Central Co-op Extending Magic Breakfast Partnership to Six Schools

Posted by sam bishop | Published: 07/02/2023

Central Co-op is marking Children’s Mental Health Week with an extension of its partnership with Magic Breakfast, a charity that promotes learning by providing children and young people at risk of hunger with breakfast, giving them the fuel they need to focus on their education.  

Here are the six schools now in the scheme: 

Kilburn Junior School in Belper, Derbyshire 

Whittington Moor Nursery & Infant School in Chesterfield, Derbyshire 

Northfield Road Primary in Dudley, West Midlands 

Silkmore Primary Academy in Stafford, Staffordshire 

Northfield St Nicholas Primary Academy in Lowestoft, Suffolk 

Buswells Lodge Primary in Leicester, Leicestershire 

Central Co-op is supporting Magic Breakfast via funding raised from compostable carrier bag sales. This support will be in place over the next two years, and the schools are in close proximity to Central Co-op stores, meaning that Central Co-op can educate students on important topics like healthy eating and Fairtrade foods too. 

Central Co-op has also provided each of the schools with an annual £300 voucher to spend in their local store to help bolster their breakfast provision. 

This year Magic Breakfast is using Children’s Mental Health Week to highlight the impact  eating breakfast has not just on educational attainment but on mental health and wellbeing as well, and how breakfast not only solves the immediate need of hunger but can increase a child’s confidence and focus and reduce stress and anxiety.  

For further details, head to the Central Co-op website, Facebook, and Twitter. Further details on Magic Breakfast can be found on their website. 

About Central Co-op 

Central Co-op is one of the largest independent retail co-operative societies in the UK, with a heritage stretching back over 175 years and interests in food, funeral, floral and property investment.  

Owned by hundreds of thousands of members, its 7,700 colleagues serve customers across 440 plus trading sites in 19 counties in the East and West Midlands, Yorkshire, Suffolk, Norfolk, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire.   

Its purpose is to create a sustainable Society for all.   

It actively campaigns for food justice and works with FareShare Midlands and a network of local food banks. It also adds £1 to every Healthy Start Voucher redeemed in store and supports six schools in partnership with Magic Breakfasts. 

The Society embraces inclusivity and equality and is a signed-up member to the Business in the Community (BITC) Race at Work Charter. The Society is also a member of Diversity in Retail and it is fully committed to addressing the impacts of climate change by reducing carbon and food waste, increasing recycling and investment in community Sustainable Spaces funded by the carrier bag levy. It recently launched its Malawi Partnership to support farmers and producers in the country through the Co-operative International Trading Development Fund.  

It invests a percentage of its trading profit into local communities through its Community Dividend Fund scheme which has seen over £109,769.25 shared out between 121 good causes in 2022.

Press office contact: Sam Bishop, PR Specialist  

Contact details:   

sam.bishop@centralengland.coop  

07385 048048 

About Magic Breakfast  

Magic Breakfast is a registered charity providing healthy breakfasts to children and young people in the UK who arrive at school too hungry to learn, and expert support to their schools. The charity works with around 1,000 Primary, Secondary, ASL/Special Educational Needs Schools, and Pupil Referral Units in disadvantaged areas of Scotland and England, offering breakfasts to around 200,000 children to ensure they start their school day with the energy and nutrition they need to be able to make the most of their morning lessons.  Magic Breakfast also campaigns for long-term solutions to end hunger as a barrier to learning.