excel<br />
Photo courtesy of Steve Robertson<br />
kfast every day..<br />
Photo courtesy of Steve Robertson<br />
rn & energy to excel<br />
15/5/08 1:17:53 P<br />
6
PREFACE<br />
Breakfast Every Day…<br />
fuel to learn and energy to excel<br />
In an ideal world every one of us would have the<br />
time, money, knowledge and energy to ensure<br />
children eat breakfast every day, but especially<br />
before going to school. Unfortunately in reality,<br />
the number of children attending school without<br />
eating breakfast is increasing, and fast becoming<br />
a national health and social problem. Time<br />
pressured lifestyles often mean a very early start<br />
to the day for working families and breakfast<br />
can be overlooked. Media and resulting peer<br />
pressure to look a certain way is also increasing,<br />
and when families face economic hardship it is<br />
not unexpected that 1 in 4 children are attending<br />
1,2<br />
school without eating breakfast first Fortunately,<br />
an increasing number of schools and community<br />
centres have recognised the far reaching effects<br />
of ‘skipping’ breakfast and offer before school<br />
breakfast programs.<br />
<strong>Healthy</strong> <strong>Cities</strong> <strong>Illawarra</strong>, and in recent times its<br />
partner organisation <strong>Healthy</strong> People <strong>Illawarra</strong>,<br />
have been involved in the development and<br />
support of community breakfast programs in areas<br />
of social and economic disadvantage for over<br />
20 years. In late 2006, <strong>Healthy</strong> <strong>Cities</strong> <strong>Illawarra</strong><br />
secured funds from the NSW Government Area<br />
Assistance Scheme to employ a Children’s<br />
Nutrition Officer, Tracy Spark, to implement the<br />
‘Food For Thought’ project. Tracy’s role was to<br />
facilitate the sustainable development of regional<br />
breakfast programs, and develop the focus of<br />
the programs to enhance the nutritional status of<br />
meals served.<br />
Although the project has now come to a close<br />
and <strong>Healthy</strong> <strong>Cities</strong> <strong>Illawarra</strong> is no longer able to<br />
play a coordination role, we continue to support<br />
community breakfast programs w<strong>here</strong> possible<br />
through the provision of information and a range<br />
of practical resources. This resource is the end<br />
result of ‘Food For Thought’. It seeks to provide<br />
answers to questions asked throughout the life<br />
of the project, addressing issues ranging from<br />
the seemingly obvious ‘what to serve’, to the<br />
complexities of grant seeking, and the intricacies<br />
of engaging with potential supporters for<br />
breakfast programs.<br />
The intention of the resource is to bring together<br />
relevant information from a wide range of<br />
sources, and add them to the experience gained<br />
in the implementation of the ‘Food for Thought’<br />
project. The aim is not to replicate breakfast<br />
program resources in existence, but to produce<br />
a comprehensive, readily accessible, reference<br />
manual specifically relevant to schools and<br />
community centres operating in the <strong>Illawarra</strong><br />
region.<br />
We congratulate Tracy on the production of<br />
‘Breakfast Every Day… fuel to learn and energy<br />
to excel’. This ‘everything you want to know,<br />
and more’ about the establishment of breakfast<br />
programs in this region is intended for use as a<br />
reference manual that will not only help you get<br />
started, it will help you keep going.<br />
References:<br />
1. Australian Bureau of Statistics, 1997, National Nutrition Survey: Selected Highlights<br />
2. University of Sydney, 2001, Children’s Nutrition and Physical Activity Study.<br />
7 Breakfast Every Day
Chapter<br />
1<br />
The Importance of Breakfast for Children<br />
Breakfast is universally recognised as<br />
important to the health and wellbeing<br />
of children for many reasons, with<br />
strong links to the incidence<br />
of chronic disease and the<br />
promotion of healthy lifestyles.<br />
Eating breakfast provides<br />
essential nutrients for growth<br />
and development, increases<br />
metabolism, is beneficial to<br />
learning and concentration,<br />
and establishes lasting<br />
healthy eating habits.<br />
Children who eat breakfast<br />
consume more vitamins, minerals<br />
and dietary fibre, and less cholesterol and<br />
fat, than those who miss the morning meal.<br />
Breakfast optimises a child’s nutritional intake,<br />
and those who miss breakfast are often unable<br />
to catch up on missed nutrients during the day.<br />
Moreover, in response to hunger, they are more<br />
likely to consume high fat, ‘fast’ snack foods later<br />
in the day. Breakfast eaters consume more daily<br />
calories, yet are less likely to be overweight.<br />
so that teachers are often the first<br />
to notice when a child in their<br />
class has not had breakfast<br />
(For more information<br />
see Appendix 1, Ten<br />
Great Reasons to Eat<br />
a <strong>Healthy</strong> Breakfast<br />
Every Day).<br />
So why do children<br />
go to school without<br />
having had breakfast?<br />
Parents often struggle<br />
to get their child to eat<br />
breakfast, and working<br />
parents can lack the time to<br />
ensure it is eaten before they leave<br />
for work. Children being too sleepy or having no<br />
appetite early in the morning, an early commute<br />
to school, financial hardship, parental neglect,<br />
and misguided ‘weight control’ efforts and peer<br />
pressure, are some of the other reasons children<br />
skip breakfast.<br />
In addition to these more obvious effects on<br />
health, research finds repeatedly that hungry<br />
school children have higher levels of aggression<br />
and hyperactivity, and reduced capacity to<br />
concentrate and learn. Eating breakfast has<br />
an immediate effect on improved alertness and<br />
educational outcomes of children; so much<br />
8
Chapter<br />
2<br />
Is a School Breakfast Program the<br />
Answer?<br />
Reminding students to eat breakfast at home is<br />
sometimes all it takes to encourage children and<br />
their parents to make eating breakfast a priority.<br />
An example of a ‘reminder’ resource, Breakfast<br />
Every Day (Appendix 2), was developed by<br />
<strong>Healthy</strong> <strong>Cities</strong> <strong>Illawarra</strong> for parents of incoming<br />
kindergarten children. Regular reminders at<br />
school assemblies, in classroom based health<br />
education, and in school newsletters may also be<br />
enough to encourage children to have breakfast<br />
before leaving home for school.<br />
<strong>Healthy</strong> <strong>Cities</strong> <strong>Illawarra</strong> enlisted the support of<br />
local champion surfers, Sally Fitzgibbons and<br />
Dean Bowen, to produce two posters promoting<br />
the message “Eat Breakfast Every Day…fuel to<br />
learn and energy to excel” (Appendix 3). The<br />
posters feature great surfing action and popular,<br />
positive young role models. They were designed<br />
to be attractive to children and young people<br />
whilst providing a simple, strong health message.<br />
In many cases however, reminders only go so<br />
far, and reasons behind skipping breakfast are<br />
harder to overcome. Most schools provide food<br />
on an individual basis to those children who are<br />
known to be missing meals. The establishment<br />
of an organised school breakfast program may<br />
be a preferable solution that can address a range<br />
of behavioural and social issues. A breakfast<br />
club provides an opportunity for students to eat<br />
a healthy breakfast in a comfortable and safe<br />
environment before starting the school day.<br />
Breakfast programs do more than provide<br />
children with the first meal of the day however<br />
and, as a result, have a positive effect on students’<br />
concentration and academic performance.<br />
Breakfast programs have been shown to improve<br />
pupil attendance and punctuality by ensuring<br />
children get to school well before class starts. In<br />
the longer term, they help children form the habit<br />
of having breakfast every day.<br />
Attendance at breakfast programs can lead to<br />
better social skills and manners, and improved<br />
interactions between students, often outside<br />
class and usual peer groupings. Clubs also have<br />
the potential to influence student self esteem and<br />
motivation through the development of informal<br />
relationships with adults they can trust. Indeed<br />
schools often refer to their breakfast program as<br />
a ‘club’ specifically to highlight the social factor.<br />
Benefits of Breakfast (Appendix 4), is the result of<br />
a brain storming session with <strong>Illawarra</strong> breakfast<br />
program coordinators. The listed benefits are<br />
based on their own experience, and may help<br />
you determine whether a breakfast program is<br />
the answer for your school. If it is the answer,<br />
keep reading! The aim of this resource is to help<br />
guide you through the why, w<strong>here</strong>, when, who<br />
and how of establishing a breakfast club at your<br />
school, and, moreover, how to keep it going.<br />
9 Breakfast Every Day
Chapter<br />
3<br />
Before You Start - The Needs Assessment<br />
Somebody clearly feels t<strong>here</strong> is a need to<br />
establish a breakfast program at your school – or<br />
chances are you wouldn’t be reading this. Most<br />
often that person is a member of the teaching<br />
staff. Before you plan any further however,<br />
to increase your program’s chances of being<br />
effective and sustainable, a thorough needs<br />
assessment is recommended. In this age of<br />
increasing accountability and evidence-based<br />
activities, many prospective funding bodies and<br />
potential sponsors consider conduct of a needs<br />
assessment essential.<br />
Findings of a needs assessment establish a<br />
clearly defined need, and guide the development<br />
of the breakfast program model. It can determine<br />
the extent of the need, the reason for that need,<br />
and gauge the level of support for a breakfast<br />
program from key parties, namely teaching staff,<br />
students and parents. Results also serve as a<br />
baseline of information from which progress<br />
and effectiveness of the breakfast program<br />
can be gauged, again an often required term<br />
or condition of funding for many organisations.<br />
Consultation also increases the chance of the<br />
club being supported enthusiastically, and can<br />
create a valuable sense of ownership by the<br />
children who use it.<br />
It is important that parents are informed and<br />
understand the reasons establishment of a<br />
breakfast program is being considered at their<br />
child’s school. Consultation with parents and<br />
the feedback provided can give an indication of<br />
potential student attendance which will assist<br />
with planning the breakfast program in its initial<br />
stages, so you may also wish to survey parents. A<br />
sample questionnaire is included in this resource<br />
(Appendix 5).<br />
Gaining the support of the school community<br />
for the breakfast program appears an obvious<br />
step in the planning process. Unfortunately, it is<br />
often ignored or ‘glossed over’ to the detriment<br />
of the program. The commitment to a breakfast<br />
program by school management, teaching staff,<br />
and the families of students is often directly<br />
connected to the sustainability of the program.<br />
In reality, those programs without the support of<br />
the school community often just fizzle out due<br />
to lack of resources and lack of interest. Work<br />
on building strong commitment by, in the first<br />
instance, communicating the findings of the<br />
needs assessment.<br />
Conduct of a needs assessment need not be as<br />
formal as it sounds. It may be as simple and<br />
straightforward as chatting with teachers at a staff<br />
meeting, parents at the next P&C meeting, and<br />
students in class groups or at school assembly.<br />
Most often, breakfast clubs use a combination of<br />
strategies to establish the level of need, interest<br />
and support from key parties.<br />
10
Chapter<br />
Planning the Breakfast Program<br />
- Whose responsibility?<br />
4<br />
Once you have identified ‘why’ your school will<br />
benefit from a breakfast program, you will need<br />
to establish the ‘how’. It is very important to<br />
feel your way in the early stages – don’t be too<br />
ambitious. Start simply, in terms of both menu<br />
and club opening frequency, and gradually offer<br />
more variety and open more often as the club<br />
becomes more established.<br />
Consider talking to the coordinator of an<br />
established children’s breakfast program to get<br />
the benefit of their experience. Even better,<br />
organise a time to visit the breakfast program<br />
in operation. Visit <strong>Healthy</strong> People <strong>Illawarra</strong>’s<br />
website on www.healthyillawarra.org.au for the<br />
details of an established program nearest you.<br />
It is important to identify who is responsible for<br />
day to day running of the breakfast program<br />
early on. Most breakfast programs have a<br />
designated coordinator, be they a member of the<br />
teaching or support staff, a parent, community<br />
volunteer (eg. a member of the local church),<br />
or canteen supervisor. Schools may consider<br />
paid employment of a part-time coordinator to<br />
be specifically responsible for the operation of<br />
the club. An example of a breakfast program<br />
coordinator duty statement is included in this<br />
resource (Appendix 6).<br />
other requirements of managing a breakfast<br />
program. Community partnerships are a model<br />
of breakfast program delivery that works very<br />
well in this region.<br />
Overall management of the program, including<br />
funding issues, may rest with the coordinator,<br />
but it is also often the case that responsibility lies<br />
elsew<strong>here</strong> - with the school P&C Association, a<br />
member of the school executive, an interested<br />
teacher or teaching assistant, student welfare<br />
officer, community organisation ‘partner’, or even<br />
a small steering committee with several members<br />
including a student. Again, the important thing is<br />
to establish this early in the planning process.<br />
Once breakfast program ‘management’ is<br />
identified, then it is time to consider the who,<br />
what, when, and w<strong>here</strong> of the breakfast club. A<br />
useful checklist providing an overall outline of<br />
essential and desirable features of successful<br />
breakfast programs, is included in this resource<br />
(Appendix 7). Now is the time to also give some<br />
thought to how you might monitor the success of<br />
the program; how you will know it is meeting its<br />
original objectives.<br />
Think about other organisations working<br />
in your local community that have shared<br />
objectives of improving health and educational<br />
outcomes for local children. Perhaps they<br />
would consider a partnership arrangement for<br />
running a breakfast program? Establish, as<br />
partners, each organisation’s responsibilities<br />
in terms of supplies, volunteers, venue and<br />
11 Breakfast Every Day
Chapter<br />
5<br />
Staffing the Breakfast Program<br />
The breakfast program that relies solely on one<br />
person to run it is generally less likely to be<br />
sustainable than the program that has a team of<br />
people to call on. One person can’t be expected<br />
to do everything, and occasional absence from<br />
breakfast club can often be unavoidable.<br />
Once the coordinator and management roles are<br />
established it is time to consider who will help<br />
the coordinator run the breakfast program each<br />
morning. At least two, preferably three, people<br />
are needed to run the club safely and efficiently<br />
each day; one or two to prepare and serve, and<br />
one to keep an eye on the children to ensure<br />
good behaviour. It is important to maintain a<br />
manageable adult: child ratio.<br />
The majority of breakfast programs rely on a team<br />
of volunteers, usually parents or grandparents of<br />
students at the school. Parental involvement is<br />
often desirable as it helps promote a sense of<br />
openness and an understanding of the purpose<br />
of the breakfast club, and can provide an<br />
informal social network for the participant. It also<br />
discourages the use of the breakfast club as a<br />
child minding facility.<br />
Clearly school parents form a large pool<br />
of potential volunteers from which to draw.<br />
Sometimes however the initial establishment of<br />
the breakfast club was in response to parental<br />
commitments in the mornings, t<strong>here</strong>fore the<br />
parent body may not be a viable and sustainable<br />
source of volunteers. Instead, consider your<br />
local community and think who also may be a<br />
source of appropriate volunteers for your club.<br />
For example:<br />
• church groups<br />
• charitable organisations such as the<br />
Salvation Army or St Vincent de Paul’s<br />
Society<br />
• senior citizens’ groups such as Probus or<br />
the Older Women’s Network<br />
• community service clubs such as Rotary<br />
and Apex Clubs<br />
• hospitality or cookery students at the local<br />
TAFE or nearby high school<br />
• university students studying nutrition or<br />
education<br />
• local business organisations with an<br />
interest in corporate volunteering such as<br />
the National Australia, Westpac and ANZ<br />
Banks, and the NRMA<br />
• CALD (Culturally and Linguistically Diverse)<br />
community support groups whose members<br />
may know families at the school, for example<br />
the Greek Welfare Centre or <strong>Illawarra</strong><br />
Turkish Association (search your local<br />
Council’s Community Information Directory<br />
for community groups representing your<br />
school population, eg. www.wollongong.<br />
nsw.gov.au/library/onlineresources/pages/<br />
communitydirectory.aspx ).<br />
A new website, www.youthvolunteering.com.au,<br />
has been launched specifically aimed at young<br />
people wishing to volunteer, and schools wanting<br />
to set up student volunteer programs. The site is<br />
a good starting point for engaging young people,<br />
valuable role models, in your breakfast program.<br />
For existing programs, ask volunteers to spread<br />
the word among their own networks. Encourage<br />
them to promote the benefits of your breakfast<br />
program – why t<strong>here</strong> is a need at your school<br />
12
Staffing the Breakfast Program<br />
and how valued they feel to be doing something<br />
about it.<br />
Whilst out t<strong>here</strong> scouting for prospective<br />
volunteers don’t forget to promote the known<br />
value of volunteering to one’s health. Focus on<br />
the benefits of volunteering as well as the needs<br />
of the breakfast program – volunteers have<br />
been shown to be happier with life than people<br />
who don’t volunteer in any capacity. Volunteers<br />
experience reduced incidence of heart disease,<br />
higher functional ability, lower rates of depression,<br />
1<br />
and, on top of all that, they live longer!<br />
If an individual is interested in volunteering whilst<br />
they are actively seeking employment, work out<br />
ways in which volunteering at the breakfast club<br />
may help them secure future employment such<br />
as hands on experience in food preparation<br />
or working with children. The provision of a<br />
reference for potential employers is always<br />
valued by those seeking paid work.<br />
Think about community groups in your area<br />
with a solid volunteering base such as YWCA,<br />
Lifeline, or Meals on Wheels and promote the<br />
volunteering opportunities at your breakfast club<br />
to them. Ensure you make it clear you are not<br />
trying to poach volunteers, just appealing to<br />
individuals who may wish to spend an extra hour<br />
or two one morning a week helping out with local<br />
school children. Many older people especially,<br />
love the opportunity to engage with children they<br />
may not interact with otherwise, and children<br />
love developing a trusting relationship with an<br />
older ‘grandparent’ figure commonly missing in<br />
today’s often fragmented family arrangements.<br />
Incidentally, husband and wife retiree<br />
‘partnerships’ are known to make very reliable,<br />
sustainable volunteers so when contacting a<br />
potential volunteer ask if they have a friend or<br />
partner who may wish to help out also.<br />
Sharing responsibility with senior students at the<br />
school or members of the Student Representative<br />
Council is another option for staffing your<br />
breakfast club. Older children can be allocated<br />
specific tasks such as serving food, setting out<br />
the room, washing the dishes and cleaning up (if<br />
time before class allows); or acting as mentors to<br />
the younger children.<br />
Registering with local volunteering<br />
agency, Volunteering <strong>Illawarra</strong> (VI),<br />
www.volunteeringillawarra.org.au, is also<br />
recommended. VI operates a regional volunteer<br />
resource centre across the Wollongong,<br />
Shellharbour and Kiama Local Government<br />
Areas. They provide a recruitment and referral<br />
service for volunteers, and assist non-profit<br />
organisations in need of volunteers with referrals,<br />
education, information, and resources.<br />
Unfortunately due to insurance issues,<br />
volunteering in schools does not fulfill the<br />
‘mutual obligation’ requirements of Centrelink<br />
clients. However, if your breakfast program is<br />
run out of a community centre, or your program<br />
has the support of other community or charity<br />
groups, volunteers may be able to put their<br />
breakfast program volunteering hours towards<br />
their mutual obligation requirement by formally<br />
volunteering through the community centre or<br />
charity. For example, if the St Vincent De Paul<br />
Society supports and coordinates a school<br />
breakfast program, individuals may volunteer<br />
under the auspice of the Society rather than the<br />
school itself.<br />
References:<br />
1. Corporation for National and Community Service, Office of Research and Policy Development, Washington DC, 2007, The<br />
Health Benefits of Volunteering: A Review of Recent Research, cited in Judy Esmond, 2005. Count On Me! 501 Ideas on<br />
Retaining, Recognising and Rewarding Volunteers, WA.<br />
13 Breakfast Every Day
Chapter<br />
6<br />
Recruiting Volunteers for the Breakfast<br />
Program<br />
Volunteers are in high demand and competition<br />
for their efforts is fierce so it is important the<br />
breakfast program is promoted as not only a very<br />
worthwhile use of their time, but as a pleasant,<br />
safe, well-managed and friendly environment –<br />
somew<strong>here</strong> an individual not only feels useful,<br />
but enjoys themselves.<br />
First impressions count so do the ground work<br />
if you can. Provide a range of volunteer roles<br />
with short job descriptions and estimates of time<br />
required so volunteers have a clear idea of what<br />
they are ‘signing up’ for. Ensure you include<br />
contact details to make it easier for people to<br />
find out more information. Some individuals may<br />
find the early start difficult but are more than<br />
happy to assist with the grocery shopping, food<br />
preparation at home such as baking healthy<br />
muffins, or fund raising. Provide a variety of<br />
volunteer opportunities, including ‘drop in when<br />
you can and lend a hand’ roles, and share the<br />
load.<br />
If an individual is unable to volunteer now it may<br />
not mean ’never’, so keep contact with potential<br />
volunteers and if their circumstances change<br />
they may reconsider the breakfast program.<br />
Be persistent when it comes to promoting<br />
volunteering at the breakfast program. For<br />
example, don’t stop running the ad in the school<br />
newsletter because you don’t get a response<br />
after a couple of weeks – advertise regularly<br />
throughout the school year to catch those<br />
individuals whose circumstances change.<br />
Recruiting and keeping volunteers is very much<br />
about building good relationships. Ensure new<br />
volunteers are welcomed and receive a sound<br />
induction to the breakfast program; make time<br />
for them and make their first contact a positive<br />
experience. Remember not to overwhelm them<br />
with information or duties in that first encounter –<br />
you really want them to come back!<br />
Introduce them by name to other volunteers,<br />
relevant members of the teaching staff, and to<br />
the children at the breakfast program. Provide<br />
volunteers with a name tag so children can<br />
address them by name and start to get to know<br />
them immediately. The sooner volunteers are<br />
made to feel a valued, worthwhile member of<br />
the team the longer they are likely to remain a<br />
reliable, motivated addition to the breakfast club.<br />
Draw up rosters well in advance so plans can be<br />
made around those commitments, and alternative<br />
arrangements can be made if necessary. Be<br />
as flexible and responsive as possible to your<br />
volunteer’s needs so that they are in turn more<br />
likely to be flexible when you need them to cover<br />
for you or another volunteer’s shift.<br />
Ensure volunteers feel confident in the task they<br />
are undertaking by attending food handling and<br />
occupational health and safety training. Your<br />
school may already have established a Code<br />
of Conduct for volunteers, but if not, consider<br />
developing a formal code specifically for the<br />
breakfast club. An example of a Code of Conduct<br />
is included in this resource(Appendix 8). Whether<br />
you use this example as a template, or draft one<br />
from scratch, please ensure the Code of Conduct<br />
is supported by the School Executive.<br />
14
Recruiting Volunteers for the Breakfast Program<br />
Let volunteers know they are appreciated by<br />
regularly catching up over a cup of tea when<br />
breakfast is all cleaned up; asking for input to<br />
the running of the program creates a positive<br />
sense of ownership for all concerned. Celebrate<br />
International Volunteer Day on the 5th December<br />
each year, or Volunteer Week held in May every<br />
year, and reward volunteers for their commitment<br />
with a personalised thank you note or special<br />
acknowledgement in the school newsletter. Hold<br />
a special morning tea at the school and ask<br />
children who attend the breakfast program, or the<br />
school principal, to say a few words thanking the<br />
volunteers for their hard work.<br />
On that basis, time and energy invested in the<br />
maintenance of good relationships with your<br />
volunteers is certainly sound practice.<br />
For further information on all aspects of<br />
recruiting, managing and retaining volunteers,<br />
the NSW Guide to Volunteering: A Guide to<br />
Managing Volunteers in Non-Profit Organisations<br />
is a very useful and comprehensive, on-line<br />
resource produced by the NSW Centre for<br />
Volunteering. It is available free of charge at<br />
www.volunteering.nsw.gov.au<br />
If a volunteer leaves the breakfast program,<br />
again acknowledge their hard work and let them<br />
know they will be missed. You never know,<br />
their circumstances might change and they may<br />
wish to return. Also, other current and potential<br />
volunteers will be observing the way the departing<br />
volunteer is treated and such treatment may<br />
reflect on their own sense of value at the club.<br />
Most importantly, don’t wait for a special<br />
occasion to say ‘thank you’. Individuals usually<br />
volunteer at breakfast programs because they<br />
want to be t<strong>here</strong>. Feeling valued and appreciated<br />
is intrinsically linked to that sense of wanting to<br />
help out, so remember to say, and encourage the<br />
children to say, ‘thanks’ often.<br />
It is said that it takes five times the effort to attract<br />
and recruit a new volunteer as compared with<br />
the effort needed to retain current volunteers.<br />
15 Breakfast Every Day
Chapter<br />
7<br />
Volunteers - Legal Issues<br />
Insurance:<br />
Despite the safest practices and best risk<br />
management procedures, like anyw<strong>here</strong>,<br />
accidents can happen at breakfast club. It is<br />
important volunteers are protected by relevant<br />
insurance cover in the performance of their<br />
duties. The two main insurance policies that<br />
need to be considered are Public Liability, to<br />
insure specifically against harm caused by<br />
an organisation’s negligence, and Personal<br />
Accident (Volunteers), insurance against harm<br />
irrespective of the nature of the accident or who<br />
was at fault.<br />
Always ensure the School Principal or Director of<br />
the Community Centre is aware of the relevant<br />
circumstances of breakfast program volunteers<br />
and required duties. Individual insurance<br />
policies need to be reviewed carefully to check<br />
terms and conditions meet each volunteer’s<br />
specific circumstances. Some Personal<br />
Accident Insurance polices, for example, have<br />
age limitations and do not cover volunteers<br />
under or over a certain age. Volunteers placed<br />
in this situation may wish to consider taking out<br />
their own personal accident cover.<br />
Further information regarding volunteers and<br />
insurance issues can be found on the NCOSS<br />
(The Council of Social Service of NSW) website<br />
at www.ncoss.org.au/insurance, or on the ‘Our<br />
Community’ website at www.ourcommunity.com.<br />
au/insurance.<br />
Working with Children:<br />
The level of security clearance required to<br />
volunteer to work at a children’s breakfast<br />
program, in either a school or community setting,<br />
can be confusing. It is recommended breakfast<br />
program coordinators seek clarification from the<br />
school principal or director of the community<br />
centre who ‘employ’ the volunteers as to their<br />
policy and procedures in this regard. It is their<br />
responsibility (or their nominees) to determine<br />
specific circumstances within the definition of the<br />
law, and ensure that volunteers are appropriately<br />
screened.<br />
In general terms however, the definition of ‘childrelated<br />
employment’ and degree of supervision<br />
is the key. The Commission for Children and<br />
Young People Act 1998 states that child-related<br />
employment is that which primarily involves<br />
direct contact with children w<strong>here</strong> that contact is<br />
not directly supervised.<br />
The Working with Children check for volunteers<br />
comprises two parts; a Prohibited Employment<br />
Declaration, and a background screening<br />
process which applies to specific categories of<br />
child-related employment such as, for example,<br />
provision of intimate care to children with<br />
disabilities. In Australia all individuals in childrelated<br />
employment, both in a paid and unpaid<br />
(voluntary) capacity, are required by law to<br />
declare that they are not a ‘prohibited person’<br />
(any person convicted of a serious sex offence<br />
or child-related personal violence offence, or<br />
registered under the Child Protection (Offenders<br />
Registration) Act 2000).<br />
16
Volunteers - Legal Issues<br />
The Working with Children check applies only<br />
to positions which come within this definition;<br />
essentially work that primarily involves direct<br />
contact with children w<strong>here</strong> that contact is not<br />
directly overseen by a supervisor. On this basis<br />
screening of volunteers working in children’s<br />
breakfast programs would not be required w<strong>here</strong><br />
t<strong>here</strong> is supervision by a member of school or<br />
community centre staff, or an individual with<br />
authority to directly supervise, such as the<br />
breakfast program coordinator.<br />
Often, however, the breakfast program<br />
coordinator is a volunteer themselves who is<br />
not directly supervised by a member of staff, or<br />
supervision is limited. In this case, based on<br />
the definition of ‘child-related employment’, the<br />
school principal or community centre director<br />
will require them to complete a Prohibited<br />
Employment Volunteer Declaration declaring<br />
they are not prohibited from working with children.<br />
An alternative to completion of the declaration<br />
would be to increase the level of supervision so<br />
that screening is not required.<br />
Disclosure<br />
Breakfast programs are comfortable and safe<br />
environments for children. As a result, children<br />
often develop a sense of trust with the adult<br />
helpers at the program. They may be regarded<br />
as trusted friends or relatives by vulnerable<br />
children, particularly when they have limited<br />
‘non-official’, positive, adult role models in<br />
their lives. On occasion children may disclose<br />
certain information about their lives outside the<br />
breakfast program that is upsetting, for them and<br />
for volunteers. Most schools and community<br />
services have developed disclosure policies<br />
outlining moral and legal requirements to protect<br />
children from abuse and neglect, and it is<br />
important that any concerns of significant harm<br />
are reported to the school principal or counselor,<br />
or community service management.<br />
A copy of the Prohibited Employment Declaration<br />
is provided for your information (Appendix 9)<br />
however it is recommended the declaration be<br />
accessed and completed on-line on the NSW<br />
Commission for Children and Young People<br />
website, https://check.kids.nsw.gov.au/. The form<br />
is then printed and retained by the organisation<br />
engaging the volunteer’s services.<br />
For further information see the NSW Commission<br />
for Children and Young People’s website listed<br />
above, or the Working with Children policies on<br />
the NSW Department of Education’s website at<br />
www.det.nsw.edu.au .<br />
17 Breakfast Every Day
Chapter<br />
8<br />
W<strong>here</strong> and When?<br />
W<strong>here</strong>?<br />
Most breakfast programs in the <strong>Illawarra</strong> and<br />
Shoalhaven are held on school grounds, with<br />
a number of long running and successful<br />
programs run by community or neighbourhood<br />
centres located very close to schools. If you are<br />
considering establishing a program off school<br />
grounds it is essential that issues of safety and<br />
travel to school are addressed, particularly if<br />
roads need to be crossed. Organisation of a<br />
‘walking bus’ to school at a set time, for example,<br />
will ensure children arrive at school safely and<br />
on time. A school parent who is walking children<br />
to school at that time may be willing to volunteer<br />
to be the ‘bus driver’, and walk the ‘breakfast’<br />
children with him/her.<br />
For most programs however, the venue for a<br />
children’s breakfast program will be within school<br />
grounds. W<strong>here</strong> the breakfast program is held will<br />
be determined, with the agreement of the school<br />
principal of course, by the number of children<br />
expected to attend, availability of space before<br />
school starts, and available food preparation<br />
and storage facilities. In the <strong>Illawarra</strong>, school<br />
breakfast programs are held in classrooms<br />
(often, but not always, vacant), after school care<br />
rooms, a corner of the hall, under-cover outside<br />
shelters, auxiliary and multi-purpose rooms,<br />
home economics classrooms, out of the school<br />
canteen, or in a partitioned corner of the library.<br />
Specific issues to consider when choosing a<br />
venue for the breakfast program:<br />
• can the venue accommodate the number<br />
of children expected, preferably seated at<br />
tables?<br />
• is running water available for hand washing/<br />
drinking/food preparation?<br />
• is hot water available?<br />
• is access to electricity outlets for essential<br />
equipment such as fridge and toasters<br />
adequate?<br />
• are kitchen facilities such as sinks<br />
accessible?<br />
• are storage facilities such as cupboards, or<br />
space for cupboards, available?<br />
• are toilets accessible?<br />
• is t<strong>here</strong> room for other activities such as<br />
reading or homework completion?<br />
A designated room for permanent breakfast<br />
program use is always preferable but not always<br />
possible. A permanent venue can be decorated,<br />
ideally with the children’s involvement, to make<br />
it a pleasant, welcoming and comfortable place.<br />
Drawings and posters are an obvious start, but<br />
consider developing the theme further and give<br />
the breakfast club a café feel with decorator<br />
touches such as a table cloth, bowls of fruit, or<br />
flowers on the table. If the venue is a corner of<br />
a larger room, partition off the breakfast club to<br />
make it more inviting. Highlight breakfast club as<br />
a special, social place separate from the school<br />
itself.<br />
18
W<strong>here</strong> and When?<br />
If a permanent venue is not available, ensure<br />
all equipment and supplies can be packed up<br />
and stored easily, securely and hygienically.<br />
In this case, convenience and easy access to<br />
equipment is an essential consideration in the<br />
morning rush. Consider nominating responsible,<br />
senior children to act as equipment monitors<br />
(ensuring that potentially dangerous equipment<br />
such as sharp knives are stored in a safe<br />
manner, for example in their own scabbards or<br />
sealed container) to assist at this very busy time.<br />
When?<br />
A survey conducted in the region in 2009 found<br />
most programs offered breakfast to school<br />
children 5 days a week, each school term,<br />
however frequency is often dictated by available<br />
resources and volunteers. Running a breakfast<br />
program even once a week is preferable to not<br />
at all if a need has been identified. A child’s<br />
attendance provides an opportunity to reiterate<br />
the ‘importance of breakfast’ message as they<br />
go off to class more able to concentrate, and in<br />
a better mood, and serves to regularly remind<br />
children to eat breakfast before school every day.<br />
Most <strong>Illawarra</strong> breakfast programs run half an<br />
hour to an hour, depending on individual school<br />
requirements. Children’s breakfast programs<br />
held off school grounds tend to set aside more<br />
time than those held at the school itself. In<br />
general, all NSW schools are ‘in session’ from<br />
9.00am to 3.00pm Monday to Friday. Class<br />
times can vary from school to school, however,<br />
depending on local requirements; many high<br />
schools, for example, start earlier and finish<br />
later. As a rule, students are not permitted to<br />
be on school premises until thirty minutes before<br />
the designated school starting time.<br />
In this region, most school based breakfast<br />
programs run within those operating restrictions,<br />
for example 8.30am – 9.00am, or 8.15am –<br />
8.45am. Schools often have strict rules against<br />
eating in class or outside in class lines, so many<br />
breakfast programs try to finish ten minutes or<br />
so before class starting time. To ensure children<br />
have finished eating in time for class, make it<br />
clear no children will be allowed in ten minutes<br />
before the breakfast program is due to finish.<br />
In practice however, sometimes discretion<br />
needs to be used on an individual basis to<br />
avoid turning away genuinely hungry children.<br />
Teachers are usually very understanding in such<br />
circumstances.<br />
Thirty minutes isn’t long to feed 20 or 30<br />
children, so operating efficiency, planning and<br />
organisation is essential. Your team will need<br />
to run like a well oiled machine in the mad rush.<br />
If your program offers other activities such as<br />
reading or homework support at the breakfast<br />
program, you will in all likelihood need longer than<br />
30 minutes. Many schools are gated and locked<br />
so issues of access, safety, and permission to<br />
be on school grounds earlier than the standard<br />
thirty minutes before class starts, will need to<br />
be addressed. In addition, some schools have<br />
road crossing supervisors from thirty minutes<br />
before class starts. An earlier starting breakfast<br />
program may require consideration of an earlier<br />
start for supervised road crossing.<br />
19 Breakfast Every Day
Chapter<br />
9<br />
Funding - How Much do you Need?<br />
Securing funding is, for most breakfast programs<br />
in this region, an ongoing issue. Many breakfast<br />
programs in other countries actually implement a<br />
nominal charge for each child, greatly assisting<br />
the program to be sustainable. <strong>Illawarra</strong> breakfast<br />
programs however, when surveyed, reported<br />
that such a ‘user pays’ model would not work<br />
<strong>here</strong> – they felt that charging would discourage<br />
children, particularly the most disadvantaged,<br />
from attending. Nevertheless, charging at<br />
a subsidised rate could be a consideration<br />
depending on local circumstances and the<br />
nature of the breakfast program, for example<br />
early opening of the school canteen.<br />
In all likelihood however, you will need to seek<br />
financial support from outside the school for the<br />
breakfast program. T<strong>here</strong> is fierce competition<br />
for the community charity dollar from other<br />
worthwhile causes, whilst business, government<br />
and other community organisations tighten their<br />
purse strings in an increasingly unpredictable<br />
economic climate. To increase your chances<br />
of funding success for your breakfast program<br />
it is wise to do your homework. Firstly, how<br />
much money do you need? Potential sponsors<br />
or donors will be more likely to consider your<br />
proposal if they know from the beginning what<br />
they will be ‘up for’. An estimate of how many<br />
children, how much per head, and how often the<br />
program will run, is a start. For new programs<br />
this could be a bit tricky but if you’ve conducted a<br />
needs assessment as previously recommended<br />
in Chapter 3, Before You Start, you should be<br />
able to provide a sound estimate of the number<br />
of children you expect to attend.<br />
The cost of providing breakfast per child can be<br />
itemised, for example 2 pieces of bread, 250ml<br />
20<br />
of milk, 1 piece of fruit, 1 serving of baked beans,<br />
based on proportional cost of the goods at current<br />
retail prices. Many potential sponsors appreciate<br />
this level of calculation. Alternatively, it may be<br />
simpler to use an estimate of, for example, $1<br />
- $2 per child depending on any other sources<br />
of support available to the program, and the<br />
‘complexity’ of the menu to be offered.<br />
Other operational costs to consider are one-off,<br />
start up expenses such as the cost of a fridge,<br />
toaster, cutlery and crockery, storage facilities<br />
such as free standing cupboards or large plastic<br />
containers, even games and books/magazines if<br />
they are to be a part of your breakfast program.<br />
You may wish to include a small wage for a<br />
breakfast program coordinator, a volunteer<br />
training allowance, promotional costs such as<br />
paper, and funds for special occasion breakfast<br />
days. Remember to resist the urge to inflate the<br />
budget if t<strong>here</strong> is a large funding pool, and only<br />
include costs you can justify.<br />
Tallied up, the amount needed may appear rather<br />
intimidating for smaller business/community<br />
organisations to consider within their means.<br />
Don’t rely on them assuming you will take less,<br />
they may automatically discount your proposal.<br />
Once the amount of funding required to operate<br />
the breakfast program is established, calculate<br />
how much is required to run the program on a<br />
weekly/monthly/term/annual basis, and itemise<br />
other large capital costs such as a fridge. Then<br />
provide these individual estimates to potential<br />
funding organisations enabling them to donate/<br />
sponsor within their means. Put the effort in to<br />
presenting a justifiable, clear and concise budget<br />
- professionalism will beat ‘guestimate’ every<br />
time when it comes to the investment of money.
Chapter<br />
10<br />
Funding - Sources<br />
Once you have an idea of how much support you<br />
need, what then? The development of a written<br />
funding plan, which includes your cost estimate,<br />
may be of assistance <strong>here</strong>. The plan can help<br />
organise your approach to seeking funding by<br />
clarifying what support you may already have<br />
secured, identifying potential partnerships in<br />
the community, sources of grant funds, and,<br />
importantly, will clarify who is responsible for<br />
preparing funding applications and making<br />
contact with potential donors. It can also help<br />
to think about a contingency plan should you<br />
not be successful seeking support outside the<br />
school, for example is t<strong>here</strong> capacity for the<br />
P&C Association or teaching staff to support the<br />
breakfast program in some way?<br />
More homework is required at this stage – the shot<br />
gun approach may reap opportunistic benefits,<br />
but it can also waste time. Instead, research<br />
your ‘targets’ to find ones that link in with your<br />
community, the need you have identified, and the<br />
benefits of the good nutrition message. Try to<br />
match their aims with the needs of the breakfast<br />
program. Think about which businesses or<br />
individuals to approach for donations to the<br />
breakfast program (donations are usually one-off<br />
payments or goods/services in kind); businesses<br />
and other organisations within your community<br />
who may be open to longer term sponsorship<br />
opportunities, and which organisations offer<br />
funding grants (remembering funds are rarely ongoing,<br />
and most tend to be time limited, eg. on an<br />
annual basis).<br />
Ask teaching staff, student families, and<br />
breakfast program volunteers for suggestions<br />
and links to local business. If they have personal<br />
connections, ask them to approach the potential<br />
donor/sponsor initially themselves, or ask them<br />
if you could mention their name when you make<br />
contact yourself. Think about your own personal<br />
connections. Some communities publish<br />
regional business directories in print or on-line,<br />
for example www.localbusinessguide.com.au,<br />
which can assist with identification of relevant<br />
business and community organisations in your<br />
local area.<br />
Consider contacting your local member to ask<br />
if they know of upcoming funding opportunities<br />
for the much needed breakfast program you<br />
are planning on establishing in their electorate.<br />
Ask for a letter of support to include in funding<br />
applications.<br />
Community organisations and business chains<br />
tend to be swamped with requests for funds to<br />
support worthwhile projects in their community,<br />
and many now have a formal applications<br />
process as a result, www.clubsnsw.com.au,<br />
for example. You will not be able to bypass<br />
established channels, however making personal<br />
contact before applying is often a good idea. Ask<br />
if you can meet the manager of the business’s<br />
local branch or your local club to discuss your<br />
breakfast program and its benefits. Highlight the<br />
local community need you have identified, and<br />
their thoughts on whether they think it is a project<br />
their organisation would consider funding. If not,<br />
ask for advice on how you could improve your<br />
proposal to enable it to be viewed more favourably.<br />
21 Breakfast Every Day
Demonstrate your enthusiasm for your breakfast<br />
program. Developing a relationship will help your<br />
proposal to stand out from the many others they<br />
will receive. Mention in your funding submission<br />
that you have discussed the breakfast program<br />
with the manager of the local branch or club,<br />
using their name, and how they supported the<br />
idea.<br />
Sponsorship<br />
Many successful breakfast programs in the<br />
<strong>Illawarra</strong> and Shoalhaven are the product of<br />
strong sponsorship, generally with community<br />
not-for-profit groups. Usually, such sponsorship<br />
comes about as a result of the shared aims of<br />
wanting to improve the health and educational<br />
outcomes of local children, and of promoting<br />
same. T<strong>here</strong> are numerous benefits to seeking<br />
support of this nature for your breakfast program,<br />
particularly as funding bodies tend to look very<br />
favourably on community partnerships, regarding<br />
such collaboration an effective use of resources,<br />
and a key to sustainability.<br />
On occasion, local business will enter into a<br />
sponsorship relationship in return for agreed<br />
marketing benefits such as the promotion of<br />
their business and its much valued support of<br />
the breakfast program, in the school newsletter;<br />
advertising their service/products but also<br />
generating goodwill and a sense of community<br />
responsibility and belonging. It is t<strong>here</strong>fore<br />
very worthwhile to think not only of community<br />
organisations with a strong profile in your<br />
community, but also of business which may<br />
be interested in sponsorship of the breakfast<br />
program as a ‘business decision’. Think about<br />
what you can offer them in terms of endorsement<br />
of their goods and/or services, and their promotion<br />
in a competitive local market – then sell this as<br />
a valuable marketing opportunity. Approach<br />
sponsorship in commercial terms as much as a<br />
charitable arrangement eg. if you provide this,<br />
we will provide that. Provide potential sponsors<br />
with measurable benefit. Chapter 12, Promoting<br />
the Breakfast Club, provides more information<br />
on marketing and promoting breakfast programs.<br />
22<br />
Importantly, once you have secured sponsorship,<br />
make an effort to keep them engaged with<br />
certificates of appreciation, photographs, thank<br />
you cards and drawings from the children,<br />
copies of school newsletters w<strong>here</strong> they are<br />
acknowledged, even phone calls and personal<br />
visits demonstrating your and the children’s<br />
appreciation. Many breakfast programs in the<br />
region invite sponsors to special breakfasts, often<br />
at the end of the school year, offering a glimpse<br />
of the club in action, and providing an opportunity<br />
to meet volunteers and children. Sponsors like<br />
to know their involvement is valued, and making<br />
a difference in their community.<br />
Donations<br />
Businesses which are not in a position to make<br />
long term financial commitment may consider<br />
making a donation to the breakfast program.<br />
Think about the businesses in your local area<br />
and what they could provide. Business may be<br />
able to make a one-off financial donation, but<br />
it is more likely they would consider donations<br />
of goods and foodstuffs. Make a list of the<br />
equipment you need for the breakfast program<br />
and which organisations supply them. Electrical<br />
stores may be able to assist with toasters or<br />
even the fridge (you won’t know if you don’t<br />
ask!), and larger stores often have community<br />
assistance schemes of some description. If they<br />
can’t make out-right donations, ask them if they<br />
could subsidise the costs of items you require.<br />
List the businesses in your local community<br />
who supply the foods you need for your<br />
breakfast program. Consider, particularly, those<br />
businesses selling produce with a short ‘use by<br />
date’, such as bakeries, green grocers, dairy<br />
suppliers, cafes, and corner shops. Again if<br />
they are not in a position to donate, they may<br />
consider solid discounts. How you promote your<br />
breakfast program and its potential impact on<br />
the lives of local school children, will be crucial<br />
to the degree of support you can secure in the<br />
community. Chapter 12, Promoting the Breakfast<br />
Club, provides ideas and arguments to use to
help convince potential donors/sponsors of the<br />
benefits of their involvement in your children’s<br />
breakfast program.<br />
Food suppliers may tell you that the law<br />
prevents them from donating food, particularly<br />
prepared dishes of food, due to the risk of food<br />
poisoning and legal liability. That law has now<br />
been amended to allow food outlets to donate<br />
for charitable purpose if that food is safe for<br />
consumption, even w<strong>here</strong> it is unsuitable for<br />
sale. The fact sheet, ‘Donation of Food and the<br />
Law’, may be useful to show businesses if this is<br />
raised as an issue (Appendix 10).<br />
A growing number of food manufacturers and<br />
large supermarket chains donate their excess<br />
produce to FoodBank NSW for distribution to<br />
registered charities that provide food and welfare<br />
services. They are based at Wetherill Park, in<br />
Sydney’s west, but deliver non-perishable items<br />
free to the <strong>Illawarra</strong> on a regular basis. T<strong>here</strong><br />
is a small service fee, eg. $1 per kilo for cans<br />
of mixed fruit, and availability of items changes<br />
every month.<br />
Unfortunately, schools are not registered charities<br />
and are t<strong>here</strong>fore ineligible for membership. A<br />
way around this would be to develop a partnership<br />
with a charitable organisation in your community,<br />
or a neighbourhood centre with charitable status,<br />
and join FoodBank NSW under their auspice.<br />
Another barrier to its use for breakfast programs<br />
is the size of a minimum order; 25 cartons (1<br />
pallet) for delivery to country regions, including<br />
the <strong>Illawarra</strong>. To make it worthwhile, consider<br />
other schools, charities, and community<br />
organisations providing food and welfare services<br />
in your area, and propose the establishment of a<br />
‘food program’ partnership or consortium. It will<br />
mean a bit of work and organisation but the idea<br />
has potential and can provide the opportunity<br />
to stock up on non-perishables such as baked<br />
beans or toast spreads. To find out more see<br />
www.foodbanknsw.org.au .<br />
Fund Raising<br />
Breakfast programs are often supplemented<br />
by school fund raising activities, and the list of<br />
possible activities is endless. Speak to school<br />
management and your P&C representatives<br />
about your ideas. It is often the case that schools<br />
already run numerous fund raising activities,<br />
so ask if they would consider working together<br />
with breakfast program management, if they<br />
are different, and share the proceeds of fund<br />
raising efforts with the breakfast program. It may<br />
seem obvious but it is surprising the number of<br />
breakfast programs that function under the radar<br />
of general school community activities.<br />
Canned food donation ‘mufti’ days, raffles for<br />
donated prizes, breakfast club poster/naming<br />
competitions, winter soup days, smoothie/<br />
milkshake drives, and serving ‘special occasion’<br />
or themed breakfasts for a gold coin donation, are<br />
all strategies that have worked in the <strong>Illawarra</strong>.<br />
T<strong>here</strong> seems to be as many websites aimed at<br />
school fund raising activities, as t<strong>here</strong> are activities<br />
but they are often worth browsing for ideas.<br />
Some examples are: www.australianfundraising.<br />
com.au, www.fundraisingideas.com.au, and<br />
www.fundraisingdirectory.com.au . Unfortunately<br />
many fund raisers tend not to be very healthy, and<br />
can send mixed messages if its aim is to support<br />
nutritious breakfast programs. Searching ‘fund<br />
raising’ on the websites www.parentsjury.org.au<br />
and www.det.act.gov.au will lead you to a wealth<br />
of healthy fund raising activities such as apple<br />
twirly stands at recess, sporting activities, and<br />
gold coin donations for school concerts.<br />
23 Breakfast Every Day
Grants<br />
The website www.communitybuilders.nsw.gov.au<br />
is a very useful and comprehensive site providing<br />
assistance with all aspects of establishing and<br />
managing community projects. It is a great<br />
starting point for locating federal, state and<br />
local government funding programs, as well as<br />
institutions, philanthropic trusts, businesses and<br />
corporations with established grant schemes.<br />
The site allows you to search for funds by the<br />
nature of your project, for example ‘health and<br />
mental health’, or ‘young people’, by closing<br />
date, and by specific funding organisation.<br />
Increasingly, large corporations offer funding<br />
opportunities as part of their corporate<br />
responsibility to the community within which they<br />
operate. Think about corporations operating<br />
locally and use your computer’s search engine<br />
to find their website. Once at a specific site,<br />
search for community participation. Often<br />
grants are only offered once a year so try to plan<br />
ahead. The IMB, for example, runs a very active<br />
community grants program in this region through<br />
their Community Foundation, www.imb.com.<br />
au. Applications open in October and close in<br />
December each year, for processing by March<br />
the following year.<br />
Another major source of funding for community<br />
projects in Australia are Foundations. Again, a<br />
listing of Australian Foundations can be found<br />
at the Community Builders website listed above.<br />
Foundations offer funding for not-for-profitorganisations<br />
who are tax exempt and have had<br />
deductible gift recipient (DGR) status granted<br />
by the ATO. Generally speaking, schools are<br />
not entitled to receive tax deductible gifts, but if<br />
your breakfast program is run as a partnership<br />
or sponsored by another organisation with DGR<br />
status, eg.The Salvation Army or St Vincent De<br />
Paul’s Society, you may be able to apply for<br />
foundation funds under their auspice. If you’re<br />
not sure of their taxation status you can find out<br />
on the ATO website, www.ato.gov.au, and search<br />
by the organisation’s post code.<br />
Increasingly, funding bodies provide application<br />
guidelines to ensure the information they require<br />
to make their decision is provided. Individuals<br />
are rarely eligible to apply for community funds<br />
and evidence of incorporation, relevant insurance<br />
coverage, and current Australian Business<br />
Numbers (ABN) are routine basic requirements.<br />
Eligibility of schools to apply varies between<br />
funding programs, and it will be stated in the<br />
guidelines which organisations are eligible –<br />
often a distinction is made between government<br />
and independent schools, and you will need to<br />
check this. If schools are not eligible in their own<br />
right, again community partnerships come to the<br />
rescue with the possibility of a joint submission<br />
under their auspice.<br />
If schools are ineligible to apply outright (as<br />
state government core budget items), check<br />
in the guidelines to see if the school P&C<br />
Association is eligible to apply. Clubs NSW, for<br />
example, will consider funding school based<br />
activities “..when a P&C may be running an extra<br />
curricular service or activity, above their core<br />
business responsibilities, that helps low income,<br />
disabled or otherwise disadvantaged students,<br />
or contributes to their welfare..”. Clearly, a<br />
children’s breakfast program would meet this<br />
criterion.<br />
24
It is certainly wise to ensure the breakfast<br />
program meets the criteria set by the funding<br />
body. However, don’t automatically discount<br />
grant schemes because they do not appear to<br />
directly relate to the establishment of a breakfast<br />
program; eg. if health or nutrition are not project<br />
criteria. Think creatively about the breakfast<br />
program, and how you could develop it to meet a<br />
broader range of aims. You could, for example,<br />
link the breakfast program to a school vegetable<br />
garden or small chicken coop t<strong>here</strong>by broadening<br />
the program’s scope to include food preparation,<br />
agricultural knowledge, and environmental<br />
issues, greatly increasing the potential number<br />
of grant schemes you can access.<br />
If your breakfast program is already established<br />
yet the grant scheme is seeking new initiatives to<br />
fund, consider a new aspect you could introduce<br />
to your program. For instance, children should<br />
brush their teeth after eating, so you could<br />
introduce an oral hygiene and grooming aspect<br />
to the program and seek funding for your new<br />
‘Brekky and Brushing Club’. Similarly, if the<br />
school population is culturally diverse, focus on<br />
the multicultural aspect and introduce regular,<br />
themed breakfasts from other countries. You<br />
can then seek funding for the new ‘Multicultural<br />
Morning Munchies’ program that fosters interest,<br />
tolerance, understanding and respect for other<br />
cultures. See Chapter 15, Activities at Breakfast,<br />
for other ideas to further develop the ‘new’<br />
breakfast program.<br />
25 Breakfast Every Day
Chapter<br />
11<br />
Funding - How to Apply?<br />
Making contact in the community<br />
How you apply for financial or in-kind support<br />
for your breakfast program will depend on the<br />
organisation approached, and the type of support<br />
you are seeking. Generally speaking, for support<br />
from business within your own community, the<br />
personal approach is best; people like giving<br />
to people. However, ‘cold calling’ (dropping in<br />
to see them unannounced), or even phoning<br />
unexpectedly, doesn’t allow for considered<br />
appreciation of your proposal, making a longerterm<br />
commitment less likely.<br />
Initial contact in the form of a written letter will<br />
present your request in a way more likely to get<br />
serious consideration. A letter will allow you to<br />
provide some background, and importantly, give<br />
you a starting point when you do call or visit; “My<br />
name is …, I wrote to you two weeks ago about<br />
our school breakfast program, and I wonder if<br />
we could make a time for us to meet to have a<br />
chat about it in greater detail?” A sample letter is<br />
included in this resource (Appendix 11).<br />
A letter allows you to introduce yourself and your<br />
school community, and briefly outline the findings<br />
of the needs assessment you conducted. If you<br />
have been referred to the organisation, name<br />
them (with their permission) and explain why<br />
you were referred; for example “Joe Bloggs,<br />
a loyal customer of Breads R Us, knew of<br />
your commitment to your local community and<br />
suggested I contact you with our request”.<br />
Give them an idea of what you can offer them<br />
in return for their support such as promoting<br />
their business, and its support of the breakfast<br />
program, to the school community.<br />
The personal approach is best, so ensure your<br />
letter is addressed to a specific individual, and<br />
spelt correctly. Never address it to ‘whom it<br />
may concern’, or Dear Sir/Madam, Manager, or<br />
Business Owner. Resist the temptation of sending<br />
the same standard letter out to everyone you can<br />
think of. It may seem time consuming but it will<br />
improve your chances of not being disregarded<br />
on the basis of ‘someone else will support the<br />
program’, and is t<strong>here</strong>fore worthwhile. You don’t<br />
need to reinvent the wheel each time you write,<br />
but try to individualise each letter by including<br />
something relevant about the organisation, for<br />
example ‘The breakfast program will improve<br />
nutrition, and in doing so, increase concentration<br />
and capacity to learn, t<strong>here</strong>by reflecting ACB<br />
Inc.’s community objectives of generating<br />
social, cultural and educational benefits in the<br />
community’.<br />
Learning something about some organisations<br />
is easier than others – those that have websites<br />
often have key words you can use. For others,<br />
think of more general words such as “The<br />
breakfast program will improve nutrition and<br />
educational outcomes, reflecting the enthusiasm<br />
and community spirit demonstrated by the staff of<br />
the ACB Corner Shop on a daily basis”.<br />
26
Funding - How to Apply?<br />
Most importantly, be up-front with what you<br />
are asking for. If you are seeking financial<br />
sponsorship of the breakfast program include<br />
an anticipated budget, and tell them you are<br />
seeking assistance in total, or in part if that better<br />
suits their circumstances. If you are seeking<br />
donations of food, specify what you are seeking.<br />
If the breakfast program has other sources of<br />
support, ensure you provide this information. Try<br />
to ensure the letter is brief but clear, and close by<br />
telling them of your intention to call or visit them<br />
in a week or two to provide further information.<br />
Finally, remember t<strong>here</strong> is rarely such a thing<br />
as easy money. If you are not successful on<br />
your first contact, ask if they would mind if you<br />
approached them at another time when their<br />
circumstances may have changed. Gentle<br />
persistence often pays!<br />
Applying for grants<br />
If you have familiarised yourself with the website<br />
www.communitybuilders.nsw.gov.au you will<br />
have a list of grants to apply for, now and in<br />
coming months. Each grant scheme will have its<br />
own specific priority areas for funding, objectives<br />
it wants met, issues it wants to see addressed,<br />
and its own application format… unfortunately!<br />
That means each time you submit an application,<br />
the funding proposal you have prepared will<br />
need to be re-written to a certain extent. T<strong>here</strong><br />
is often a good deal of work required to put<br />
together a decent grant application – but hang<br />
in t<strong>here</strong> because it can pay off, well. T<strong>here</strong> is<br />
rarely the need to go back to scratch with a grant<br />
application if you follow some basic ground rules.<br />
An example of a funding application, in this case<br />
one using the ClubsNSW format, is included in<br />
this resource (Appendix 12).<br />
Firstly, fully research the organisation and the<br />
aims of the grant scheme you are applying to<br />
before you put pen to paper (metaphorically<br />
speaking as the majority of grant applications<br />
are now submitted electronically). Most funding<br />
bodies prepare a set of guidelines to ensure the<br />
information they require to make a decision is<br />
provided in the application. It is quite easy to<br />
start preparing a proposal, get half way through<br />
only to find your proposal doesn’t meet a major<br />
criterion. T<strong>here</strong> is rarely much point in continuing<br />
and you have wasted your time. Competition is<br />
fierce for community funds so if you are not able<br />
to provide what the funding body is specifically<br />
asking for, don’t continue as t<strong>here</strong> will be plenty<br />
of applications that do meet the requirements –<br />
and they will be considered above yours. If, after<br />
thoroughly reading through the guidelines, you’re<br />
not sure if the breakfast program fits with their<br />
funding criteria, give the contact person a call<br />
to discuss. They may even be able to give you<br />
ideas on how you can adapt the funding proposal<br />
so it does meet their requirements.<br />
It is also always advisable to read through the<br />
entire application form before starting to fill it in.<br />
It may be that some of the information you are<br />
required to provide will require time to organise,<br />
for example references or quotes. To ensure you<br />
don’t miss the closing date for the application,<br />
it is wise to get these balls rolling as soon as<br />
possible.<br />
27 Breakfast Every Day
Administrative details<br />
Once you’ve found the grant scheme with<br />
criteria matching the needs of your breakfast<br />
program, try not to be overwhelmed by the often,<br />
seemingly never-ending request for information.<br />
Be organised before you start, and approach<br />
the blank application form methodically, step by<br />
step, section by section. Generally speaking, a<br />
standard set of information is required for each<br />
and every application including:<br />
• Project title eg. ‘Gong Town Kids Gone To<br />
Brekky’<br />
• Contact person name and contact details<br />
including email address<br />
• Name and address of organisation applying<br />
for funding<br />
• ABN (ask school/community centre/<br />
auspicing organisation administration or<br />
search on www.abn.business.gov.au)<br />
• Certificate of incorporation or incorporation<br />
registration number and date (if organisation<br />
other than government school)<br />
• Details of relevant insurance coverage<br />
• Proof of DGR status if applicable<br />
• Bank account name and number, BSB, and<br />
name of financial institution – you may wish<br />
to open a separate account specifically for<br />
the breakfast program<br />
• GST registration date<br />
• Summary description of your organisation’s<br />
aims and key activities<br />
• The main beneficiaries of your organisation’s<br />
services, for example the age-group and<br />
socio-economic background of the children<br />
who attend your community centre<br />
• Copies of most recent annual report<br />
including audited financial statements.<br />
• To demonstrate the applicant’s<br />
accountability and competence, you may<br />
also be required to provide details of:<br />
• Governance eg. your organisation’s<br />
principal office bearers, management<br />
committee or board of directors<br />
• Staffing and organisational structure<br />
• Financial management systems/funding<br />
history<br />
• Policies addressing OH&S, and equity<br />
issues<br />
• Volunteers engaged by your organisation.<br />
It is worthwhile keeping all this information<br />
current, and together in one place to avoid the<br />
run around every time you wish to prepare a<br />
funding application. It is useful to also keep<br />
copies of other relevant documents that you<br />
may be able to use in support of your application<br />
such as letters of support (especially those<br />
demonstrating community collaboration), results<br />
of the breakfast program needs assessment,<br />
school newsletter breakfast program articles/<br />
example of promotional opportunities, and, if<br />
you are seeking funds to continue an existing<br />
breakfast program, even photos of the club<br />
in operation (remembering release of photos<br />
of children for any reason requires parental<br />
consent).<br />
Whilst on the topic of organisation, ensure<br />
you keep copies of any applications you have<br />
submitted, together with records of conversations<br />
you may had regarding it, and all correspondence,<br />
particularly if successful. If successful you will<br />
be required to prepare invoices, may be required<br />
to keep or submit receipts, and provide progress<br />
reports to ensure accountability. Some form of<br />
evaluation or final report is also often required<br />
by funding organisations, and maintaining a file<br />
of all relevant documentation will make fulfilling<br />
accountability requirements so much simpler.<br />
28
The need/issue<br />
Many funding organisations will be seeking<br />
to support projects that address a specific<br />
population group and area of significant need.<br />
If you have conducted a needs assessment you<br />
will have school community data to support the<br />
need for a breakfast program. In addition to this,<br />
funding bodies often require evidence of the<br />
problem presented in demographic and socioeconomic<br />
terms as further justification of the<br />
funding proposal. For example:<br />
‘Studies show that eating breakfast provides<br />
essential nutrients for growth and development,<br />
is beneficial to learning and concentration, and<br />
establishes lasting healthy eating habits. A<br />
needs assessment conducted by Gong Town<br />
Primary School in first term 2010, found that many<br />
children were attending school without having<br />
had breakfast. Our school Needs Assessment<br />
found that reasons for missing breakfast include<br />
parents not having the time to ensure that their<br />
children have breakfast before they go to school,<br />
lack of knowledge as to what constitutes a<br />
nutritious breakfast, and the family not being able<br />
to afford appropriate food.<br />
Gong Town is an identified regional area of<br />
need with a very young population with limited<br />
secondary education. T<strong>here</strong> is a very high<br />
level of unemployment, and a large percentage<br />
of single parent families with more than two<br />
children. Many of Gong Town Primary School’s<br />
students live on one of the several public housing<br />
estates in the immediate region. It is clear many<br />
of our students are missing breakfast as a result<br />
of such socio-economic disadvantage’.<br />
Demographic data for the <strong>Illawarra</strong> is available<br />
from the Wollongong City Council Community<br />
Profile. The profile includes results from current<br />
Censuses of Population and Housing. To access<br />
the profile visit www.wollongong.nsw.gov.au<br />
click on ‘library’, ‘on-line resources’, and then<br />
‘demographics’.<br />
The Solution: the project – Its aims and<br />
objectives<br />
Once you have documented the need and<br />
described the problem, you will be asked to tell<br />
the funding body what you intend to do about<br />
it, and give them a solution to the problem you<br />
have identified; in this case ‘establish/continue<br />
a breakfast program’. You will often be asked<br />
to list the aims and/or objectives of the project.<br />
Aims are the changes you hope to achieve as<br />
a result of your work. For example, ‘The Gong<br />
Town Breakfast program aims to encourage<br />
healthy eating and lifestyles of children, who,<br />
for a variety of reasons often related to socioeconomic<br />
status, are not eating breakfast before<br />
attending school’.<br />
Objectives are what you will do - the activities you<br />
will undertake for those changes to occur and to<br />
achieve your aim. It is essential those objectives<br />
be realistic and measurable. The objectives of<br />
your breakfast program could t<strong>here</strong>fore be:<br />
1. Establish a before school breakfast<br />
program serving a nutritious breakfast in a<br />
caring and safe environment<br />
2. Serve fruit and (low-fat) dairy daily, as<br />
recommended in Australian Dietary<br />
Guidelines<br />
3. Influence positive social skills among<br />
children.<br />
Ensure you match the aims and objectives of your<br />
project (the breakfast program) with the aims and<br />
objectives of the grant scheme you are applying<br />
to. The aims and objectives listed above match,<br />
for example, BUPA Health Foundation’s aim; “To<br />
promote health research, health education, and<br />
programs for leading healthier lives’, and the<br />
objective of ‘funding new initiatives that provide<br />
clear benefit to the Australian community in one<br />
or more of the following key strategic areas: …<br />
promoting wellness and/or tackling obesity…”.<br />
29 Breakfast Every Day
The project<br />
Once you have established the aims and<br />
objectives of your project, you will need to<br />
present a summary of your proposal. Ensure<br />
the reader knows immediately what you are<br />
proposing. Begin with ‘This project, Gong Town<br />
Kids Gone To Brekky, will…’.<br />
Highlight key words and reflect the terminology<br />
used by the funding organisation to describe<br />
what they are seeking. For example, Clubs<br />
NSW seek to support “…projects/services<br />
that contribute to the welfare and broader<br />
social fabric of the local community and are<br />
aimed at improving the living standards of low<br />
income and disadvantaged people”. In this<br />
case, for example, a funding application could<br />
include: “The Gong Town Breakfast Program<br />
will contribute to the social fabric of the local<br />
community by influencing positive social skills<br />
among the children. It will demonstrate strategies<br />
for behaviour management such as rule and limit<br />
setting, good manners, the art of conversation,<br />
jobs and mutual responsibility, and sharing and<br />
taking turns. Importantly, it will encourage the<br />
children to be respectful of each other, and of<br />
adults.”<br />
Funding decisions are often made by a committee<br />
who look for the major details of your proposal to<br />
make an informed decision, so don’t risk confusing<br />
them by saying too much. Consider presenting<br />
information in dot points, and provide supporting<br />
information as appendices if allowed, and it<br />
adds to your argument (remembering to refer to<br />
them in the main body of your proposal). Larger<br />
grant schemes, particularly government, will<br />
establish a secretariat to review all applications<br />
before advising the decision making committee.<br />
Provide as much additional, relevant information<br />
as possible as an appendix to support your case<br />
to ensure the secretariat has all the information<br />
it needs to make its recommendations. Ensure<br />
the precise planning gone into the establishment<br />
of your breakfast program is clearly evident in<br />
the submission.<br />
Information you include <strong>here</strong> will depend on the<br />
level of detail required – local funding programs<br />
may be interested in details of operation such<br />
as staffing, menus, times, reward programs<br />
etc. Larger grant schemes are less likely to<br />
be interested in the finer detail of the breakfast<br />
program, requiring more of an overview to<br />
demonstrate what you intend to do with the<br />
funds. For example, “The Gong Town Breakfast<br />
and Homework Club will provide a nutritious<br />
breakfast to 25 school children each day in<br />
a caring and safe environment. Breakfast will<br />
include daily servings of low fat dairy and fruit,<br />
and a regular hot dish. The program will run in a<br />
corner of the school hall with the help of parent<br />
volunteers. Older members of the Student<br />
Representative Council will be on hand to assist<br />
children complete their homework once they<br />
have eaten”.<br />
Finally, write clearly and spell correctly, be<br />
persuasive but avoid waffle, and do not use<br />
unexplained abbreviations or jargon. Funding<br />
applications often have word limits so ensure you<br />
stay within them; on-line applications frequently<br />
reject key strokes beyond the word limit. You will<br />
need to be concise so don’t be surprised if you<br />
end up preparing several drafts before you are<br />
satisfied with the result… and try to remember it<br />
gets easier with practice!<br />
30
The Budget<br />
Grant application forms usually request the total<br />
amount of funding you are seeking, and then<br />
include a separate section for you to itemise<br />
the budget for the project. As explained in<br />
Chapter 9, Funding - How much do you need?,<br />
be realistic when estimating how much you need<br />
to run the breakfast program, and ensure you<br />
present a justifiable, clear and concise budget.<br />
You may not be required to provide the basis for<br />
your calculations in the application itself, but you<br />
may be asked to provide further information if<br />
the figures appear unrealistic or at all ‘rubbery’.<br />
It is t<strong>here</strong>fore advisable to research your costs<br />
fully, and keep all workings out and paperwork for<br />
future reference if necessary.<br />
The ‘outline of the project budget’ section often<br />
includes itemised costs such as administration,<br />
salaries, consumable supplies, program costs<br />
(such as telephone, stationery, postage, audit,<br />
promotion), capital costs such as equipment,<br />
and rent. Include your estimated amounts w<strong>here</strong><br />
relevant to your request. You may also be asked<br />
to identify other funding sources, and financial/<br />
in-kind (goods and services) contributions from<br />
your organisation. Don’t ignore this step as it<br />
demonstrates support for the breakfast program<br />
beyond this funding request and indicates viability<br />
and sustainability.<br />
Community networks<br />
Increasingly, funding bodies seek evidence<br />
of community participation and cooperation<br />
between agencies working for similar goals<br />
in the same community. You may be asked if<br />
your application has been supported by any<br />
other community organisations, in which case<br />
any letters of support you’ve managed to gather<br />
will be useful. You could be asked to provide<br />
names and contact details of the supporting<br />
organisation, or be asked for a written reference.<br />
Seeking a formal written reference can take time<br />
that you will not have control over, so bear that<br />
in mind. It is always advisable, and considerate,<br />
when asking for assistance from other people,<br />
that you give them as much time as possible.<br />
As mentioned repeatedly in this chapter,<br />
partnership and community collaborations are<br />
very well regarded by funding bodies. If you<br />
haven’t developed these relationships, think<br />
about the organisations that would have an<br />
interest in the breakfast program in your local<br />
community. A local PCYC, for example, may<br />
assist the same children who will attend the<br />
breakfast program and in all likelihood would be<br />
very happy to support your funding proposal.<br />
If you’re not sure w<strong>here</strong> to start, speak to your<br />
nearest community or neighbourhood centre.<br />
Community centres are always very active in<br />
inter-agency networking in their community, and<br />
can include you in relevant networks. You could<br />
ask them to lend their support to the funding<br />
application, and to put you in touch with other<br />
local agencies with an interest in the benefits of<br />
your children’s breakfast program. Members of<br />
local community networks support each other,<br />
and in so doing increase community participation<br />
and build sustainable communities – so join in!<br />
31 Breakfast Every Day
Monitoring and Evaluation<br />
Funding applications always ask how the success<br />
of the project will be monitored and/or evaluated<br />
– how will funding bodies know their money has<br />
been invested well? Chapter 17, Monitoring and<br />
Evaluation, explains the process of evaluation<br />
in greater detail, but the distinction between the<br />
two is essential <strong>here</strong> as funding applications can<br />
ask for details of either or both.<br />
Basically, monitoring is routine data collection<br />
that will help you ensure the breakfast program<br />
is on-track and operating efficiently. Many<br />
funding bodies require regular progress and<br />
financial reports. On-going monitoring of the<br />
breakfast program will enable you to report on,<br />
for example, numbers of students accessing the<br />
program, and how the money is being spent.<br />
Monitoring can also help you evaluate the<br />
breakfast program, which is usually required<br />
at the end of the funding period. In addition to<br />
the data collected from monitoring the program,<br />
you often need to gather information from other<br />
sources such as participant surveys and teacher<br />
interviews, to evaluate the success of the<br />
breakfast program. Evaluation will allow you to<br />
answer the question; did the breakfast program<br />
meet its objectives?<br />
Sustainability/exit strategy<br />
Most funding programs ask for a starting date<br />
and a finishing date for the project. They are<br />
increasingly also asking for information about<br />
what will happen to the project once the funding<br />
ends; who will fund the breakfast program once<br />
the grant has finished? This is often presented<br />
in an application in terms of ‘discuss the<br />
sustainability of the program’, or ‘present an exit<br />
strategy’ for the program.<br />
‘Exit strategy’ is a phrase borrowed from business<br />
to describe a plan for change of ownership, and<br />
from the military to describe how forces plan to<br />
withdraw from a war zone. It is not used in quite<br />
the same context in ‘community project land’,<br />
in that an exit strategy <strong>here</strong> is not so much an<br />
‘escape plan’ as a future plan for the project<br />
when the funding body is no longer involved;<br />
what you will do when the funding ends. For<br />
example, an exit strategy for the Gong Town<br />
Breakfast Club could be that “The breakfast<br />
program coordinator will continue to develop<br />
local community relationships in an effort to seek<br />
and secure ongoing community and business<br />
support. Promotion of breakfast at school over<br />
this period will encourage children and their<br />
parents to eat breakfast at home before school,<br />
t<strong>here</strong>by reducing demand on the breakfast club,<br />
and the amount of support required to sustain it.”<br />
In the budget section of the application you<br />
may also be asked to identify other funding<br />
sources, and financial/in-kind contributions from<br />
your organisation. Don’t ignore this step as it<br />
demonstrates support for the breakfast program<br />
beyond this funding request and indicates<br />
viability and sustainability; don’t forget to say as<br />
much in the ‘sustainability’ section!<br />
32
Proof read<br />
The final step of the grant application process is<br />
the proof read. Before submitting your application,<br />
read through thoroughly to check for correct<br />
spelling and grammar, that every question has<br />
been answered in the desired format, and that all<br />
required attachments are included. If completing<br />
the application electronically, ensure you have<br />
completed all mandatory fields and double check<br />
each response has registered; for example yes/<br />
no fields are correct.<br />
It is clearly important to pay attention to detail but<br />
sometimes when you are immediately involved,<br />
not only in the funding application but also in<br />
the development of the breakfast program, it<br />
is very easy to overlook the detail. It is always<br />
advisable to call on a friend, preferably someone<br />
who has limited or no knowledge of the breakfast<br />
program, to proof read the application. It is likely<br />
the funding organisation you are applying to will<br />
have little knowledge about your proposal, so it<br />
is wise to ensure a reader with no knowledge<br />
thoroughly understands every aspect of the<br />
application.<br />
Finally, make sure you submit your application<br />
on time. Late applications are rarely, if ever,<br />
accepted.<br />
33 Breakfast Every Day
Chapter<br />
12<br />
Promoting the Breakfast Program<br />
Children’s breakfast programs are established<br />
in response to an identified need. Their aim is<br />
to encourage every student to eat a nutritious<br />
breakfast before school in an effort to maximise<br />
potential to learn, and improve educational<br />
outcomes. So why are some breakfast programs<br />
not sufficiently patronised whilst others are<br />
bursting at the seams? The value of breakfast<br />
is not in dispute. Obvious obstacles to the<br />
success of a breakfast program revolve around<br />
staffing and funding issues, however even when<br />
a program is up and running smoothly, barriers<br />
to their use often need to be overcome. Those<br />
barriers can originate from teachers, parents,<br />
and even students themselves.<br />
A strong promotion strategy can overcome<br />
potential barriers to attendance, and will<br />
significantly increase the breakfast program’s<br />
chance of successful implementation, support,<br />
and sustainability. The strategy will need to<br />
focus on four different ‘target groups’; the<br />
children at school to encourage their attendance;<br />
the parents of the children to encourage them<br />
to volunteer (and to support their children<br />
attending); teaching staff, and community<br />
business and other organisations to encourage<br />
them to support your breakfast program. A<br />
key factor to consider for all four groups, is the<br />
need for persistence and repetition to help build<br />
familiarity, and to increase the likelihood of the<br />
breakfast program message being ‘received’ at<br />
the right time (which is often not the first time).<br />
To Students<br />
It is important that the breakfast program be<br />
promoted and offered to the entire school to<br />
reduce the possibility of stigma being attached<br />
to the program. Clearly, most children eat<br />
breakfast before leaving home, however studies<br />
show that on any one day up to 40% of children<br />
1, 2<br />
will not have eaten breakfast . As discussed<br />
in Chapter 1, The Importance of Breakfast for<br />
Children, financial difficulty is only one reason<br />
that children do not eat breakfast. Casting the<br />
promotional net wide, across the whole school,<br />
will bring in those children who, for whatever<br />
reason, have missed breakfast. In so doing,<br />
those children whose families are experiencing<br />
financial hardship will be included without being<br />
identified as such.<br />
Much of the attraction of the program for the<br />
children will depend on how it is presented and<br />
how it is ‘sold’ to them before they even get in<br />
the door. Make the breakfast program sound<br />
(and be!) appetizing, eg.; ‘Come along for Great<br />
food & Great company’, ‘Start your day full of<br />
energy’, ‘Fruit, Toast, & Fun Times’. Promote<br />
it as a happy place; ‘Happy, <strong>Healthy</strong> and…not<br />
Hungry!’, ‘Brekky with your Besties’, ‘Chill and<br />
eat your fill’… Try to focus away from the health<br />
aspect and more on the enjoyment; promote as<br />
‘good to eat’ rather than ‘good for you’.<br />
Involving students in the establishment of<br />
the breakfast program from the beginning<br />
will increase their sense of ‘ownership’ and<br />
be an encouragement to attend in itself. Ask<br />
the children to name the program, develop a<br />
logo, or make posters or promotional flyers.<br />
34
Promoting the Breakfast Program<br />
Consider conducting a naming or poster painting<br />
competition to raise interest in the new club.<br />
Ensure posters or flyers are well placed around<br />
the school not only in the breakfast program<br />
venue, for example in the vicinity of the school<br />
canteen, on the school notice board, and in other<br />
shared areas. Ask teachers if they would be<br />
interested in placing a poster on the wall of their<br />
classroom.<br />
The breakfast program can be promoted<br />
regularly to the children at school assemblies,<br />
possibly combined with a short message about<br />
the importance of a healthy breakfast and eating<br />
well. Ask the school principal if you could address<br />
the teachers at a staff meeting to ensure they<br />
understand the reasons for the establishment of<br />
the breakfast program, and to ask if they would<br />
be willing to remind their class how important it<br />
is they have breakfast – at home or with their<br />
friends at the breakfast club. Perhaps the<br />
staff would be interested in becoming involved<br />
themselves, either as an occasional participant,<br />
or as a volunteer helper (in a non-teacher role).<br />
Advertising the breakfast program in the school<br />
newsletter will inform parents about the breakfast<br />
program (many of whom will be aware of the needs<br />
assessment so it shouldn’t come as a surprise),<br />
and ensure they understand the reasons for its<br />
establishment. Parents can also remind children<br />
about the program if for any reason their child<br />
does not have breakfast at home. Consider<br />
approaching the local free newspaper to advertise<br />
in their community pages, or to submit a local<br />
story about the program for them to publish,<br />
particularly if the breakfast program is not held in<br />
school premises. An example of a media release<br />
is included in this resource (Appendix 15).<br />
To encourage sustained participation, consider<br />
end of term prizes for attendance or good<br />
behaviour, or introduce a loyalty card not unlike<br />
the coffee reward systems that abound, and<br />
always increase promotion of the club at the<br />
beginning of each term. As mentioned, repetition<br />
and persistence is of vital importance to the<br />
establishment of the breakfast program. It can<br />
take a surprisingly lengthy amount of time for the<br />
program to establish itself as an integral part of<br />
the school community. Try not to get disillusioned,<br />
particularly early on when attendance can be<br />
unpredictable, even if you do feel like you are<br />
saying the same things over, and over, and over<br />
again!<br />
At the end of the day, the most convincing<br />
promotional tool at your disposal is the children<br />
who attend the breakfast program. If they’re<br />
enthusiastic about it, nothing will stop them from<br />
telling their friends!<br />
To Parents<br />
Parental support is crucial to the acceptance and<br />
use of the breakfast program. Anecdotal evidence<br />
in this region suggests that parents often prevent<br />
their child from attending the breakfast program<br />
because they fear how it will reflect on their<br />
family reputation. It is vitally important parents<br />
are aware of the need that has been identified<br />
within your school community, and the reasons<br />
the breakfast program is open to the whole<br />
school student body, not to specifically targeted<br />
children. Attendance at the program should not<br />
automatically imply poverty or neglect, and will<br />
not if the breakfast club is presented positively<br />
and enthusiastically to the whole school. It<br />
needs to be stressed again, financial hardship<br />
is only one of the many reasons children are<br />
References:<br />
1. Australian Bureau of Statistics, 1997, National Nutrition Survey: Selected Highlights<br />
2. University of Sydney, 2001, Children’s Nutrition and Physical Activity Study.<br />
35 Breakfast Every Day
missing breakfast For example, lots of children<br />
just aren’t hungry early in the morning and will<br />
create a fuss if parents try and force them to eat.<br />
However, no matter what the reason for going<br />
without breakfast, the results are all the same;<br />
behaviour and concentration in class is effected<br />
to the detriment of the child and their class mates’<br />
education. An example of a handout for parents<br />
is included in this resource (Appendix 13).<br />
The school newsletter can be used to inform<br />
parents, clarify operating details, and, importantly,<br />
to reassure them. It can also be used to attract<br />
parents to lend a hand. Many schools find it<br />
difficult to engage parents, often due to work<br />
commitments and other restrictions on their<br />
time, but also sometimes as a result of a general<br />
disinterest. The creativity used, and enthusiasm<br />
with which you promote the breakfast club to<br />
catch the interest of parents, and maintain it,<br />
counts.<br />
Advertising in the school newsletter is the most<br />
common approach to promoting school activities<br />
and attracting potential volunteers. However<br />
newsletter articles are also often overlooked,<br />
so focus on making the article stand out. Try<br />
to appeal to a wider audience including people<br />
who are interested in helping out, but unable to<br />
make an 8am start. Use catchy headlines such<br />
as “The Breakfast Club needs YOU! If not you,<br />
then your fruit salad, your home cooked muffins,<br />
slices of oven baked omelete, banana bread,<br />
pikelets..”. Don’t forget to promote to Dads; ask<br />
if they could pop in for half an hour a day/a week<br />
on their way to work and spend quality time with<br />
their child and his/her school friends, eg. “Brekky<br />
Club Kids Demand Dad Jokes!”.<br />
Be specific when advertising for volunteers so<br />
people know what they are getting themselves<br />
into. Ask for a BBQ hand to cook up bacon and<br />
egg muffins once a term, Chief Toast Maker,<br />
Major Milk Shake Maker, CEO of Hot Milo, even<br />
Student Supervisor to appeal to those parents<br />
who don’t wish to be involved in food preparation.<br />
An example of newsletter advert is included in<br />
this resource (Appendix 14).<br />
Focus on the benefits of volunteering rather<br />
than the needs of the breakfast program, eg.<br />
volunteers have been shown to be happier<br />
with life than people who don’t volunteer in any<br />
capacity; “Volunteer at Brekky Club – it’s Good<br />
For You, and Great For your Kids!”. Use a positive<br />
approach to a potentially negative aspect of the<br />
early start, eg. volunteering to help out requires an<br />
early start but frees the day up for other activities.<br />
Again, the most convincing promotional tool<br />
at your disposal is the volunteering experience<br />
itself. Make the breakfast club a nice, cheerful<br />
place for children to spend time before school,<br />
and it will be a nice comfortable place for people<br />
to volunteer their time – and they will spread the<br />
word.<br />
To teaching staff<br />
Breakfast programs work best when fully<br />
supported by teaching staff. When conducting<br />
your assessment of need for the program, ensure<br />
you engage teaching staff and address issues of<br />
concern before they become embedded. When<br />
the program is up and running, consider regularly<br />
addressing staff meetings to update them on the<br />
program and its benefits and success. Even better<br />
if the teachers can drop in and use the breakfast<br />
program themselves occasionally so they can<br />
see the program in action for themselves, and<br />
also engage with the children on a more informal<br />
basis.<br />
Be prepared to address issues of concern raised<br />
by teachers which can include supervision<br />
responsibilities (and concerns the breakfast<br />
program might increase their workload),<br />
children being late for class or eating in class,<br />
36
and the belief breakfast is solely the family’s<br />
responsibility. Engage teachers in the breakfast<br />
program by seeking their advice on activities<br />
you could introduce, or perhaps by working<br />
together to improve links between breakfast and<br />
lessons (see Chapter 15, Activities at Breakfast).<br />
Emphasise the link between learning, behaviour,<br />
concentration and breakfast, stressing a<br />
breakfast program can make their job easier!<br />
To potential sponsors<br />
Engaging business and organisations in the<br />
community, and securing vital support for your<br />
breakfast program will quite often come down to<br />
how you present ‘what’s in it for them’. Competition<br />
for support is fierce, and all community causes are<br />
worthwhile. Success may depend on your ability<br />
to not only present a convincing argument for the<br />
need for the breakfast program and it’s impact on<br />
the lives of local school children, but also on the<br />
presentation of a solid ‘win/win’ proposal.<br />
The importance of breakfast, the need identified<br />
for a breakfast program generally, and as<br />
identified in your needs assessment, and the<br />
impact of providing before school breakfast<br />
programs on those children, are all discussed<br />
in detail throughout this resource. The sample<br />
letter included in this resource summarises those<br />
important facts (Appendix 11). As discussed in<br />
Chapter 11, Funding – how to apply, people like<br />
giving to people, so be sure to highlight your local<br />
findings and emphasise that any support they are<br />
able to provide will go straight to helping kids in<br />
their own community.<br />
Ultimately however, business is just that - they<br />
are not a charity, they are in business. Consider<br />
what you can offer in return for support of the<br />
breakfast program, and present this as a business<br />
proposition; sponsorship is a recognised<br />
marketing tool with value in the market place.<br />
Support offered will probably vary between<br />
businesses, and it is important not to undersell<br />
what you can offer. Determine a variety of levels<br />
of promotion you are able to offer depending on<br />
the support provided, for example, in return for<br />
a one off donation, a thank you in the school<br />
newsletter. Promote the breakfast program to<br />
them in terms of what their involvement can do<br />
to help them market their business. In return for<br />
‘a’ we can offer you ‘b’, which will result in ‘c’ - a<br />
boost in sales.<br />
Linking in with your breakfast program will enable<br />
business to establish goodwill and increase<br />
visibility in the local community. It will enhance<br />
their public profile with relatively little outlay. If<br />
t<strong>here</strong> is competition in the local market, it can<br />
give a business a competitive edge… priceless!<br />
Promotional opportunities for business abound,<br />
including direct advertising and development of<br />
public relations. Think creatively about it.<br />
Advertising is a huge cost for business, so ask<br />
them to consider investing their advertising dollar<br />
in the breakfast program, and you will take care<br />
of the advertising. Advertising benefits include<br />
the wide distribution of posters acknowledging<br />
and thanking them for their support. Ensure<br />
you provide the business with their own copies<br />
to display at the workplace, promoting their<br />
‘community spirit’ to their customers, t<strong>here</strong>by<br />
encouraging their continued custom. High<br />
visibility of the posters in school will serve to<br />
promote the business and its support of local<br />
families. Include the logo/business name on all<br />
correspondence regarding the breakfast program<br />
eg., “Gong Town Breakfast Program, proudly<br />
supported by Breads R US – the bread kids<br />
love”. Ask the business if it produces promotional<br />
t-shirts or hats featuring their business logo, and<br />
wear them whilst at the club.<br />
Think of how you can generate publicity to<br />
promote the breakfast program and its supporters.<br />
Good publicity has great value. Write a letter to<br />
the editor of the local newspaper complimenting<br />
the business on their generosity, or better yet,<br />
consider preparing a media release about the<br />
program. In it you could create a news story;<br />
the establishment of a much needed breakfast<br />
37 Breakfast Every Day
program, and of its new community saviour,<br />
the sponsor. You could host an event such as<br />
a celebratory breakfast, and invite media along.<br />
Invite locally based celebrities to increase your<br />
chance of good media coverage, all the while<br />
ensuring promotional posters are visible, and<br />
stressing how this great breakfast program<br />
wouldn’t be possible without the wonderful<br />
support of ‘Breads R Us’.<br />
entering into any agreements with potential<br />
supporters of the breakfast program. The<br />
documents provide a guide to acknowledgement<br />
and endorsement of sponsors, use of logos and<br />
signage, website use, and level of clearance<br />
required – essential reading if your breakfast<br />
program is held on public school premises. Both<br />
policies can be accessed at www.det.nsw.edu.<br />
au/policies.<br />
Media or Press Releases generally follow a<br />
standard format and aren’t at all difficult to prepare.<br />
In it you need to outline what is happening, when<br />
it is happening, why it is happening, and who to<br />
contact for further information. If t<strong>here</strong> are photo<br />
opportunities be sure to state this clearly as<br />
newspapers are particularly keen on stories with<br />
a chance of good pictures. Before photographing<br />
children for any purpose however, please ensure<br />
parental consent has been obtained. Most<br />
schools seek permission from parents each year<br />
as part of standard record keeping procedures,<br />
and copies of relevant forms are kept on student<br />
files.<br />
Print your media release on letterhead if possible,<br />
keep it to one page, and fax or email it to the<br />
editors of local papers, and the news editors<br />
of local radio and television. If you don’t hear<br />
anything after a few days, consider following up<br />
with a phone call to ensure it has been received<br />
by the relevant journalist. An example of a media<br />
release is included in this resource (Appendix<br />
15).<br />
A cautionary note, sponsors may readily<br />
recognise the benefits of their involvement in<br />
your breakfast program. You, however, will<br />
need to ensure the nature of their business is<br />
appropriate, and in keeping with the nature of<br />
the program. If the breakfast program is held on<br />
school premises, the Department of Education<br />
has developed strict ‘Sponsorship’ and separate<br />
‘Commercial Arrangements’ policies and<br />
guidelines. Please refer to the policies before<br />
38
Chapter<br />
13<br />
What to Serve?<br />
Good nutrition:<br />
If you are considering establishing a children’s<br />
breakfast program, t<strong>here</strong>’s a fair chance you fully<br />
recognise the importance of good nutrition to a<br />
child’s health and wellbeing, and understand the<br />
significant role breakfast plays in a balanced diet.<br />
The Australian Dietary Guidelines for Children<br />
and Adolescents recommend children eat a wide<br />
variety of nutritious foods taken from five basic<br />
food groups:<br />
• Breads, cereals, rice, pasta and noodles<br />
• Vegetables and legumes<br />
• Fruit<br />
• Milk, yoghurt and cheese<br />
• Meat, fish, poultry, eggs, nuts and<br />
legumes.<br />
Breakfast provides the opportunity to encourage<br />
children to eat foods from most, if not all, food<br />
groups giving them a head start on attaining an<br />
adequate nutrient intake each day. Children who<br />
don’t eat breakfast at all are more likely to miss<br />
out on vitally important nutrients such as calcium,<br />
thiamine, riboflavin and iron.<br />
A balanced, healthy breakfast should be rich in<br />
complex carbohydrate (including fibre), moderate<br />
in protein, and low in fat and sugar. For many<br />
of us though, this means little, we just want to<br />
get the kids fed - quick! If you want to know<br />
more about what it all means however, t<strong>here</strong> are<br />
countless websites that provide information about<br />
balanced diets, and the nutritional requirements<br />
of children. Take care though, as with all things<br />
‘Internet’, not all information is reliable. To ensure<br />
the information you are seeking is accurate and<br />
the advice current, two sites are recommended;<br />
NSW government’s www.healthykids.nsw.gov.au<br />
, and NSW School Canteen Association/<strong>Healthy</strong><br />
Kids Association’s website www.schoolcanteens.<br />
org.au. Nutrition Australia also has a useful<br />
range of fact sheets on children and nutrition,<br />
www.nutritionaustralia.org .<br />
Food served at breakfast programs often includes<br />
pre-packaged goods such as cereal and toast<br />
spreads, so it is also useful to have some idea<br />
of food labeling and what it all means. All prepackaged<br />
foods in Australia carry labels providing<br />
basic information about what is in the food, a<br />
list of ingredients and nutrition information, and<br />
how best to handle the food. All labeling must<br />
conform to the labeling provisions of the national<br />
Food Standards Code. For further information<br />
about food labeling and nutrition information see<br />
www.foodauthority.nsw.gov.au.<br />
Many products also make certain nutritional<br />
claims about their product including ‘lite’, ‘natural’<br />
or ‘reduced fat’, which all sound very healthy – but<br />
are they? Food labels are required by Australian<br />
law to tell the truth, but the truth isn’t necessarily<br />
clear and readily understood by the user of<br />
the product. Before you spend your breakfast<br />
program’s hard earned funds, know what you<br />
might be paying a premium for, and if it’s worth the<br />
money in your circumstances. The Frequently<br />
Used Nutrition Claims fact sheet prepared by the<br />
<strong>Healthy</strong> Kids Association (Appendix 16) will help<br />
decipher all those confusing assertions.<br />
39 Breakfast Every Day
Another common claim on certain food products<br />
is ‘low GI’; does that mean it’s healthy and<br />
should the children eat more of it? The Glycemic<br />
Index (GI) is based on how slowly or rapidly a<br />
carbohydrate food is digested and absorbed by<br />
the body. It is a ranking of foods from 0 to 100<br />
that tells us whether a food will raise blood sugar<br />
levels a little, moderately or dramatically. Slow<br />
release carbohydrates, raising blood sugar levels<br />
just a little, for longer, are considered desirable<br />
for health: Low GI = 55 or less, Moderate GI =<br />
59-69, and High GI foods are 70 or more on the<br />
index.<br />
The overall nutritional value of the food is still the<br />
most important factor to consider when choosing<br />
a food – for example, chocolate is not a healthier<br />
food than a mango because chocolate has a<br />
lower GI (still useful to know when it comes to<br />
justifying that binge however!). A good rule of<br />
thumb for busy breakfast program coordinators<br />
is to always consider the nutritional value of a<br />
food first, then the GI. Having said that, generally<br />
speaking, wholegrain foods, especially food<br />
w<strong>here</strong> grain is visible, are both low GI and the<br />
best option nutritionally.<br />
‘Use by’ dates are used on perishable foods, such<br />
as meat, fish and dairy products, that may be<br />
unsafe to eat after a certain date due to bacteria<br />
build up, or because the nutrients in the food<br />
become unstable. It is illegal to sell foods after<br />
their use by date has expired. Food products<br />
with ‘best before’ date marks are, on the other<br />
hand, still safe to eat after the date has expired<br />
if the product is not damaged, deteriorated or<br />
perished. ‘Best before’ indicates the product<br />
may have lost some of its quality and some<br />
nutritional value after this date but food stored<br />
correctly can still be legally sold after this date.<br />
For further information about date marks refer to<br />
www.foodauthority.nsw.gov.au .<br />
Finally, although not directly relevant to the<br />
nutritional status of foods but whilst on the topic of<br />
labeling, food labels must also include date mark<br />
labels. Given the dependence of many breakfast<br />
programs on donated and reduced priced food<br />
it is important to know what the different date<br />
marks mean. All food with a shelf life of less than<br />
two years must be date marked. Many canned<br />
foods, such as baked beans for example, do<br />
not carry these marks because they keep their<br />
quality and are safe to eat beyond two years.<br />
Other foods carry the date they were manufactured<br />
or packed so you can tell how fresh the food is.<br />
Most packaged food will, however, carry either a<br />
‘use-by’ or ‘best before’ date mark. It is important<br />
to understand the difference between the two<br />
terms.<br />
40
Menu suggestions:<br />
The nutritional content of the food served at<br />
breakfast programs is clearly very important,<br />
however t<strong>here</strong> are a number of other issues to<br />
also consider when planning the menu. The<br />
budget you have at your disposal to spend on<br />
food will often dictate what you are able to serve,<br />
as will any food donations, kitchen facilities<br />
and equipment available to you, the number of<br />
volunteers to help prepare and serve, and the<br />
number of children you need to serve in a set time.<br />
Other factors that may need to be considered are<br />
the presence of any food allergies or diet-related<br />
conditions such as coeliac disease, seasonal<br />
availability of food, and cultural appropriateness.<br />
Feedback from children often also plays a role in<br />
menu planning.<br />
Most breakfast programs in the region have<br />
a standard menu each day overwhelmingly<br />
determined by cost, ease of storage, and speed<br />
of preparation. Daily breakfast should include<br />
a serving of fruit or vegetables, a serve of<br />
protein food such as dairy products and eggs,<br />
and a serving of bread or cereal. The important<br />
thing to try and remember is that, generally, the<br />
greater the variety of foods served, the healthier<br />
the breakfast.<br />
Cereal<br />
The cereal aisle at the supermarket is packed<br />
with a vast range of cereals, many specifically<br />
aimed at the junior market, making selection<br />
based on anything other than cost a nightmare.<br />
So which cereal should you choose to serve<br />
at the breakfast program? Over all, base your<br />
selection on high fibre and low sugar content<br />
before considering the added vitamins and<br />
minerals many ‘junior cereals’ promote. A good<br />
rule of thumb is to look at the ingredients list –<br />
it should be short, meaning the cereal is less<br />
processed, and a grain should be listed first. A<br />
good wholegrain cereal is one with at least 10g<br />
of total fibre per 100g of cereal. Avoid cereals<br />
with lots of added ingredients such as honey,<br />
molasses, sugar (dextrose or maltose), corn<br />
syrup, salt, nuts, coconut and vegetable oils.<br />
Consumer magazine, CHOICE, has<br />
developed a website to provide reliable<br />
expert advice to help address the problems<br />
associated with making healthy food choices,<br />
www.choicefoodforkids.com.au. CHOICE<br />
highlights the fact that close to 70 % of products<br />
in the ‘junior’ cereal market, one that directly<br />
targets children under the age of 12, are closer<br />
to confectionery than healthy food. The site<br />
regularly conducts nutritional reviews of cereals<br />
specifically targeted at children, using the now<br />
familiar ‘traffic light’ labeling system to guide<br />
consumers to the most nutritious cereal for their<br />
children. The following selection of ‘junior’ cereal<br />
came out on top:<br />
• Sanitarium Weet-bix kids and Honey<br />
Weets<br />
• Lowan Honey O’s<br />
• Nature’s Path Envirokidz Amazon Flakes,<br />
Gorilla Munch, and Orangutan-O’s.<br />
The final consideration, particularly for breakfast<br />
programs serving donated cereals, and one<br />
that CHOICE makes a point of stating, is that<br />
although far from ideal, most ‘junior’ cereals are<br />
better than no breakfast at all - and the added<br />
vitamins and minerals they contain as well as<br />
calcium from the milk served with it are a bonus.<br />
A review of ‘best’ family cereals (those considered<br />
more nutritious than most popular cereals even<br />
with the addition of a teaspoon of sugar) resulted<br />
in the following recommendations from CHOICE:<br />
• Kellogg’s Sultana Bran<br />
• Uncle Toby’s Vita Weeties, Vita Brits,<br />
Fruity Bites Wild Berry<br />
• Sanitarium Weetbix and Weet-bix Fruity<br />
Wild Berry<br />
• Nestle Cheerios.<br />
41 Breakfast Every Day
It is highly recommended that breakfast<br />
programs discourage the use of added sugar;<br />
if extra sweetness is required consider topping<br />
cereal with chopped fruit. In the experience of<br />
some breakfast programs in the region however,<br />
children may refuse to eat the cereal without the<br />
addition of sugar. If weaning them off the added<br />
sweetener isn’t working and t<strong>here</strong> is no other<br />
alternative, ensure application of sugar is scant,<br />
and supervised by an adult.<br />
Milk & Dairy<br />
Milk and other dairy products are an important,<br />
easily absorbed, source of calcium and other<br />
nutrients for children, vital for good bones, growth<br />
and development. However recent studies in this<br />
country found that the vast majority of children<br />
consume less than the recommended three or<br />
more serves of calcium a day (a ‘serve’ being a<br />
glass of milk or calcium added soy beverage, a<br />
tub of yogurt, or a couple of slices of cheese).<br />
One of the simplest ways to ensure a good daily<br />
intake of calcium is to eat breakfast. If cereal<br />
is served at the breakfast program it is usually<br />
served with milk. If the children prefer toast try<br />
to ensure they are offered at least one serve of<br />
calcium, ie. a glass of milk to drink, a small tub<br />
of yoghurt, or a slice of cheese on the toast, for<br />
example.<br />
The Australian Dietary Guidelines recommend<br />
children over the age of 2 years eat reduced-fat<br />
varieties of dairy w<strong>here</strong> possible. Reduced fat<br />
varieties of dairy food generally contain 75% or<br />
less of the fat in the equivalent full-fat product,<br />
and often contain more calcium. Unfortunately,<br />
full-fat products, particularly milk, are often<br />
cheaper than reduced fat, but paying the extra is<br />
a worthwhile investment in good health.<br />
UHT milk is a convenient staple to keep in the<br />
cupboard for when the fresh milk runs out, and<br />
nutritionally t<strong>here</strong> is little difference between the<br />
two. UHT milk is heated briefly to kill microbes<br />
that would otherwise sour the milk. It does not<br />
contain any additives, and the heating process<br />
does not affect the milk’s calcium or protein<br />
content. Once opened however, like fresh milk,<br />
UHT milk needs to be refrigerated to slow down<br />
the growth of microbes caused by the introduction<br />
of oxygen.<br />
If children attending the breakfast program say<br />
they don’t like the taste of milk or soy milk, they<br />
rarely say no to milkshakes, smoothies, or the<br />
addition of Milo; icy cold in summer and warm in<br />
winter.<br />
CHOICE Food for Kids website<br />
(www.choicefoodforkids,com,au) investigated<br />
the nutritional status of Nestle’s Milo, which<br />
is promoted as being ‘Low GI for slow release<br />
energy’. Choice found that ‘low GI’ is actually<br />
a feature of the milk mixed into the Milo rather<br />
than the added Milo itself. Milo also promotes<br />
its’ ‘6 essential vitamins and minerals’. Again,<br />
the calcium content is in the milk, however the<br />
Milo does contribute most of the vitamin A, B1<br />
and B2 and all of the iron and vitamin C to the<br />
drink. Milo also contains a moderate amount of<br />
sugar so don’t be tempted to add more than the<br />
recommended four heaped teaspoons of MILO<br />
to 1 cup of (low-fat) milk. So, all in all, not a bad<br />
addition to the breakfast menu – nutritionally or<br />
‘GI-wise’.<br />
Bread<br />
Toast and english muffins are ever popular at<br />
breakfast programs; they’re cheap, quick to<br />
prepare, quick to eat, and tasty. When it comes<br />
to bread for breakfast, wholemeal and high-fibre<br />
white are very good, but wholegrain is best.<br />
Wholegrain is a great source of dietary fibre and<br />
B group vitamins, and is low GI to boot so the<br />
kids feel fuller for longer. If the choice is between<br />
white and wholemeal (brown) always go for the<br />
wholemeal which, slice for slice, contains four<br />
times more fibre, three times more zinc, and<br />
twice as much iron as ordinary white bread.<br />
42
Butter or margarine?<br />
Deciding which ‘yellow’ spread to use at<br />
breakfast programs on a nutritional content<br />
basis is complicated, so much so nutritionist Dr<br />
Rosemary Stanton suggests going for ‘green’<br />
instead – avocado! A suggestion that may not<br />
always be practical for breakfast programs<br />
however. Both margarine and butter are basically<br />
fats, so whichever you choose, spread the toast<br />
sparingly.<br />
Butter contains roughly double the amount of<br />
saturated fat (increasing ‘bad’ cholesterol) in<br />
regular margarine. However the only additive<br />
in butter is salt, so the choice to use butter is<br />
often made on preferred taste, and it being a<br />
more ‘natural’ product. Butter/oil blends may<br />
be a better option as it reduces the amount of<br />
saturated fat and, a consideration for busy<br />
breakfast programs, it is easier to spread.<br />
Even butter/oil blends contain more saturated<br />
fat than margarine however, and for this reason,<br />
Nutrition Australia recommends the use of<br />
polyunsaturated or monounsaturated (increasing<br />
‘good’ cholesterol) margarines over butter.<br />
For breakfast programs, the added bonus is<br />
margarine is easier to spread in a hurry. Not<br />
all margarines are the same, and it is important<br />
to check ingredients labels if wanting to make<br />
a selection based on health benefits. Look for<br />
margarines high in unsaturated fats and with<br />
less than 1% trans fats. Dr Stanton considers<br />
monosaturated products containing a mixture of<br />
olive and canola oils, the best choice of margarine,<br />
and recommends avoiding margarines containing<br />
plant sterols to lower cholesterol, as they are not<br />
suitable for children.<br />
Fruit<br />
Children should be eating at least 2 serves of fruit<br />
every day, and breakfast is a great time to serve<br />
it. Many children miss out on fruit every day, so<br />
even if funds are tight for the breakfast program,<br />
it is recommended fruit be included in the menu<br />
as a priority for the breakfast program. Fresh fruit<br />
is usually served, but frozen, stewed, and tinned<br />
with no added sugar, are also nutritious, tasty<br />
and convenient options for breakfast programs.<br />
Used with care due to its high levels of natural<br />
sugars, dried fruit is also a good alternative. A<br />
serve of fruit is classified as:<br />
1 medium piece of fruit such as an apple<br />
2 small pieces of fruit such as plums<br />
1 cup of canned or frozen fruit<br />
1 cup of grapes or chopped fresh fruit<br />
4 dried apricot halves<br />
1 ½ tbsp sultanas.<br />
Chopped fruit platters are often a more<br />
appetizing and less wasteful way to serve fresh<br />
fruit to children, particularly small ones who can<br />
find whole pieces of fruit ‘intimidating’. Other<br />
ways to serve it include adding to low fat vanilla<br />
yoghurt, topping cereal, or blend with milk to<br />
make smoothies. Apple ‘twirlies’ are always<br />
popular, and the outlay for a twirly machine is a<br />
great investment for the breakfast program.<br />
Due to its high sugar content, and its lack of<br />
fibre and other nutrients found in whole fruit, fruit<br />
juice is not a good alternative to fruit at breakfast<br />
programs.<br />
43 Breakfast Every Day
What to drink?<br />
Fruit juice is often regarded the traditional<br />
breakfast drink for children. However, juice<br />
contains high levels of sugar – as much sugar<br />
as most soft drinks, and is t<strong>here</strong>fore not a<br />
recommended beverage for breakfast programs.<br />
If it is served, offer each child no more than 125ml,<br />
half a glass, or dilute a small glass of juice 50:50<br />
with water. A much better alternative is to offer<br />
the children a glass of water and a piece of fruit.<br />
Water is the preferred beverage to serve at<br />
children’s breakfast programs. Drinking chilled<br />
tap water is the best way to quench thirst without<br />
consuming excess sugar and energy. It is cheap<br />
and readily available, with the added bonus<br />
of fluoride to help protect against tooth decay.<br />
Reduced fat milk is also a good option to offer<br />
children.<br />
Encouraging children to eat well<br />
This may be a bit of an understatement, but<br />
sometimes getting children to eat healthier is a<br />
bit of a battle. The following tips can help you<br />
fight that battle:<br />
1. Patience is essential…research shows<br />
children often need more than 10 exposures to<br />
a new food before they accept it – persistence<br />
pays!<br />
4. Most of all, try not to refer to food as ‘good food’<br />
or ‘bad food’ – you run the risk of younger children<br />
associating healthy foods with unpleasant tastes,<br />
and unhealthy foods as treats and rewards.<br />
5. Present the food attractively – children like<br />
their food to look good and be fun.<br />
To encourage children to eat well try not to rely<br />
on the same food prepared the same way very<br />
day. Some ideas to alleviate breakfast boredom<br />
are:<br />
• raisin toast topped with ricotta cheese and<br />
chopped strawberries<br />
• baked beans on toast (a small spoonful<br />
in the middle of the toast will enable the<br />
children to eat it with their hands)<br />
• scrambled eggs on toast (as above –<br />
doing away with the need for a knife and<br />
fork, and quick to eat)<br />
• toasted muffins with sliced cheese and<br />
tomato<br />
• boiled eggs and vegemite soldiers<br />
• toast thinly spread with honey, topped with<br />
sliced banana<br />
• grated apple or pear added to pancake<br />
mix<br />
• grilled cheese on toast<br />
• half a pita bread, spread with ricotta<br />
cheese, top with chopped apple or<br />
sultanas, and rolled up.<br />
2. Start slowly - Introduce one ‘new’ food a time.<br />
Try having a ‘taster bar’ as part of your breakfast<br />
menu once a week, with bite-size pieces of fruit,<br />
and new foods. Talk together about the food’s<br />
colour, shape, size, smell and texture.<br />
3. Encourage socialisation by having the children<br />
sit at the table with each other, teaching them<br />
mealtimes are about sharing and talking as well<br />
as eating. They are more likely to try new foods<br />
if their friends are eating it too.<br />
45 Breakfast Every Day
Recipes<br />
The fo lowing simple and nutritious recipes wi l also add lots of interest to breakfast time.<br />
Banana Porridge (4 serves)<br />
Ingredients:<br />
3 cups whole porridge oats<br />
500ml skim or reduced fat milk<br />
2 mashed bananas<br />
Handful of chopped nuts<br />
Honey or marmalade to taste<br />
Directions:<br />
Soak the oats in a little water. Add half the milk and simmer. As the mix begins to<br />
thicken add the banana and nuts, topping up with the rest of the milk to keep a firm<br />
but moist consistency. Stir in a spoon of honey or marmalade to sweeten. Heat<br />
through but don’t boil and serve with a sprinkle of cinnamon.<br />
Apple porridge (1-2 serves)<br />
Ingredients:<br />
1 cup water<br />
¼ cup apple juice<br />
1 diced apple<br />
2/3 cup porridge oats<br />
1 tsp cinnamon<br />
1 cup milk<br />
Directions:<br />
Place water, juice and apples in a saucepan and bring to boil. Stir in rolled oats and<br />
cinnamon. Return to boil, reduce heat and simmer until thick. Serve hot with milk.<br />
46
Porridge for a crowd<br />
Ingredients for 10 serves:<br />
3 cups porridge oats<br />
3 cups water<br />
1 litre reduced fat milk<br />
3 tbsp sugar<br />
Ingredients for 20 serves:<br />
6 cups porridge oats<br />
1 ½ litre water<br />
2 litres milk<br />
½ cup sugar<br />
Ingredients for 30 serves:<br />
9 cups porridge oats<br />
2 ¼ litres water<br />
3 litres milk<br />
¾ cup sugar<br />
Directions:<br />
Place oats water and milk into large saucepan. Bring to the boil over medium-high heat,<br />
stirring occasionally. Reduce the heat, cover and cook gently until thick and creamy<br />
(about 12 minutes), stirring regularly. Stir in the sugar and serve.<br />
Banana Honey Pancakes (makes 16)<br />
Ingredients:<br />
2 cups SR flour<br />
2tsp ground cinnamon<br />
¼ tsp baking powder<br />
2 eggs<br />
1 cup reduced fat milk<br />
2 Tblsp honey<br />
50g butter, melted<br />
2 bananas<br />
Directions:<br />
Sift flour, cinnamon and baking powder into bowl.<br />
Whisk together eggs, milk, honey and 2 tablespoons of the melted butter.<br />
Pour into flour mixture together with 1 mashed banana. Stir well.<br />
Heat a non-stick frying pan over a med low heat.<br />
Brush with a little of the melted butter and spoon in 2 tbsp of the batter.<br />
Cook for about 2 minutes until small holes begin to appear on the top.<br />
Flip and cook the other side for about 1 minute until golden.<br />
Remove to a clean plate and cover with a clean tea towel to keep warm.<br />
To serve, top with sliced remaining banana (or mash the banana if very ripe, and use as<br />
a spread) and drizzle with a little extra honey.<br />
47 Breakfast Every Day
Recipes<br />
Apple Pancakes (makes 10)<br />
Ingredients:<br />
½ cup quick-cooking porridge oats<br />
2 cups water<br />
2 cups pancake mix<br />
½ cup shredded apple<br />
1 tbsp sugar<br />
½ tsp cinnamon<br />
Directions:<br />
Combine oats and water and let stand 5 minutes. Add remaining ingredients (batter will<br />
be thin). For each pancake, pour ¼ cup batter into lightly greased hot fry pan. Cook<br />
1-1 ½ minutes, turning when edges look cooked and bubbles begin to break on surface.<br />
Continue to cook for another minute or so until golden brown.<br />
Apple-Sultana Bread Pudding (10 serves)<br />
(made day before – delicious for breakfast)<br />
Ingredients:<br />
2 cups whole milk<br />
3/4 cup sugar<br />
4 eggs<br />
3 tbsp melted butter<br />
¼ tsp ground cinnamon<br />
Pinch salt<br />
7 slices bread, crust removed, chopped<br />
1 large apple, chopped<br />
2/3 cup sultanas<br />
Extra cinnamon<br />
Directions:<br />
Preheat oven to 180ºC. Grease baking dish. Whisk first 6 ingredients in large bowl to<br />
blend. Fold in bread, apple and sultanas. Pour batter into greased baking dish and<br />
bake for 30 minutes. Sprinkle with extra cinnamon and bake until top is golden and<br />
centre is set, about 35 minutes.<br />
48
Crustless Quiche (12 serves)<br />
(made day before – delicious for breakfast)<br />
Ingredients:<br />
1 cup reduced fat milk<br />
4 eggs<br />
1 cup grated zucchini<br />
225g corn kernels<br />
1 cup diced tomato<br />
½ cup self-raising flour<br />
1 cup low fat grated cheese.<br />
Directions:<br />
Preheat oven 180ºC. Beat milk and eggs. Add zucchini, corn and tomato. Add flour and<br />
cheese. Pour into greased slice or small muffin trays and bake for 20-25 minutes (less<br />
for muffins).<br />
Tiger Toast (a variation of an old familiar theme)<br />
Spread slices of toast with margarine and vegemite. Top with strips of reduced fat cheese<br />
to create a tiger stripe effect. A bit of fun for the kids that makes the cheese slices go<br />
further.<br />
Tiny Corn Tarts<br />
(Positive Food for Kids, Dr Jenny O’Dea)<br />
Ingredients:<br />
12 slices grainy bread<br />
1 egg<br />
2 tablespoons reduced fat milk<br />
440g can creamed corn (or baked beans), heated<br />
Directions:<br />
Preheat the oven to 190ºC. Cut a circle from each slice of bread to fit into a lightly<br />
greased muffin tin. Beat the egg and milk in a bowl. Brush both sides of the 12 bread<br />
circles with the milk mixture and press into the muffin tin. Bake for 10-15 minutes until<br />
golden. When cooled fill with warm creamed corn or baked beans. The cases will keep<br />
a couple of days, unfilled<br />
49 Breakfast Every Day
Recipes<br />
Fruit Bread Baskets (6 serves)<br />
(Baskets can be made beforehand and filled just before serving)<br />
Ingredients:<br />
6 slices fruit bread<br />
Oil spray<br />
2x150g reduced fat vanilla Crème Fruche<br />
2 kiwifruit, 6 strawberries and 2 bananas (selection can be varied)<br />
Directions:<br />
Remove crusts from bread and flatten with rolling pin<br />
Oil spray muffin pan and press bread into pan. Spray tops with oil spray<br />
Bake 180ºC oven for 8 minutes or so, until golden.<br />
When cooled spoon Fruche into bread cases<br />
Top with sliced fruit.<br />
Banana and Ricotta Fruit Bread Toasties (1 serve)<br />
(For those breakfast programs lucky enough to have access to a toasted sandwich<br />
maker)<br />
Ingredients:<br />
2 slices fruit bread<br />
1 tsp margarine<br />
2tbsp mashed banana<br />
1tbsp reduced fat ricotta<br />
ground ginger and cinnamon<br />
Directions:<br />
Spread 2 slices fruit bread lightly with butter. Place spread side down on heated toasted<br />
sandwich maker. Top bread with mashed banana, and ricotta. Sprinkle with spices. Top<br />
with second slice of bread, and cook until toasted.<br />
50
Muesli Magic (4 large serves)<br />
Ingredients:<br />
200g chopped strawberries<br />
2 chopped apples<br />
500g low fat strawberry yoghurt<br />
150g muesli<br />
Directions:<br />
Place half the fruit in the base of individual bowls, reserving a little for garnish. Spoon<br />
over half the yoghurt, and then half the muesli. Repeat to form layers, finishing with<br />
muesli.<br />
Garnish with reserved fruit and served chilled.<br />
51 Breakfast Every Day
Recipes<br />
Bircher Muesli with Orange (6 serves)<br />
(soak muesli overnight in orange juice then stir in fresh orange pieces before serving)<br />
Ingredients:<br />
2 cups rolled oats<br />
2/3 cup orange juice<br />
1 cup apricot-flavoured reduced fat yoghurt<br />
1 cup reduced fat yoghurt<br />
2 tablespoons honey<br />
1 cup sultanas<br />
1 cup of chopped orange segments<br />
Directions:<br />
1. Combine oats, orange juice, yoghurts and honey. Cover and set aside in the fridge for<br />
2 hours or overnight.<br />
2. Add the orange pieces and serve.<br />
52
Bircher Muesli with Orange (10 - 36 serves)<br />
(soak muesli overnight in orange juice then stir in fresh orange pieces before serving)<br />
Ingredients for 10:<br />
1 ½ cups self-raising flour<br />
¼ cup custard powder<br />
¼ cup sugar<br />
1 tablespoon oats or bran<br />
¾ cups chopped fruit (eg banana, apple,<br />
pear, berries)<br />
2 eggs<br />
100ml canola oil<br />
½ tablespoon vanilla essence<br />
210ml fruit juice or reduced fat milk<br />
Ingredients for 25:<br />
4 cups self-raising flour<br />
¾ cup custard powder<br />
½ cup sugar<br />
1/3 cup oats or bran<br />
2 ¼ cups chopped fruit (eg banana, apple,<br />
pear, berries)<br />
4 eggs<br />
250ml canola oil<br />
1 ½ tablespoon vanilla essence<br />
500ml fruit juice or reduced fat milk<br />
Ingredients for 36:<br />
6 cups self-raising flour<br />
1 cup custard powder<br />
¾ cup sugar<br />
½ cup oats or bran<br />
3 cups chopped fruit (eg banana, apple, pear, berries)<br />
6 eggs<br />
1 ½ cups canola oil<br />
2 tablespoons vanilla essence<br />
3 cups fruit juice or reduced fat milk<br />
Directions:<br />
Preheat oven to 180ºC. Sift flour and custard powder together and mix with sugar<br />
and bran. Add Fruit. Mix last 4 ingredients together and fold into flour mix. Spoon into<br />
greased muffin trays and cook for 20 minutes.<br />
53 Breakfast Every Day
Recipes<br />
Carrot and Sultana Muffins for a crowd<br />
Ingredients for 12:<br />
¼ cup canola oil<br />
2 (250g) grated carrot<br />
¼ cup honey<br />
¼ cup brown sugar<br />
2 eggs, beaten<br />
1/3 cup sultanas<br />
¼ cup reduced fat milk<br />
1 cup (125g) white self-raising flour<br />
¾ cup (100g) wholemeal self-raising flour<br />
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon<br />
Ingredients for 24:<br />
½ cup canola oil<br />
4 (500g) grated carrot<br />
½ cup honey<br />
½ cup brown sugar<br />
3 eggs, beaten<br />
2/3 cup sultanas<br />
½ cup reduced fat milk<br />
2 cups (250g) white self-raising flour<br />
1 ½ cups (200g) wholemeal self-raising flour<br />
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon<br />
Ingredients for 36:<br />
¾ cup canola oil<br />
6 (750g) grated carrot<br />
¾ cup honey<br />
¾ cup brown sugar<br />
4 eggs, beaten<br />
1 cup sultanas<br />
¾ cup reduced fat milk<br />
3 cups (375g) white self-raising flour<br />
2 ¼ cups (300g) wholemeal self-raising flour<br />
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon<br />
Directions:<br />
Preheat oven to 200ºC. Combine carrots, oil, honey, sugar, eggs, sultanas and milk.<br />
Sift the flours and cinnamon and stir into the carrot mixture until just combined. Divide<br />
mixture into greased muffin trays. Bake 15-20 minutes until set and golden brown.<br />
54
Fruit Muffins for a crowd<br />
Ingredients for 10:<br />
1 ½ cups self-raising flour<br />
¼ cup custard powder<br />
¼ cup sugar<br />
1 tablespoon oats or bran<br />
¾ cups chopped fruit (eg banana, apple, pear, berries)<br />
2 eggs<br />
100ml canola oil<br />
½ tablespoon vanilla essence<br />
210ml fruit juice or reduced fat milk<br />
Ingredients for 25:<br />
4 cups self-raising flour<br />
¾ cup custard powder<br />
½ cup sugar<br />
1/3 cup oats or bran<br />
2 ¼ cups chopped fruit<br />
(eg banana, apple, pear, berries)<br />
4 eggs<br />
250ml canola oil<br />
1 ½ tablespoon vanilla essence<br />
500ml fruit juice or reduced fat milk<br />
Ingredients for 36:<br />
6 cups self-raising flour<br />
1 cup custard powder<br />
¾ cup sugar<br />
½ cup oats or bran<br />
3 cups chopped fruit (eg banana, apple, pear, berries)<br />
6 eggs<br />
1 ½ cups canola oil<br />
2 tablespoons vanilla essence<br />
3 cups fruit juice or reduced fat milk<br />
Directions:<br />
Preheat oven to 180oC. Sift flour and custard powder together and mix with sugar and bran. Add<br />
Fruit. Mix last 4 ingredients together and fold into flour mix. Spoon into greased muffin trays and<br />
cook for 20 minutes.<br />
55 Breakfast Every Day
Recipes<br />
Breakfast Crumble (6-8 serves)<br />
(Jasmine, from Fairy Meadow Demonstration School, submitted this winning entry to<br />
<strong>Healthy</strong> <strong>Cities</strong> <strong>Illawarra</strong>’s Breakfast Recipe Competition in 2009. The crumble is best<br />
prepared the day before for reheating the next morning)<br />
Ingredients:<br />
Base<br />
7-8 large apples, peeled, cored and chopped<br />
1/3 cup brown sugar<br />
1/3 cup water<br />
1 can rice cream<br />
Topping:<br />
1 cup quick cook or rolled oats<br />
¼ dup oat bran<br />
¼ cup wheatgerm<br />
¼ cup flour<br />
¼ cup brown sugar<br />
90g butter, softened<br />
1 tsp ground cinnamon.<br />
Directions:<br />
Preheat oven to 180ºC. Place apples, sugar and water in saucepan and boil for 10<br />
minutes, or until softened. Let cool. Stir rice cream through apple mixture. Transfer to<br />
large ovenproof dish.<br />
To make crumble topping, combine all ingredients in bowl. Spoon over fruit and bake<br />
for 30 minutes or until toping is golden and crisp, and the apple soft. Serve with vanilla<br />
yoghurt.<br />
56
Fruit Smoothie<br />
Ingredients:<br />
½ cup chopped fruit (eg banana, berries, mango or peaches)<br />
1 cup low-fat milk<br />
½ cup yoghurt<br />
1 teaspoon honey<br />
Directions:<br />
Whiz all ingredients together in blender.<br />
Breakfast Burrito (makes 2)<br />
Ingredients:<br />
1Tbsp olive oil<br />
½ onion, finely chopped<br />
3 eggs<br />
1 small tomato, finely chopped<br />
2 Tbsp chopped fresh herbs (parsley thyme, basil...)<br />
2 Tbsp soy sauce<br />
2-3 Tbsp grated reduced-fat cheese<br />
2 tortillas<br />
Directions:<br />
Heat the oil, add onion, and sauté for 3-4 minutes, stirring frequently.<br />
Beat the eggs.<br />
Add eggs to onions. Cook for 2 minutes; add tomato, soy sauce, and herbs; and heat<br />
until warm. Stir in cheese and remove from stove.<br />
Place half the mixture in a line in the center of each warmed tortilla, leaving 2 cm at<br />
either end of the line. Fold each end up to the filling, then fold in one side. Roll. Voilà (or<br />
should that be Olay!) your breakfast burritos are ready!<br />
57 Breakfast Every Day
Equipment<br />
Now you’ve decided what food to serve, you<br />
need to work out what equipment is needed to<br />
prepare and serve it. Equipment required for<br />
the breakfast program clearly varies between<br />
programs and is dependent on the menu,<br />
funds available to purchase equipment, storage<br />
facilities, and number of children served.<br />
Basic requirements include cups and plates<br />
(preferably plastic), cutlery, a toaster, washing up<br />
facilities, tables and chairs, a fridge, and storage<br />
containers.<br />
Several, more minimalist, breakfast programs in<br />
this region ensure all food can be eaten with the<br />
hands doing away with the need for knives and<br />
forks, and even plates at a pinch. Cereal is a<br />
bit difficult to eat with the hands so spoons and<br />
bowls are clearly necessary if cereal is on the<br />
menu!<br />
Due to its low cost, ease of preparation, and<br />
serving simplicity, toast is often on the menu.<br />
Domestic toasters are reasonably cheap however<br />
they often literally start to have a ‘melt down’<br />
due to rates of use they are not designed for.<br />
Commercial toasters are a much more efficient<br />
and safer, though much pricier, option. These<br />
are highly recommended if funds are available;<br />
and are a good ‘one-off’ item to request from<br />
potential donors or relevant grant schemes.<br />
foods, and donated foods such as more loaves<br />
of bread than can be served in a day or two.<br />
Several breakfast programs also find access to a<br />
barbeque a wonderful addition to their menu on<br />
special occasions, whipping up bacon and egg<br />
muffins and other treats.<br />
If the breakfast program is not held on premises<br />
with access to kitchen facilities, washing up is<br />
an issue. Alternatives adopted in this region’s<br />
breakfast programs include the use of a camping<br />
sink complete with stand, and use of an empty<br />
large plastic storage container used to store<br />
breakfast program equipment. A kettle is used to<br />
supply the hot water. Air drying is recommended<br />
over the use of tea towels for reasons of hygiene,<br />
however this is usually not possible due to other<br />
use of the premises. In this case, ensure tea<br />
towels are clean and dry before use each<br />
morning.<br />
Although not essential equipment many breakfast<br />
programs find the addition of a radio playing<br />
softly in the background, and cloths on the table<br />
an easy affordable way to make the environment<br />
a pleasant place to be.<br />
Access to a fridge is essential if the food served<br />
includes perishables. Other food preparation<br />
equipment required may include pots, pans and<br />
cooking utensils, chopping boards and knives,<br />
a microwave oven, a blender/milkshake maker,<br />
sandwich toaster, and electric frying pan for<br />
pancakes. A freezer will enable the program to<br />
make the most of seasonal gluts of perishable<br />
58
Chapter<br />
14<br />
Health and Safety at Breakfast<br />
Breakfast programs have a responsibility to<br />
provide safe food in a safe environment, even<br />
if the menu consists only of toast and a glass<br />
of milk. Food should be handled in a way that<br />
minimises bacterial contamination and growth,<br />
on premises that do not pose a risk to the health<br />
and safety of either children or adults.<br />
It is recommended the breakfast program<br />
coordinator, and other helpers preferably,<br />
undertake training in health and safety issues.<br />
Relevant training is offered in the <strong>Illawarra</strong> by the<br />
regional volunteer centre, Volunteering <strong>Illawarra</strong>.<br />
They offer very useful short courses such as<br />
Kitchen Health and Hygiene, at very affordable<br />
rates. For further information see their website,<br />
www.volunteeringillawarra.org.au.<br />
A number of breakfast program volunteers<br />
are also involved in the school canteen and<br />
may be interested in courses offered through<br />
TAFE NSW that are also relevant to children’s<br />
breakfast programs. Fresh Tastes @ School<br />
is a 6 hour course focusing on healthy food<br />
choices, whilst the Canteen Operations course<br />
is an 18 week/78 hour program offered by<br />
flexible delivery, meaning you can study at home<br />
if you find attending weekly classes difficult.<br />
This comprehensive course covers workplace<br />
hygiene, food safety, nutrition and healthy food<br />
choices for school canteens, recipe modification,<br />
food transport and storage, menu planning,<br />
marketing and promoting your canteen. For<br />
more information, visit www.tafeplus.com .<br />
Personal Hygiene<br />
Personal health and hygiene is an important<br />
issue for both children and adults at breakfast<br />
programs. Children should be encouraged<br />
to wash their hands thoroughly before and<br />
after eating breakfast. If soap and water is<br />
not readily available at the breakfast program<br />
venue consider using disinfecting hand wash<br />
that doesn’t require water, particularly before the<br />
children eat. Children should also be discouraged<br />
from sharing cups, food and utensils to minimise<br />
the risk of contagion. From an oral hygiene<br />
perspective, in the absence of tooth brushing<br />
equipment, children should be encouraged to<br />
‘swish and swallow’ water after eating breakfast<br />
at school.<br />
Food handlers should ensure they are not<br />
suffering from a food borne infection. The NSW<br />
Food Authority, www.foodauthority.nsw.gov.au,<br />
recommends adults avoid handling foods if<br />
they are sick w<strong>here</strong> t<strong>here</strong> is a likelihood of food<br />
contamination as a result of the illness, particularly<br />
if they are showing symptoms of diarrhoea or<br />
vomiting. Food handlers should ensure their<br />
clothing is clean (an apron is recommended),<br />
and their handbags and personal belongings<br />
are stored securely away from food preparation<br />
benches. They should take steps to ensure hair<br />
doesn’t fall into food, and cover any bandages<br />
and dressings on exposed parts of the body with<br />
a waterproof covering. Food handlers should<br />
also wash and dry hands thoroughly, often.<br />
59 Breakfast Every Day
Hand washing<br />
Many food handlers are confused about the use<br />
of disposable latex gloves – how many times<br />
have we recoiled in horror at the sight of the<br />
gloved hand that just made our sandwich, take<br />
our money, give us our change back, (maybe<br />
even scratch their nose) before going on to make<br />
the next sandwich….with the same gloved hand?<br />
To meet food handler’s hygiene requirements<br />
those gloves should be removed, discarded and<br />
replaced with a new pair each time the wearer<br />
does something other that handle the food,<br />
and before working with ready to eat food after<br />
handling raw food.<br />
The NSW Food Standards Code does not<br />
require food handlers to use gloves. Gloves<br />
should be seen as one alternative for protecting<br />
food from contamination by the hands, and are<br />
particularly useful for covering bandaids, long<br />
nails and jewellery. In most cases however,<br />
rather than removing, discarding and replacing<br />
with new gloves, it may be far easier and less<br />
time consuming to thoroughly clean hands<br />
using soap and warm water, drying with single<br />
use paper towel. The Food Standards Code<br />
recommends washing hands whenever hands<br />
are likely to be a source of contamination<br />
(eg. before handling food and after using the<br />
toilet, smoking, coughing, sneezing, using a<br />
handkerchief, eating, drinking or touching hair,<br />
scalp or body). Hands also need to be washed<br />
thoroughly before working with ready to eat food<br />
after handling raw food.<br />
Moreover, due to the high incidence of incorrect<br />
use, the Food Standards recommend the use of<br />
clean kitchen utensils for handling food (tongs,<br />
forks, spatulas, and spoons) in conjunction with<br />
clean hands, as preferable to the use of gloves<br />
in most instances.<br />
Kitchen hygiene<br />
The standard of kitchen and food preparation<br />
facilities will vary dramatically between breakfast<br />
programs. In this region, they range from fully<br />
equipped modern kitchens to fold out tables<br />
and camping sinks. Whatever the kitchen<br />
facilities available to your breakfast program, it is<br />
essential they include adequate storage to keep<br />
food clean and dry, and free from pests. Many<br />
programs rely on large plastic containers on<br />
wheels with tight fitting clip on lids to store food<br />
and equipment safely if they don’t have access<br />
to permanent cupboard space.<br />
Consideration will also need to be given to<br />
adequate access to cold storage for perishable<br />
foods. Access to a fridge is often on a shared<br />
basis, with the canteen for example, so it<br />
is important to not risk compromising the<br />
temperature of the fridge by overloading it.<br />
Other considerations are access to hot and<br />
cold running water for washing up. All food<br />
preparation equipment and benches need to be<br />
thoroughly cleaned after use to ensure t<strong>here</strong> is<br />
no opportunity for food contamination the next<br />
time the equipment is used.<br />
Finally, to avoid littering in areas surrounding<br />
the breakfast program, and ensuing complaints,<br />
make sure children have access to some form of<br />
hygienic rubbish disposal – and, <strong>here</strong> comes the<br />
hard bit, that they use it!<br />
Food safety<br />
Even with the best hygienic practices, if the<br />
food is not handled and prepared correctly,<br />
the bacteria often present naturally in food can<br />
multiply and with it, the potential to cause serious<br />
illness. For food poisoning to occur t<strong>here</strong> must<br />
be a chain of events:<br />
• Bacteria is present on the food<br />
• Conditions are suitable (warmth, moisture<br />
and food)<br />
• Time to grow and multiply.<br />
60
Breaking the chain by preventing one of these<br />
circumstances will prevent food poisoning.<br />
Bacteria grow best in temperatures between<br />
5º C - 60ºC; the Temperature Danger Zone. Stay<br />
out of the ‘Zone’ for as long as possible. Keep<br />
hot food hot (above 60ºC) and cold food cold<br />
(below 5ºC). Limit the time perishable food is left<br />
in the temperature danger zone to 2 hours.<br />
Other routine practices to ensure the food served<br />
at the breakfast program is safe are:<br />
• When storing food in the fridge, either<br />
transfer into a clean container with a tight<br />
fitting lid, or cover with foil or plastic wrap<br />
• To avoid cross-contamination in case of<br />
spillage, always ensure raw food is stored<br />
below cooked food<br />
• Defrost foods in the fridge or microwave,<br />
never out on the bench top, and do not<br />
refreeze thawed food<br />
• Thoroughly wash fruit and vegetables<br />
before use<br />
• Use separate chopping boards for<br />
preparation of raw and cooked foods<br />
• Pay attention to ‘use-by’ dates on packaging.<br />
Further information on food health and safety<br />
is located on the <strong>Healthy</strong> Kids Association’s<br />
website, www.schoolcanteens.org.au. This very<br />
useful website is intended for use by school<br />
canteen staff, however much of the information<br />
is also directly relevant to children’s breakfast<br />
programs.<br />
Reheating food<br />
It is important food prepared beforehand for<br />
reheating at the breakfast program is cooled<br />
and reheated safely. The 2 hour rule in the<br />
temperature danger zone applies so ensure food<br />
is cooked thoroughly, then cooled to reasonably<br />
warm before cooling completely in the fridge.<br />
Food should then be reheated quickly and evenly,<br />
and only reheated once.<br />
Eggs<br />
Eggs are a popular, cheap and nutritious<br />
breakfast food, but unfortunately they are also<br />
often linked to salmonella outbreaks. If eggs are<br />
not handled correctly, the salmonella bacteria<br />
can grow, which can cause illness when the eggs<br />
are eaten, and it can cross-contaminate other<br />
foods. The NSW Food Authority recommends:<br />
• Eggs should be stored in the fridge to<br />
ensure a longer shelf life<br />
• Always wash your hands before and after<br />
handling eggs<br />
• Avoid using cracked or dirty eggs, even if<br />
you plan to cook them thoroughly<br />
• Refrigerate cooked egg which is not eaten<br />
immediately.<br />
Food intolerance and allergy<br />
Intolerance of a food is very different to an allergy<br />
to a food. Food intolerances are an adverse<br />
physical reaction, not involving the immune<br />
system, to eating a food or food substance.<br />
Symptoms include stomach upsets, bloating and<br />
headaches. Food allergy, on the other hand, is<br />
an abnormal immune reaction to a food or food<br />
substance. Symptoms include swelling of lips,<br />
face and eyes, and w<strong>here</strong> allergic reaction is<br />
severe, anaphylaxis. If children have any special<br />
dietary requirements of this nature, clearly, these<br />
will need to be considered when planning the<br />
menu at the breakfast program.<br />
It is the parent’s responsibility to advise the school<br />
if their child has been diagnosed with allergies<br />
or health conditions that affect their wellbeing at<br />
school. It is essential you discuss any concerns<br />
regarding a child’s food intolerances or allergies<br />
with the School Principal (or parent if the breakfast<br />
program is not held on school grounds), and<br />
that you are comfortable with managing those<br />
concerns. Ensure all helpers at the breakfast<br />
program are aware of any special dietary needs.<br />
61 Breakfast Every Day
The NSW Department of Education and Training<br />
has developed guidelines for schools to assist<br />
in the management of children with allergies,<br />
and treatment of anaphylactic shock. Those<br />
guidelines are available on their website,<br />
www.schools.nsw.edu.au/studentsupport/<br />
studenthealth/individualstud/.<br />
A safe environment<br />
The breakfast program needs to be a safe<br />
environment for adult helpers and for children<br />
who attend. The premises need to be safe,<br />
equipment needs to be safe, and work practices<br />
need to be safe.<br />
Helpers at the breakfast program, paid and<br />
volunteer both, are covered by the the NSW<br />
Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S) Act<br />
2000. Under the Act, the ‘employer’ (eg. the school<br />
principal or community centre manager) has a<br />
duty of care to identify, assess and manage risk to<br />
ensure a safe ‘workplace’. ‘Employees’ (workers,<br />
paid and unpaid) also have responsibilities under<br />
the Act, namely to take reasonable care for the<br />
health and safety of others in the workplace, and<br />
to cooperate with the employer to ensure safety.<br />
Further information regarding OH&S policy and<br />
procedures can be found on the <strong>Healthy</strong> Kids<br />
website, www.schoolcanteens.org.au., in the<br />
‘canteen management’ section. The information<br />
is intended for use by school canteens, but is<br />
very useful and relevant to breakfast programs.<br />
• Electrical appliances and cords are away<br />
from water<br />
• Ensure knives are stored safely, and that<br />
children cannot access sharp knives<br />
• Children are supervised when in the food<br />
preparation area; particularly in the vicinity<br />
of hot kettles and toasters. Stress the<br />
importance of the ‘no running’ rule.<br />
Unfortunately despite the best OH&S practices<br />
aimed at preventing injury and illness, accidents<br />
can happen. It is important to ensure all<br />
breakfast program helpers are familiar with the<br />
school/community centre first aid policy and<br />
procedures, and fire and evacuation plans for the<br />
premises. Locate the nearest first aid kit and fire<br />
extinguisher, and check they can be accessed<br />
outside school/centre hours. Ensure all helpers<br />
are instructed in the fire extinguisher’s use, which<br />
is hopefully hanging on the wall in the vicinity of<br />
breakfast club. The time a fire extinguisher is<br />
needed is no time to start trying to get it off the<br />
wall (maybe even find your glasses), and read the<br />
instructions for use. Familiarising all volunteers<br />
with the extinguisher won’t take long at all, but<br />
will save vital seconds should it ever be required.<br />
As part of those OH&S responsibilities, take a<br />
look around the breakfast program premises<br />
and set up, checking for potential safety risks.<br />
Ensure all:<br />
• Electrical items are in good working order,<br />
paying particular attention to the toaster, if<br />
domestic, which is often used so much it<br />
can start to melt<br />
• Electrical power points are not overloaded<br />
• Extension cords used are tucked away<br />
safely to avoid trip hazards. Pay particular<br />
attention to the power cord of the kettle if<br />
one is used<br />
62
Chapter<br />
15<br />
Activities at the Breakfast Program<br />
Feeding children as well and as quickly as<br />
possible tends to be the priority, by necessity,<br />
for most breakfast programs in this region. The<br />
social development aspect of children eating and<br />
conversing together in a settled social setting<br />
is also of great value. However, a number<br />
of breakfast programs have introduced other<br />
activities to their mornings, either on a regular<br />
basis or as a celebration of special occasions to<br />
maintain children’s interest. Whether the activity<br />
is conducted before or after eating will depend<br />
on the activity, and also on whether the activity<br />
is considered a reward for eating well, or the<br />
breakfast is the reward for the activity.<br />
Extra activities at the breakfast program have the<br />
potential to further benefit children academically<br />
and socially whilst minimising disruption to all by<br />
keeping the kids busy. Capacity for breakfast<br />
programs to undertake extra work however,<br />
as always, will depend on available helpers,<br />
resources and time. A very successful model in<br />
the <strong>Illawarra</strong> is the ‘Books and Breakfast Club’<br />
which varies from a pile of books and magazines<br />
children can pick up and read after breakfast, to<br />
more structured individual book readings with<br />
parent volunteers.<br />
Alternatively, younger children always enjoy being<br />
read to and ‘story time’ is a relaxing and calm<br />
start to the day. Consider playing ten minutes of<br />
an audio book each day; a sort of ‘radio serial’<br />
w<strong>here</strong> the next day’s installment will be eagerly<br />
anticipated. For older children and young people,<br />
reading the day’s newspaper is often appealing,<br />
and avid readers may like the idea of a book club.<br />
If you are thinking of introducing reading to the<br />
breakfast program, speak to the school librarian,<br />
or local public librarian for suggestions and ideas<br />
on locating books, resources and appropriate<br />
magazines.<br />
Other popular activities at breakfast programs,<br />
time and resources allowing, are drawing,<br />
colouring in, and puzzles. Children’s activities<br />
such as colouring pages, jigsaws and puzzles,<br />
and various craft ideas can be found on two great<br />
free websites, www.dltk-kids.com (American),<br />
and http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/index.htm<br />
(British). Activities can be located according to<br />
themes, holidays and celebrations, and seasons;<br />
both sites are very useful resources. Board<br />
games such as snakes and ladders are also very<br />
popular, time allowing.<br />
Some programs provide a quiet table for<br />
students to complete their homework, with willing<br />
volunteers on hand to help out if necessary.<br />
Older children may be able to assist the younger<br />
ones complete their homework. Other programs<br />
encourage the children to join in a mini fitness<br />
session consisting of a few gentle exercises,<br />
stretches or yoga to finish off, and start the day<br />
very much the right way.<br />
63 Breakfast Every Day
Theme days and celebrations<br />
Special occasions allow for a bit of fun and help<br />
maintain the enthusiasm and interest of the<br />
children. A lack of volunteers can restrict the<br />
variety of food routinely offered by breakfast<br />
programs, however parents are often willing to<br />
help out for a special occasion enabling a greater<br />
range of foods to be served. Themed food items<br />
can be served that are not only fun, they also<br />
encourage children to be adventurous and try<br />
new foods.<br />
the events calendar at http://www.ourcommunity.<br />
com.au/calendar . T<strong>here</strong> is always something to<br />
celebrate somew<strong>here</strong>!<br />
Breakfast across the world, or in a different<br />
specific country each time, provides the<br />
opportunity for children to sample foods from<br />
other cultures. If you have children from<br />
backgrounds other than Australia, ask them or<br />
a member of their family, if they would consider<br />
coming along to share their knowledge, and<br />
hopefully their breakfast, with the children.<br />
For information on breakfast served in over 60<br />
different countries, including great recipes, see<br />
‘World Breakfasts’ at Breakfast and Brunch<br />
h t t p : / / w w w. b r e a k f a s t a n d b r u n c h . c o m /<br />
countryhome.php . For an easy to eat, quick to<br />
make, healthy breakfast idea from Mexico that<br />
kids will love see Breakfast Burritos in the Recipe<br />
section, Chapter 13.<br />
Dental Health Activities<br />
A number of schools in the region celebrate the<br />
start or end of school term with a whole of school<br />
breakfast held in the school hall or quadrangle,<br />
often inviting parents to come along with their<br />
children. This is a great way to promote the<br />
importance of breakfast for children, and to<br />
promote the breakfast program to parents.<br />
Certain times of the year lend themselves to<br />
celebratory breakfasts such as Christmas (eg.<br />
red and green theme), Easter (eggs and yellow),<br />
Valentines Day (hearts, red, pink), Pancake<br />
Day, Halloween (orange, spiders, pumpkin), St<br />
Patrick’s Day (green) and other ‘special’ days.<br />
Think creatively about foods you can serve<br />
shaped or coloured to complement the theme of<br />
the breakfast or, for an absolute wealth of fun<br />
special occasion breakfast ideas, have a look at<br />
the American site http://www.mrbreakfast.com .<br />
For further information on forthcoming special<br />
days you may want to celebrate at breakfast see<br />
Tooth decay is a disease of the mouth that affects<br />
the health of the whole body; and it often starts<br />
very early in life. Children should clean their<br />
teeth at least twice a day, before bed and after<br />
breakfast. Some breakfast programs encourage<br />
the children to bring in their toothbrush so they<br />
can brush at school. The logistics of this are<br />
often a bit tricky. W<strong>here</strong> do they brush? W<strong>here</strong><br />
do they keep their tooth brush? How do they<br />
keep it clean? How do you make sure they don’t<br />
use each others brush? What do they do if they<br />
forget their toothbrush? ‘Swig, Swish, Swallow’<br />
may be the answer.<br />
Tap water should be freely available to children<br />
at breakfast programs for many reasons, not<br />
the least being its dental health benefits. The<br />
fluoride in water protects and strengthens teeth,<br />
and rinsing with water helps neutralise acid<br />
in the mouth, and reduces the amount of food<br />
caught in the teeth. To ensure children don’t<br />
64
spend the rest of the day wearing their breakfast<br />
on their teeth, breakfast programs could include<br />
the ‘Swig, Swish, Swallow’ activity:<br />
Swig<br />
1. Children have a cup of tap water<br />
2. Take the children outside or somew<strong>here</strong> it<br />
won’t matter if t<strong>here</strong> is spillage<br />
3. Get the children to take a swig of water and<br />
hold it in their mouths.<br />
Swish<br />
1. Have the children swish or swill the water<br />
around their mouths, using their cheeks<br />
or shaking their heads side to side if they<br />
don’t get the hang of the cheek thing (this is<br />
w<strong>here</strong> it might get silly…and wet!)<br />
Swallow<br />
1. Have the children swallow the water<br />
2. Ask children to open their mouths to show<br />
you their bright shiny teeth.<br />
If you would like further information about dental<br />
hygiene activities for children contact the Dental<br />
Health Promotion Officer in your Area Health<br />
Service; <strong>Illawarra</strong>: phone 1300 369 651, or visit<br />
http://www.sesiahs.health.nsw.gov.au/Services/<br />
Dental_Services/ChildDentalServices.asp .<br />
Links to Lessons<br />
Breakfast programs are often quite hurried affairs<br />
and t<strong>here</strong> is rarely much time to introduce activities<br />
to optimise the health and educational benefits<br />
programs can offer. Consider approaching<br />
teachers to gauge interest in linking the breakfast<br />
program to lessons by incorporating activities<br />
based around breakfast. Links between the<br />
breakfast program and the curriculum would<br />
promote the importance of breakfast to the<br />
students, and the breakfast program. Breakfast<br />
could be the focus of lessons across the<br />
curriculum including:<br />
• Health: The links between breakfast and<br />
health are well established. Class activities<br />
to develop this concept could focus on<br />
the importance of breakfast, what makes<br />
a healthy breakfast (eg. younger children<br />
could draw what they think is a healthy<br />
breakfast on a blank picture of a plate),<br />
what children in the class eat for breakfast,<br />
then compare. Link this into a broader<br />
discussion of the five food groups and the<br />
nutrients breakfast provides.<br />
• Cooking: Make simple dishes that can be<br />
eaten for breakfast, such as fruit smoothies<br />
or fruit salad, to link in with the health aspect<br />
above.<br />
• Art: Design posters, menus and promotional<br />
logos for the breakfast program.<br />
• Geography: Discuss traditional breakfast<br />
foods from around the world to provide<br />
cultural insight and encourage children<br />
to try different foods. Tasting a dish from<br />
a country being discussed will add to the<br />
interest.<br />
• Maths: Survey the class to see who had<br />
breakfast each day, and what they ate.<br />
Graph the answers to establish a pattern<br />
and discuss what this may mean. Identify<br />
reasons why children may not be eating<br />
breakfast, or how they could improve their<br />
breakfast.<br />
• English: Investigate advertising and how<br />
food companies promote their breakfast<br />
food products. Discuss the message they<br />
present.<br />
• HSIE: Identify foods students eat for<br />
breakfast. Discuss w<strong>here</strong> breakfast foods<br />
come from and follow food production from<br />
the plate back to the original sources.<br />
An example of a lesson plan for primary school<br />
students is provided as a guide (Appendix 17).<br />
The plan was prepared by the Child Nutrition<br />
Outreach Program, Massachusetts Department<br />
of Education, USA. It, and lesson plans for other<br />
grades, can be downloaded from their website,<br />
www.meals4kids.org/food4thought.html<br />
65 Breakfast Every Day
Chapter<br />
16<br />
Behaviour<br />
Exasperated words from a breakfast program<br />
coordinator at the end of her/his tether?<br />
“The children now love luxury; they have bad<br />
manners, contempt for authority; they show<br />
disrespect for elders and love chatter in place<br />
of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the<br />
servants of their households. They no longer<br />
rise when elders enter the room. They contradict<br />
their parents, chatter before company, gobble<br />
up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and<br />
tyrannise their teachers.”<br />
Well not quite. Socrates, the ancient Greek<br />
Philosopher, wrote those words around two<br />
and a half thousand years ago. The perceived<br />
poor behaviour of children has clearly been an<br />
issue for some time! To a point, ‘perceived’ is<br />
probably the key. Children, depending on their<br />
age, are naturally prone to excitement, and can<br />
often have limited self-discipline and patience.<br />
Knowledge of appropriate and acceptable<br />
behaviour according to society’s standards and<br />
expectations is a gradual learning process. In<br />
certain circumstances however, children are<br />
ignorant of how they should behave as manners<br />
and polite behaviour have not been routinely<br />
taught in the home environment. For those<br />
children the breakfast program can demonstrate<br />
and encourage good manners, and allow the<br />
child to develop social skills they may not<br />
otherwise have the opportunity to.<br />
Some children are more excitable and impulsive<br />
than others, and chances are most children<br />
attending the breakfast programs will have their<br />
‘moments’. To minimise disruption and ensure<br />
the breakfast program is a calm, happy, and<br />
friendly environment for all, setting behavioural<br />
ground rules, or a code of conduct, is essential.<br />
Some programs involve the children themselves<br />
in developing rules and clarifying expectations,<br />
increasing the chance of the rules actually being<br />
followed. An example of a code of conduct<br />
prepared by a breakfast program in the <strong>Illawarra</strong><br />
is included in this resource (Appendix 18).<br />
One of the attractions of the breakfast programs,<br />
for the children, is the informal environment and<br />
the relationships many of them form with adults<br />
they trust. Coordinators don’t usually want to<br />
risk this by being disciplinarian, and instead, find<br />
that an approach based on respect encourages<br />
respect in return. Dealing with groups of children<br />
is often demanding. Patience, endurance,<br />
consistency, and ability to count to ten are<br />
essential personal qualities for all helpers at the<br />
breakfast program!<br />
It may be difficult at larger programs, but try to<br />
learn the children’s names and use them often.<br />
Ensure the children know how to address all<br />
helpers, and wear name badges if necessary.<br />
Aim to use positive language and good manners<br />
when dealing with the children, and make it clear<br />
you expect same in return. When reprimand is<br />
required, try not to present as too authoritarian<br />
and provide explanations w<strong>here</strong> possible.<br />
Highlight and complement a child’s good<br />
manners or kind behaviour to others. A number<br />
of programs in the region formally acknowledge<br />
good behaviour with reward programs such as<br />
a gold star chart with prizes and certificates<br />
awarded at the end of each week/month/term.<br />
66
Behaviour<br />
Consider the ratio of adult to children to ensure<br />
adequate supervision and lessen the chances<br />
of disruptive behaviour. Despite the greatest<br />
respect with which you treat a child, the highest<br />
level of attention paid, and the endless patience<br />
demonstrated however, t<strong>here</strong> will be instances<br />
of behaviour requiring discipline. When<br />
establishing the ground rules, think about what<br />
the consequences for not sticking to them will be.<br />
Discuss instances of continuing poor behaviour<br />
with the appropriate teacher, counselor, or school<br />
principal, for strategies on how best to deal with it.<br />
It may be that the child misbehaving consistently<br />
is the child most in need of the breakfast program,<br />
so banning the child from attending should only<br />
be seen as a last resort. Report all instances or<br />
suspicion of bullying to the school.<br />
67 Breakfast Every Day
Chapter<br />
17<br />
Monitoring and Evaluation<br />
Your breakfast program has been established to<br />
meet an identified need, but how will you know if<br />
you are meeting that need, whether you need to<br />
change the way you do things, or even need to<br />
try something completely different? Monitoring<br />
and evaluation can provide the answers, and<br />
whilst they are addressed in the last chapter of<br />
this resource, they are essential activities that<br />
need to be considered in the initial planning<br />
process and very often implemented from day<br />
one of the program.<br />
The two terms often go hand in hand but t<strong>here</strong><br />
is a difference, and you may be required to<br />
do either or both by sponsors and funding<br />
organisations. Monitoring is the systematic<br />
collection of information that will help you ensure<br />
the breakfast program is operating efficiently and<br />
according to plan; it can tell you what is happening.<br />
Evaluation is a process which seeks an answer<br />
to the question ‘is the breakfast program meeting<br />
its aims and objectives?’ Monitoring informs the<br />
evaluation, and in turn, evaluation can tell you<br />
what the monitoring data means.<br />
Monitoring is a routine activity carried out through<br />
the life of the breakfast program to check it is<br />
on track. At a minimum, breakfast programs<br />
should collect and collate data on expenditure,<br />
food usage, and student attendance. Financial<br />
monitoring checks budget expenditure and aids<br />
accurate money management; food monitoring<br />
observes usage and wastage, and informs menu<br />
design and ordering; and attendance monitoring<br />
observes the number of students accessing the<br />
program. Importantly, attendance monitoring<br />
can also be used to check whether those children<br />
most in need are indeed attending the breakfast<br />
program.<br />
68<br />
It may seem at times that reports make the<br />
world go around, and you will probably be<br />
asked to report on breakfast program progress<br />
often. Don’t stress though, because if you have<br />
collected and recorded information monitoring<br />
the breakfast program on a systematic basis,<br />
you will be able to provide reports at the drop<br />
of a hat. It is worthwhile compiling data on a<br />
regular basis, monthly totals for example, to<br />
observe trends and to avoid having to go right<br />
back to the beginning and examining individual<br />
statistics, each time you are asked to provide<br />
a report. Tallying budgets on a regular basis,<br />
clearly in writing as opposed to keeping a bundle<br />
of fading receipts in an envelope, will allow ready<br />
control of funds and cash flow, and assist full<br />
accountability.<br />
Monitoring can also help you evaluate the<br />
breakfast program. Evaluation is often required<br />
at the end of a funding period, or as determined<br />
in the program’s planning stages such as after<br />
12 month’s implementation. Evaluation will allow<br />
you to make certain decisions about the breakfast<br />
program – is the breakfast program meeting its<br />
objectives of, for example, ‘influencing positive<br />
social skills among children’, or ‘serving fruit<br />
and low-fat dairy daily, as recommended by the<br />
Australian Dietary Guidelines’? An example<br />
of a simple evaluation report is included in this<br />
resource (Appendix 19).
The first steps in evaluating the breakfast program<br />
is to decide what you need to know to determine<br />
the degree to which the objectives have been<br />
met, and how you will measure the program’s<br />
impact. Will quantitative data (numbers, facts)<br />
such as that obtained from routine monitoring be<br />
enough, or will additional qualitative (opinions,<br />
feelings, experiences) information be required?<br />
For example, whether fruit and dairy has been<br />
served on a regular basis can be easily established<br />
through routine food monitoring. However to<br />
determine whether the program has ‘influenced<br />
positive social skills among children’, qualitative<br />
data based on personal observation and surveys<br />
would be required. You will need to show t<strong>here</strong><br />
is behavioural change and that change can be<br />
attributed to the breakfast program.<br />
To do this you would need to survey teachers<br />
before the program commences, and record<br />
personal observations of breakfast program<br />
helpers from the beginning. Initial findings can<br />
then be compared with results of repeat survey/<br />
observations after the breakfast program has<br />
been implemented, clearly demonstrating any<br />
changes. Methods to gather information of<br />
this nature (qualitative data) can range from<br />
written surveys and questionnaires, one on one<br />
interviews, presentation to groups such as P&C<br />
meetings, and observing the children ‘in action’.<br />
Unfortunately, sometimes, some things are<br />
beyond your control. In the event that your<br />
breakfast program has experienced barriers or<br />
restrictions that have affected its operation in<br />
some way, and as a result, the findings of the<br />
evaluation are not as positive as you would<br />
like, be sure to document those issues in the<br />
evaluation report.<br />
NEED TO KNOW MORE?<br />
The purpose of the ‘Breakfast Every Day…<br />
fuel to learn and energy to excel’ resource is<br />
to help schools and community centres in the<br />
<strong>Illawarra</strong> establish breakfast programs and, most<br />
importantly, keep them going. It is hoped anyone<br />
involved in the provision of breakfast programs<br />
seeking answers to questions that will inevitably<br />
arise, will ‘dip’ in and out of the resource as<br />
required.<br />
Based on the experience of breakfast program<br />
coordinators in the <strong>Illawarra</strong>, you will have lots<br />
of good days and, inevitably, some bad days.<br />
Breakfast programs rely on hard work, good will,<br />
and persistence. T<strong>here</strong> are bound to be times<br />
when it all seems too much, your enthusiasm<br />
wanes, and you wonder why you bother. During<br />
those times, we hope you will pick up this<br />
resource, ‘dip’ in and find something that helps<br />
solve the problem, and reinvigorates.<br />
If you find you need further support t<strong>here</strong> is a<br />
wealth of websites and resources available that<br />
may be of assistance. In the following chapter,<br />
References and Useful Contacts, you will find a<br />
listing of useful resources and websites focusing<br />
on all aspects of community breakfast programs.<br />
It is not intended to be an exhaustive list, but in<br />
our experience, a useful one.<br />
Good Luck with the breakfast program – you’re<br />
doing a great job!<br />
69 Breakfast Every Day
References & Useful Contacts<br />
1. THE IMPORTANCE OF BREAKFAST FOR CHILDREN<br />
Better Health Channel, 2010, Breakfast, www.betterhealth,vic.gov.au<br />
CSIRO, 2007, Start With Breakfast, www.csiro.au<br />
MBF, 2009, MBF Healthwatch Survey, www.mbf.com.au<br />
Nutrition Australia, NSW Division, 2006, <strong>Healthy</strong> Breakfast Tips ‘n’ Tricks, www.nutritionaustralia.org<br />
New Policy Institute (UK), 2002, Improving Breakfast Clubs: Lessons from the best, www.npi.org.uk<br />
Radd, Sue, 2004, The Breakfast Book, Sydney, Australia.<br />
2. IS A SCHOOL BREAKFAST PROGRAM THE ANSWER?<br />
Change 4 Life Program, Department of Health (UK), 2009, Breakfast 4 Life: Local supporter’s<br />
toolkit, www.nhs.uk/change4life<br />
Kidspot Australia, 2009, Easy Breakfast Ideas, www.kidspot.com.au<br />
Nutrition Australia, 2010, Kids Brainy Breakfast Ideas, www.nutritionaustralia.org<br />
Raising Children Network, 2009, How to Get your Child to eat Breakfast,<br />
www.raisingchildren.net.au<br />
3. BEFORE YOU START – The needs assessment<br />
ContinYou (UK), 2009, Breakfast Club Plus: Planning your club, www.continyou.org.uk<br />
New Policy Institute (UK) & Kellogg’s UK, 2000, Breakfast Clubs: A how to guide, www.npi.org.uk<br />
NSW Department of Health, 1997, Does your school need to provide breakfast: Guidelines to<br />
needs assessment, implementation and evaluation.<br />
Scottish Community Diet Project, 2004, Breakfast Clubs. More of a head start,<br />
www.dietproject.org.uk<br />
Tropical Public Health Unit, Queensland Department of Health, 2003,<br />
Breakfast Boost: A guide to providing breakfast in the school setting.<br />
70
4. PLANNING THE BREAKFAST PROGRAM – Whose responsibility?<br />
ContinYou (UK), 2009, Breakfast Club Plus: Planning your club, www.continyou.org.uk<br />
Leeds Children’s Breakfast Initiative, 2004, Breakfast Club Good Practice Guide,<br />
www.thefamilyhubleeds.org<br />
New Policy Institute (UK) & Kellogg’s UK, 2000, Breakfast Clubs: A how to guide,<br />
www.npi.org.uk<br />
NSW Department of Health, 1997, Does your school need to provide breakfast: Guidelines to<br />
needs assessment, implementation and evaluation.<br />
5. STAFFING THE BREAKFAST PROGRAM<br />
Esmond, Judy, 2005, Count on Me! 501 Ideas on Retaining, Recognising and Rewarding<br />
Volunteers, WA.<br />
Scottish Community Diet Project, 2004, Breakfast Clubs. More of a head start,<br />
www.dietproject.org.uk<br />
NSW Centre for Volunteering, 2010, Youth Volunteering, www.youthvolunteering.gov.au<br />
NSW School Canteen Association, 2010, Canteen Staff and Volunteers, www.healthy-kids.com.au<br />
Volunteering <strong>Illawarra</strong>, 2010, Managing Your Volunteers, www.volunteeringillawarra.org.au<br />
6. RECRUITING VOLUNTEERS FOR THE BREAKFAST PROGRAM<br />
Esmond, Judy, 2005, Count on Me! 501 Ideas on Retaining, Recognising and Rewarding<br />
Volunteers, WA.<br />
More Volunteers, 2007, Ultimate Ideas Newsletter, Issue 21, www.morevolunteers.com<br />
NSW School Canteen Association, 2010, Volunteering – The Facts, www.healthy-kids.com.au<br />
NSW Centre for Volunteering, 2010, NSW Guide To Volunteering, www.volunteeringnsw.gov.au<br />
NSW Centre for Volunteering, 2010, Youth Volunteering, www.youthvolunteering.gov.au<br />
Our Community, 2010, Valuing Our Volunteers, www.ourcommunity.org.au<br />
Scottish Community Diet Project, 2004, Breakfast Clubs. More of a head start,<br />
www.dietproject.org.uk<br />
Volunteering Australia, 2007, 101 Top Tips to Recognise Volunteers, www.volunteeringaustralia.org<br />
Volunteering <strong>Illawarra</strong>, 2010, Managing Your Volunteers, www.volunteeringillawarra.org.au<br />
71 Breakfast Every Day
7. VOLUNTEERS – Legal issues<br />
NCOSS (Council of Social Service of NSW), 2010, Public Liability and Volunteers Insurance,<br />
www.ncoss.org.au<br />
NSW Centre for Volunteering, 2010, NSW Guide to Volunteering, www.volunteeringnsw.gov.au<br />
NSW Commission for Children and Young People, 2010, Working With Children Check,<br />
https://check.kids.nsw.gov.au<br />
NSW Department of Education and Training, 2010, Working with Children Check Procedures,<br />
www.det.nsw.edu.au<br />
Our Community, 2010, General Risk Management and Insurance, www.ourcommunity.com.au<br />
Volunteering <strong>Illawarra</strong>, 2010, Managing Your Volunteers, www.volunteeringillawarra.org.au<br />
8. WHERE & WHEN?<br />
Scottish Community Diet Project, 2004, Breakfast Clubs. More of a head start,<br />
www.dietproject.org.uk<br />
ContinYou (UK), 2010, Breakfast Club Plus: Getting Started, www.continyou.org.uk<br />
9. FUNDING – How much do you need?<br />
Community Builders NSW, 2008, A Guide to Submission Writing,<br />
www.communitybuilder.nsw.gov.au<br />
Scottish Community Diet Project, 2004, Breakfast Clubs. More of a head start,<br />
www.dietproject.org.uk<br />
10. FUNDING – Sources:<br />
ACT Department of Education and Training, 2006, <strong>Healthy</strong> Fund Raising Ideas for ACT School<br />
Communities, www.det.act.gov.au<br />
Australian Red Cross, 2010, Good Start Breakfast Program, www.redcross.org.au<br />
Australian Taxation Office, 2010, Non-Profit Organisations, www.ato.gov.au<br />
Clubs NSW, 2010, CDSE (Community Development Support expenditure) Guidelines and Funding<br />
Categories, www.clubsnsw.com.au<br />
Community Builders, 2010, Funding and Grants, www.communitybuilders.nsw.gov.au<br />
IMB, 2010, IMB and Your Community, www.imb.com.au<br />
72
Foodbank NSW, 2010, www.foodbank.com.au<br />
Food Fairness <strong>Illawarra</strong>, 2007, Donating Food: Making it easier to give back to your community,<br />
www.foodfairnessillawarra.org.au<br />
Local Business Guide, 2010, Business Directory, www.localbusinessguide.com.au<br />
NSW Department of Education and Training, 2009, Commercial Arrangements – School based<br />
activities policy and guidelines, www.det.nsw.edu.au/policies<br />
Our Community, 2010, Community Funding, www.ourcommmunity.com.au/funding<br />
Our Community, 2009, Marketing Guru, www.ourcommunity.org.au<br />
Regional Development Australia, 2010, Foundations, www.communitybuilders.nsw.gov.au<br />
Sponsorship Mechanics, AP Marketing Works, 2008, The Sponsorship Mechanics Tool Kit,<br />
www.sponsorshipmechanics.com.au<br />
The Parents Jury, 2010, <strong>Healthy</strong> School Fundraising, www.parentsjury.org.au<br />
11. FUNDING – How to apply<br />
Clubs NSW, 2010, CDSE (Community Development Support expenditure) Guidelines and Funding<br />
Categories, www.clubsnsw.com.au<br />
Community Builders NSW, 2008, A Guide to Submission Writing,<br />
www.communitybuilder.nsw.gov.au<br />
Community Funding Centre, Our Community, 2010, Raising Funds for One-off Needs,<br />
www.ourcommmunity.com.au/funding<br />
ContinYou (UK), 2010, Breakfast Club Plus: Getting Started, www.continyou.org.uk<br />
Our Community Marketing Guru, 2009, www.ourcommunity.org.au<br />
Sponsorship Mechanics, AP Marketing Works, 2008, The Sponsorship Mechanics Tool Kit,<br />
www.sponsorshipmechanics.com.au<br />
Ulladulla Community Resources Centre, 2006, The Funding Maze: A guide to finding your way<br />
through.<br />
Wollongong City Council, 2009, Wollongong Community Profile, www.wollongong.nsw.gov.au<br />
73 Breakfast Every Day
12. PROMOTING THE BREAKFAST CLUB<br />
More Volunteers, 2007, Ultimate Ideas Newsletter, Issue 21, www.morevolunteers.com<br />
National Dairy Council (USA), 2009, Teachers’ Frequently Asked Questions, www.<br />
nutritionexplorations.org<br />
New Policy Institute (UK), 2002, Improving Breakfast Clubs: Lessons from the best, www.npi.org.uk<br />
NSW Centre for Volunteering, 2010, NSW Guide to Volunteering, www.volunteeringnsw.gov.au<br />
NSW Department of Education and Training, 2009, Sponsorship Policy and Sponsorship<br />
Guidelines, www.det.nsw.edu.au/policies<br />
NSW School Canteen Association, 2007, Volunteering – The Facts, www.healthy-kids.com.au<br />
Our Community Marketing Guru, 2009, www.ourcommunity.org.au<br />
Scottish Community Diet Project, 2004, Breakfast Clubs. More of a head start,<br />
www.dietproject.org.uk<br />
Sponsorship Mechanics, AP Marketing Works, 2008, The Sponsorship Mechanics Tool Kit,<br />
www.sponsorshipmechanics.com.au<br />
US Department of Education, School & Community Nutrition, 2002, Breakfast Marketing, New York.<br />
Volunteering Australia, 2007, 101 Top Tips to Recognise Volunteers, www.volunteeringaustralia.org<br />
Volunteering <strong>Illawarra</strong>, 2010, Managing Your Volunteers, www.volunteeringillawarra.org.au<br />
13. WHAT TO SERVE?<br />
CHOICE: Food for Kids, 2010, Breakfast Cereals, www.choicefoodforkids.com.au<br />
ContinYou (UK), 2009, Breakfast Club Plus: How do we encourage members to eat well?,<br />
www.continyou.org.uk<br />
CSIRO, 2007, Grains Are Great, www.csiro.au<br />
CSIRO, 2007, Help Young Bones Grow Strong, www.csiro.au<br />
Glycemic Index Foundation, 2010, About Glycemic Index, www.glycemicindex.com<br />
<strong>Healthy</strong> Kids Association (School Canteen Association), 2010, Reading Food Labels,<br />
www.schoolcanteens.org.au<br />
<strong>Healthy</strong> Kids, 2010, <strong>Healthy</strong> Drinks, www.healthykids.nsw.gov.au<br />
74
Heart Foundation of Australia, 2009, Breakfast Cereals, www.hearfoundation.org.au<br />
Kidspot Australia, 2009, Breakfast Basics, www.kidspot.com.au<br />
NHMRC (National Health & Medical Research Council), 2003, Dietary Guidelines for Children and<br />
Adolescents in Australia, www.nhmrc.gov.au<br />
NSW Food Authority, 2010, Food Labels, www.foodauthority.nsw.gov.au<br />
Nutrition Australia, NSW Division, 2006, <strong>Healthy</strong> Breakfast Tips ‘n’ Tricks, www.nutritionaustralia.org<br />
O’Dea, Jenny, 2005, Positive Food for Kids, Sydney, Australia.<br />
Radd, Sue, 2004, The Breakfast Book, Sydney, Australia.<br />
Stanton, Rosemary, 2007, Butter vs. Margarine, www.woolworths.com.au<br />
Stanton, Rosemary, 2007, Which Spread?, www.woolworths.com.au<br />
Stanton, Rosemary, 2007, Which Bread?, www.woolworths.com.au<br />
Tropical Public Health Unit, Queensland Department of Health, 2003, Breakfast Boost: A guide to<br />
providing breakfast in the school setting.<br />
14. HEALTH & SAFETY AT BREAKFAST<br />
Community Insurance& Risk Management Centre, Our Community, 2010, Risk Management<br />
Checklists, www.ourcommunity.com.au/insurance<br />
NSW Centre for Volunteering, 2010, NSW Guide To Volunteering, www.volunteeringnsw.gov.au<br />
NSW Department of Education, 2010, Individual Students Who Need Help with Health Issues,<br />
www.schools.nsw.edu.au.<br />
NSW Food Authority, 2006, Health and Hygiene Requirements of Food Handlers,<br />
www.foodauthority.nsw.gov.au<br />
NSW Food Authority, 2006, Safe Food Tips, www.foodauthority.nsw.gov.au<br />
NSW Food Authority, 2006, Safe Use of Eggs, www.foodauthority.nsw.gov.au<br />
NSW School Canteen Association, 2007, Food Safety and Hygiene - Fact sheets,<br />
www.healthy-kids.com.au or www.schoolcanteens.org.au<br />
Nutrition Australia, NSW Division, 2006, <strong>Healthy</strong> Breakfast Tips ‘n’ Tricks,<br />
www.nutritionaustralia.org<br />
75 Breakfast Every Day
SA Department of Health, Food Section, 2008, Food Safety Fundamentals,<br />
www.sahealth.sa.gov.au<br />
Scottish Community Diet Project, 2004, Breakfast Clubs. More of a head start,<br />
www.dietproject.org.uk<br />
TAFE NSW, 2010, Fresh Tastes @ School, www.tafeplus.com<br />
Welsh Assembly Government, 2005, Free Breakfast Initiative, www.wales.gov.uk<br />
15. ACTIVITIES AT BREAKFAST<br />
Activity Village, 2010, http://www.activityvillage.co.uk<br />
Breakfast And Brunch.Com, 2010, World Breakfast,<br />
www.breakfastandbrunch.com/countryhome.php<br />
Change 4 Life Program, Department of Health (UK), 2009, Breakfast 4 Life: Local supporter’s<br />
toolkit, www.nhs.uk/change4life<br />
ContinYou (UK), 2009, Breakfast Club Plus: Extra Time, www.continyou.org.uk<br />
Curran A, Ballard A, Joyce B, Awabakal and Hunter Health, 2003, Tiddalick’s Toothy Tale:<br />
Presenter’s kit, Newcastle, NSW.<br />
DLTK’s Craft for Kids (US), 2010, www.dltk-kids.com<br />
Home Grown Cereals Authority (UK), 2005, Breakfast Lesson Ideas, www.hgca.com/breakfast<br />
Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education (USA), 2010, Child Nutrition<br />
Outreach Program, Food for Thought: A hunger curriculum of learning and community service,<br />
www.meals4kids.org/food4thought.html<br />
Mr Breakfast, 2010, Holiday Breakfasts, http://www.mrbreakfast.com<br />
New Policy Institute (UK), 2002, Improving Breakfast Clubs: Lessons from the best, www.npi.org.uk<br />
New Policy Institute (UK) & Kellogg’s UK, 2000, Breakfast Clubs: A how to guide, www.npi.org.uk<br />
Our Community, 2010, Calendar of Events, www.ourcommmunity.com.au/calendar<br />
US Department of Education, School & Community Nutrition, 2002, Breakfast Marketing, New York.<br />
Welsh Assembly Government, 2005, Free Breakfast Initiative, www.wales.gov.uk<br />
76
16. BEHAVIOUR<br />
Family Education (USA), 2008, General Manners for Kids & Parents,<br />
www.familyeducation.com/manners/respect<br />
New Policy Institute (UK), 2002, Improving Breakfast Clubs: Lessons from the best,<br />
www.npi.org.uk<br />
Scottish Community Diet Project (UK), 2004, Breakfast Clubs. More of a head start,<br />
www.dietproject.org.uk<br />
Warilla North Community Centre, 2007, Student Code of Conduct, NSW.<br />
17. MONITORING & EVALUATION<br />
Charities Evaluation Services, 2010, Monitoring and Evaluation, www.ces-vol.org.uk<br />
ContinYou (UK), 2009, Breakfast Club Plus: Evaluation, www.continyou.org.uk<br />
Miller, W & Yeatman, H, 2008, Who is Being Served? A critical view of national school breakfast<br />
program outcomes utilising empowerment evaluation. Proceedings of the International Conference<br />
of the Australasian Evaluation Society, Perth, 10-12 September 2008.<br />
New Policy Institute (UK), 2002, Improving Breakfast Clubs: Lessons from the best, www.npi.org.uk<br />
NSW Department of Health, 1997, Does your school need to provide breakfast?: Guidelines to<br />
needs assessment, implementation and evaluation.<br />
Scottish Community Diet Project, 2004, Breakfast Clubs. More of a head start,<br />
www.dietproject.org.uk<br />
77 Breakfast Every Day
Appendices<br />
78
APPENDIX<br />
1<br />
TEN GREAT REASONS TO EAT A HEALTHY BREAKFAST EVERY DAY<br />
Recent media coverage of healthy weight and increasing incidence of chronic illness such as diabetes and<br />
cardiovascular disease highlights more than ever the need for a healthy breakfast. If you tend to place a low<br />
priority on the first meal of the day, <strong>here</strong> are ten reasons why you should re-assess your busy schedule, and put<br />
breakfast at the top of your priorities for you and your children.<br />
1. Metabolism - So you think a cup of coffee is all<br />
you need to wake up and get going in the morning?<br />
Wrong! You also need to eat something to ‘wake up’<br />
your metabolism after what could be up to twelve<br />
hours of not eating – you need to break the fast.<br />
Leaving long periods between eating encourages<br />
your body to lapse into ‘rationing’ mode, slowing down<br />
metabolism and causing you to burn less energy.<br />
It also encourages the body to store energy as fat<br />
- because that burns slower. Studies show eating<br />
breakfast can raise metabolism by as much as 10%.<br />
2 Concentration - Studies repeatedly demonstrate<br />
that eating breakfast improves concentration and<br />
learning ability; teachers are often the first to notice<br />
when a child in their class has not had breakfast.<br />
3. Memory - In the same way that good breakfast<br />
choices help boost concentration, a healthy breakfast<br />
can also help with memory function. Eating breakfast<br />
raises blood glucose levels, t<strong>here</strong>by ensuring brain<br />
cells are as active as possible.<br />
6. Fibre - Constipation is linked to colorectal cancer.<br />
Not only do the right breakfast foods provide essential<br />
vitamins and minerals, high fibre breakfast cereal<br />
products help avoid constipation, and decrease<br />
the risk of colorectal cancer. A high fibre diet takes<br />
twelve hours to go through the digestive system as<br />
compared to a low fibre diet that can take over thirty<br />
six hours. Studies show the more stool produced, the<br />
lower the risk of colon cancer.<br />
7. Hunger - Slow release carbohydrates also induce<br />
a feeling of ‘fullness’ for longer, helping to control<br />
cravings for sugary or high fat foods later in the day.<br />
8. Mood and Stress levels – Skipping breakfast<br />
can make you grouchy, anxious, and irritable – eat<br />
breakfast if not for your sake, for the sake of those<br />
around you! Topping up breakfast with nuts and<br />
seeds can help increase serotonin levels - also<br />
known as the ‘happy hormone’! Wholegrain bread<br />
and porridge are also thought to be useful serotonin<br />
stimulators.<br />
4. Energy - Eating slow release carbohydrate foods<br />
at breakfast will help keep energy levels balanced<br />
and maintained throughout the day. Porridge and<br />
wholegrain toast are great examples of slow release<br />
carbohydrates that combat mid-morning fatigue and<br />
falling energy levels.<br />
5. Nutrients - Eating a healthy breakfast of, for<br />
example, whole grain cereal, berries and low-fat milk,<br />
provides a good proportion of essential daily nutrients<br />
and dietary fibre. It can be very difficult to catch up<br />
on nutrients and fibre later in the day if breakfast is<br />
missed.<br />
79 Breakfast Every Day<br />
9. Immunity - Fresh fruit and fortified cereals contain<br />
lots of vitamins and minerals essential for a healthy<br />
immune system. Breakfast time is a perfect way to<br />
help defend against dreaded winter colds and flu.<br />
10. Banana muffins - The best reason of all!<br />
Ingredients<br />
2 cups self-raising flour<br />
¾ to 1 cup milk<br />
2 eggs<br />
½ cup sugar<br />
¼ tsp cinnamon<br />
2 Tbsp oil<br />
2 bananas, mashed<br />
Directions<br />
Preheat oven to 180 ºC<br />
Grease muffin tin with a little oil<br />
Sift flour into bowl<br />
Stir in sugar, cinnamon and bananas<br />
Stir in eggs, milk and oil until all ingredients are wet<br />
Place spoonfuls of mixture into muffin tin<br />
Bake for 15-20 minutes,<br />
Makes 12 muffins, best served warm.
APPENDIX<br />
2<br />
Tips for a <strong>Healthy</strong> Breakfast<br />
ü When choosing cereal, avoid the high sugar/high salt ‘children’s<br />
cereal’ and instead go for one containing wholegrains with less salt<br />
and sugar (see www.choice.com.au for help with cereal selection).<br />
ü Serve low-fat milk.<br />
ü Adding fruit (fresh, frozen,tinned or dried) to cereals is a great way to<br />
get your child to eat less sugary cereals.<br />
ü Use wholemeal, whole grain or high fibre bread for toast.<br />
ü Whole fruit is preferable to fruit juice.<br />
ü Porridge oats are cheap, quick to prepare, and contain lots of vitamins,<br />
minerals and fibre.<br />
Breakfast Every Day<br />
Fuel to learn and energy to excel<br />
References:<br />
www.raisingchildren.net.au<br />
www.kidspot.com.au<br />
www.nutritionaustralia.org<br />
prepared by:<br />
<strong>Healthy</strong> <strong>Cities</strong> <strong>Illawarra</strong><br />
Supported by the NSW Area Assistance Scheme and Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing<br />
Breakfast Every Day<br />
Fuel to learn and energy to excel<br />
Breakfast every day….but especially school<br />
days. For school children, breakfast is the most<br />
important meal of the day. Teachers know it, and<br />
30 years of research confirms it; eating breakfast helps<br />
children do their best at school.<br />
Children who eat breakfast have better levels of<br />
concentration and energy to get through the day. They<br />
get along better in the classroom, and are generally<br />
happier in school.<br />
Children who miss breakfast are tired, restless and<br />
irritable by late morning. They are easily distracted and<br />
run out of energy quickly.<br />
<strong>Healthy</strong> <strong>Cities</strong> <strong>Illawarra</strong><br />
Ground Floor, Victoria Square<br />
Cnr Victoria & Belmore Streets<br />
(PO BOX 1492)<br />
WOLLONGONG NSW 2500<br />
Ph: 4226 5000 Fax: 4226 5339<br />
Email: manager@healthyillawarra.org.au<br />
Internet: http://www.healthyillawarra.org.au<br />
ABN: 83 964 176 052<br />
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2<br />
We all know the benefits of a healthy breakfast, but getting children to<br />
eat it at a time parents are usually at their most rushed themselves<br />
is a challenge in itself. How can we get kids to eat if they say<br />
they’re ‘not hungry’, ‘too tired’, ‘don’t like breakfast food’, or if we’re all running<br />
late? Many children starting school are tired in the morning, and have trouble<br />
adapting to the new routine of school every week day, all day. Breakfast is<br />
easy to skip in the rush to get them off to school, but barriers to breakfast can<br />
be easily overcome with a little bit of planning.<br />
“But I’m Not Hungry!”<br />
Children often don’t feel like eating as soon as they wake up, so try to<br />
ensure they wake up early enough to ‘come around’ to feeling hungry. Some<br />
children need to get used to the routine of eating breakfast so start slowly<br />
offering 1⁄2 piece of toast and a small yoghurt, or 1⁄2 a banana and a glass of<br />
milk. Try not to apply too much pressure on them to ‘hurry up’. If necessary,<br />
pack them a cheese or banana sandwich to take with them and eat on the<br />
way to school, when they have more of an appetite.<br />
If they insist they’re not hungry, win them over with a fruit smoothie – kids<br />
love them, and at a pinch they can be made the night before and stored in the<br />
fridge.<br />
Fruit Smoothie<br />
whiz all ingredients in blender and serve.<br />
Ingredients<br />
1⁄2 cup chopped fruit (eg. banana, berries, mango, or peaches)<br />
1 cup low-fat milk<br />
1⁄2 cup yogurt<br />
1 teapoon honey<br />
“But I Don’t Like Breakfast!”<br />
Breakfast should include a serving of fruit or vegetables, a serve of protein<br />
food such as dairy products and eggs, and a serving of bread or cereal. Try<br />
not to rely on the same food prepared the same way every day however.<br />
To avoid breakfast boredom consider:<br />
• Raisin bread or fruit loaf (plain<br />
or topped with ricotta cheese),<br />
and chopped strawberries or<br />
banana;<br />
• Yoghurt topped with muesli and<br />
chopped fruit;<br />
• Baked beans on toast;<br />
• Muffin with slice of cheese and<br />
tomato;<br />
• Boiled egg and vegemite soldiers<br />
• Scrambled egg with toast<br />
• Toast with a thin spread of jam<br />
or honey with sliced banana;<br />
• Mix mashed banana into<br />
porridge and top with a little<br />
honey;<br />
• Grate apple or pear into<br />
pancake mix for added fibre and<br />
flavour;<br />
• Grilled cheese on toast;<br />
• ‘Tiger toast’ – stripes of cheese<br />
on vegemite toast<br />
But breakfast doesn’t have to be ‘breakfast’ food - the foods eaten<br />
at breakfast can be the same ones that are eaten any other time<br />
of the day. So if your child really doesn’t like breakfast foods, offer<br />
leftovers from last night’s dinner, pasta, asian noodles or a toasted sandwich.<br />
Remember, if all else fails, anything for breakfast is better than nothing at all.<br />
81 Breakfast Every Day
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3<br />
Scrambled<br />
eggs on toast<br />
for breakfast..<br />
“I couldn’t surf without it”<br />
Dean Bowen - International King of the Groms 2006<br />
82<br />
courtesy of Steve Robertson<br />
Eat breakfast every day..<br />
Photo<br />
fuel to learn & energy to excel<br />
7726_HCI-Bowen-A2.indd 1 15/5/08 1:17:53 PM
APPENDIX<br />
3<br />
Cereal with fruit<br />
& yoghurt<br />
for breakfast..<br />
“I couldn’t surf without it”<br />
Sally Fitzgibbons - 2 x Junior World Champion 2007<br />
Eat breakfast every day..<br />
fuel to learn & energy to excel<br />
Photo courtesy of Steve Robertson<br />
83 Breakfast Every Day
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4<br />
Improved concentration, performance,<br />
behaviour in classroom<br />
Better health and nutrition<br />
Safety Communication time<br />
Staff/ Student rapport<br />
Improved school<br />
attendance<br />
Crime<br />
prevention<br />
Benefits of<br />
Breakfast<br />
Club<br />
Monitoring student<br />
welfare<br />
Hygiene/ grooming<br />
Social skills development<br />
Emotional, self esteem<br />
benefit<br />
Skill development for<br />
volunteers<br />
Social integration for<br />
children with special needs<br />
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APPENDIX<br />
5<br />
BREAKFAST AT SCHOOL!<br />
Eating breakfast helps children do their best at school.<br />
Children who eat breakfast have better levels of concentration and<br />
energy to get through the day. They get along better in the<br />
classroom, and are generally happier in school.<br />
We are considering starting a school breakfast club and would like to<br />
hear from you. Please return the form below as soon as you can to<br />
assist us in this decision, and to help us plan the program should we<br />
decide to go ahead.<br />
<br />
PRINCIPAL/P&C ASSOCIATION/TEACHER<br />
________________________________________________________<br />
BREAKFAST AT SCHOOL!<br />
□ Yes, I would like the school to run a breakfast club.<br />
□ No, I do not wish the school to run a breakfast club.<br />
□ Do you think your child might want to attend the breakfast club?<br />
□ Yes, regularly<br />
□ Yes, sometimes<br />
□ I am not sure<br />
□ No, it is unlikely<br />
□ I would like to be involved in the breakfast club (please provide<br />
contact details).<br />
Name:_____________________________________________<br />
Child’s Class:________________________________________<br />
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9<br />
NSW WORKING WITH CHILDREN CHECK - VOLUNTEER DECLARATION<br />
22/01/11 4:44 PM<br />
VOLUNTEER/STUDENT DECLARATION<br />
Family name:<br />
An easier way? Complete this form online at check.kids.nsw.gov.au<br />
Volunteers who mentor disadvantaged children or who provide intimate personal care to disabled children<br />
should use the Applicant Declaration and Consent rather than the Volunteer/Student Declaration.<br />
Personal Details:<br />
Name:<br />
First name:<br />
Other given name(s):<br />
Previous names/aliases:<br />
Family name:<br />
First name:<br />
Family name:<br />
First name:<br />
Other given name(s):<br />
Other given name(s):<br />
Residential address:<br />
Address Line 1:<br />
Address Line 2:<br />
Suburb/Town: State: Postcode:<br />
Country:<br />
Contact:<br />
Phone:<br />
Email:<br />
Mobile:<br />
Date of birth:<br />
Gender:<br />
Place of birth:<br />
Suburb/Town:<br />
Country:<br />
State:<br />
Identifying document:<br />
If you used one of these documents to verify your identity, please fill in these details<br />
Licence Type: Driver's License<br />
Firearms License<br />
Issuing Agency: Australian Capital Territory New South Wales Northern Territory<br />
Queensland South Australia Tasmania<br />
Victoria Western Australia Australian Army<br />
Commonwealth of Australia Defence Force Academy Australian Navy<br />
Australian RAAF<br />
Issued by a country other Other<br />
than Australia<br />
Licence number:<br />
Passport Type:<br />
Private Government UN Refugee<br />
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9<br />
NSW WORKING WITH CHILDREN CHECK - VOLUNTEER DECLARATION<br />
22/01/11 4:44 PM<br />
Issuing Country:<br />
Passport number:<br />
NSW WORKING WITH CHILDREN CHECK - VOLUNTEER DECLARATION<br />
22/01/11 4:44 PM<br />
Position details:<br />
Title of child-related position:<br />
Name of organisation you are volunteering for:<br />
Address of this organisation (if known):<br />
I am a parent or guardian of a participating child (y/n):<br />
I am a volunteer or student on placement (y/n):<br />
It is an offence for a prohibited person to apply for, attempt to obtain, undertake or remain in child-related employment, or to sign<br />
this declaration. A prohibited person is a person who is convicted of the following (whether in NSW or elsew<strong>here</strong>):<br />
murder of a child<br />
serious sex offence, including carnal knowledge<br />
child-related personal violence offence (an offence<br />
committed by an adult involving intentionally wounding<br />
or causing grievous bodily harm to a child)<br />
indecency offences punishable by imprisonment of 12<br />
months or more<br />
kidnapping (unless the offender is or has been the<br />
child's parent or carer)<br />
offences connected with child prostitution<br />
possession, distribution or publication of child<br />
pornography; or<br />
attempt, conspiracy or incitement to commit the above<br />
offences.<br />
A prohibited person includes a Registrable person under the Child Protection (Offenders Registration) Act 2000.<br />
Details of these offences can be found online at Working With Children Employer Guidelines Fact sheet 1. A conviction includes a<br />
finding that the charge for an offence is proven, or that a person is guilty of an offence, even though the court does not proceed<br />
to a conviction.<br />
Declaration:<br />
I have read and understood the information above about prohibited persons. I am aware that it is an offence to make a<br />
false statement on this form.<br />
I declare that I am not a prohibited person under the Commission for Children and Young People Act 1998.<br />
I consent to the Commission for Children and Young People checking my relevant criminal records, to verify these<br />
statements. I understand that this information may be referred to the Commission for Children and Young People and/or to<br />
NSW Police for law enforcement purposes and for monitoring and auditing compliance with the procedures and standards<br />
for the Working With Children Check in accordance with Section 36 (1)(f) of the Commission for Children and Young People<br />
Act 1998.<br />
Signature:<br />
Date:<br />
Employer to Complete:<br />
I have sighted photo identification for this person<br />
Signature:<br />
Date:<br />
Name: Position:<br />
What should I do next? Once you have completed your details, you will need to sign the printed form and provide the<br />
signed form to your employer/volunteer organisation. You may also wish to retain a copy for your records.<br />
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c/o <strong>Healthy</strong> <strong>Cities</strong> <strong>Illawarra</strong> T 4226 5000<br />
<br />
Email: mail@healthyillawarra.org.au<br />
<br />
www.healthyillawarra.org.au<br />
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99 Breakfast Every Day
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101 Breakfast Every Day
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103 Breakfast Every Day
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15
APPENDIX<br />
105 Breakfast Every Day<br />
16
APPENDIX<br />
17<br />
BREAKFAST LESSON TWO: GRADES 3-5<br />
Making Sure We Eat Breakfast Each Morning<br />
The GOALS<br />
of this lesson are to:<br />
• help children understand<br />
the reasons for eating<br />
breakfast (HEALTH, SCI-<br />
ENCE)<br />
• develop an awareness<br />
among children of personal<br />
breakfast eating habits<br />
(HEALTH, MATH)<br />
• identify reasons for missing<br />
breakfast and ways to<br />
include it in a daily routine<br />
(PROBLEM SOLVING)<br />
This lesson has four components: a DISCUSSION of reasons for eating breakfast;<br />
a short ACTIVITY in which children calculate the amount of time between<br />
going to bed and getting up in the morning; a DISCUSSION of reasons for<br />
missing breakfast; and a group ACTIVITY identifying possible strategies for<br />
overcoming barriers to eating breakfast. Additional ACTIVITIES are provided.<br />
DISCUSSION<br />
Begin the discussion by having students share what they did to get ready for<br />
school this morning. To do this, have students volunteer to act out or draw a<br />
picture of themselves getting ready for school. As a class, analyze the acting or<br />
pictures to determine if breakfast is a part of the morning routine presented and<br />
decide whether it is important to include breakfast as part of a morning routine.<br />
Lead into a discussion of eating breakfast and reasons why breakfast is important.<br />
Use the following questions to guide the discussion:<br />
Why is breakfast important?<br />
Why do you eat breakfast?<br />
How do you feel when you eat breakfast?<br />
As students answer these questions, create a web of reasons for eating breakfast<br />
on the board. In the center of your web write “reasons for eating breakfast.”<br />
ACTIVITY<br />
Highlight the importance of breakfast by demonstrating how much time lapses<br />
between going to bed and eating breakfast. Create a timeline starting with<br />
“waking up” and ending with “waking up the next morning.” Have children figure<br />
out how many hours t<strong>here</strong> are between going to bed and getting up in the morning.<br />
Now have them calculate how many hours they usually have between<br />
breakfast and lunch or lunch and dinner. Compare the two.<br />
DISCUSSION<br />
39<br />
How much time is t<strong>here</strong> between when you eat at night and when you get up<br />
in the morning?<br />
How much time is t<strong>here</strong> between when you eat lunch and when you eat<br />
dinner?<br />
Is t<strong>here</strong> more or less time between eating dinner and getting up the next<br />
morning or between eating lunch and eating dinner?<br />
If you wake up and skip breakfast, how much time is t<strong>here</strong> until you eat<br />
lunch?<br />
How do you think you will feel if you skip breakfast?<br />
Child Nutrition Outreach Program, Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary<br />
Education, USA, Food for Thought: A Hunger Curriculum of Learning and Community Service;<br />
www.meals4kids.org/food4thought.html<br />
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NOTES<br />
What are some reasons we might not eat in the morning?<br />
• not hungry yet<br />
• no time<br />
• rather sleep<br />
• don’t like what’s in the house to eat<br />
Breakfast is a meal that “breaks the fast” between when we eat at night and<br />
when we get up in the morning. It gives us energy to start the day.<br />
Problem solve in small groups or as a class using the following activity:<br />
ACTIVITY<br />
Break students into small groups. Assign each group one of the reasons mentioned for<br />
missing breakfast. Have students create a web of possible solutions (similar to the<br />
web used in the discussion of reasons to eat breakfast). Have each group share their<br />
solutions and discuss.*<br />
*If your school has a School Breakfast Program, identify School Breakfast as a<br />
possible solution if the children don’t mention it. For children who don’t have time to<br />
eat at home, aren’t hungry when they get up, or don’t have adequate food at home,<br />
School Breakfast is a wonderful option. Your school food service director can help<br />
you get information about the program to the children.<br />
ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES<br />
Choose one or more of the following activities to reinforce the lesson and problemsolving<br />
activity:<br />
Invite the food service director or cafeteria manager to talk about the importance of<br />
eating breakfast and your school’s breakfast program. Discuss ways to advertise the<br />
program to other children in the school. Have each child design an advertisement for<br />
the program. Arrange with the food service director to post the advertisements around<br />
the school and/or publish them in your town’s newspaper. (Be sure to provide adequate<br />
“prep” for this activity. Look at some advertisements ahead of time and<br />
discuss reasons to advertise, quality of letters and colors used in ads, etc. Provide a<br />
variety of materials for students to use if possible.)<br />
Post a large sheet of newsprint with the following questions and response options:<br />
Did you eat breakfast today? (provide “yes” “no” response)<br />
W<strong>here</strong> did you eat? (provide “at home,” “in the car,” “on the bus,” “at school” as<br />
responses)<br />
40<br />
Provide enough room for students to respond to each question with a tally mark.<br />
As students arrive for school, have them place a tally mark next to the appropriate<br />
answer to each question. Tally the results and share them with the class. Using<br />
survey results from the first day, set a class goal for eating breakfast. Survey the<br />
children each day for a week or two. See how close you come to reaching your class<br />
goal.<br />
107 Breakfast Every Day
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Have students write a cartoon strip, rap, or other musical piece about the<br />
importance of eating breakfast each day.<br />
NOTES<br />
Have children keep a breakfast journal for a week in which they record what<br />
they ate, w<strong>here</strong> they ate, and how they felt. At the end of each journal entry,<br />
have them decide whether they ate a nutritious breakfast and why it was<br />
nutritious. At the end of the week have them draw conclusions about their<br />
breakfast eating habits and record any changes they plan to make as a result<br />
of keeping a journal.<br />
Provide students with different scenarios such as “in the car,” “at a fast food<br />
restaurant,” “on the bus,” “at a convenience store,” and “at home.” Have<br />
them decide what nutritious foods they could eat in each situation. Share<br />
results and discuss.<br />
Work in small groups to develop and present a skit about the importance of<br />
eating breakfast every day. If possible, perform the skit for younger classes<br />
in the school.<br />
Publish a class book about breakfast that includes poems, stories, recipes,<br />
pictures, etc.<br />
Have students write a haiku poem about breakfast. A haiku is an unrhymed<br />
Japanese poem. It has three lines that contain a total of five, seven, and five<br />
syllables respectively. Example:<br />
Breakfast every day<br />
Energy to play and learn<br />
Breakfast, it’s for me<br />
Have students design their own cereal box. Your imagination is the limit, but<br />
possible suggestions include: drawing a picture of themselves and creating a<br />
cereal name and slogan for the front; creating a breakfast game or puzzles<br />
for the back; listing reasons to eat breakfast for one side panel; and listing<br />
strategies for eating breakfast every day for the other panel.<br />
Research foods eaten for breakfast in different countries or cultures and<br />
report to the class. Make a collective collage on a display board. Take it<br />
with the “traveling skit” (see above) or display it in the library, lobby, or other<br />
prominent place in the school.<br />
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