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Giving all London schoolchildren free breakfasts would help tackle spiralling truancy levels, experts have said.
One London headteacher said persistent absence rates dropped immediately at her primary school after she introduced the morning meal for all children.
It comes after the Standard revealed “insane” persistent absence levels, with more than a quarter of secondary pupils in parts of London regularly failing to attend school.
Lindsey MacDonald, chief executive of Magic Breakfast, a charity that helps schools offer breakfast, said giving children food in the morning cuts absence levels because it changes the relationship between families and schools.
She said: “It gives them a sense of belonging, a feeling they are welcome at school and it is a place that is going to care for them.
“The relationship between parents and the school changes drastically because all of a sudden a positive message is coming from the school - it’s not a ‘persistent absence, potential fines, chastising’ conversation.”
Sandie Andrews, headteacher of Penwortham Primary School in Wandsworth, said all 668 children at the three-form entry school have been offered free breakfast for the past year. Over that time persistent absence levels have dropped by two per cent, and lateness has decreased.
She said: “Children want to be in school, they want to socialise and be with their friends.
“Children have more energy and concentration and punctuality is better. They don’t complain of stomach aches and headaches. We are starting to see that coming through in their attainment and progress.”
Research from the Education Endowment Fund found schools with breakfast provision have 26 fewer half days of absence per year in a class of 30, compared to other schools.
Latest figures show 55,000 children in London schools currently receive a free breakfast through Magic Breakfast.
Labour has pledged to provide free breakfast clubs for primary school pupils if it wins the next election at a cost of £365million.
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Mrs Andrews said families are increasingly coming to the school for help with the cost-of-living, and are using foodbanks more.
She said: “We adopted the Magic Breakfast initiative because the cost of living crisis and rise in food prices affected some of our families and we felt it would help us support them.
“It has removed that guilt around sometimes having to skip breakfast. It removes the stigma – it’s for all families whether they are having issues with the cost of living or whether they are just really busy working parents.”
The number of children who are persistently absent spiralled during Covid and remain at pre-pandemic levels.
More than one in five children in England are now classed as persistently absent from school - before the pandemic, the figure was one in 10.
In parts of London the figures are much higher. Latest provisional data shows that in Camden, Croydon and Westminster more than a quarter of secondary school pupils were persistently absent, with Croydon recording the highest rate at 27.1 per cent, against the national average of 25.3 per cent.
Mrs Macdonald said: “Headteachers highlight that one of the quickest wins and most immediate impacts of offering breakfast is an improvement in lateness and attendance.”
Litsa Anderson, deputy head of Penwortham school said: “The stigma has gone. Children used to hide their hunger or just not say, and the fact we are eliminating that now is an important step forward.”