Stephen Morgan MP has described Labour’s plans to introduce fully funded breakfast clubs for every primary school in England as the “first step on the road to a modern childcare system”, supporting families from the end of parental leave to the end of primary school.
Bridget Phillipson, Labour’s Shadow Education Secretary, has set out the plans as the centrepiece of Labour’s ambition “to build a future where children come first”, placing families at the heart of the party’s drive to deliver the jobs and growth of the future.
Labour’s intervention comes as the spiralling cost of childcare under the Conservatives, in addition to rising food, fuel and housing costs, is increasingly forcing growing numbers of parents out of work and seeing more children missing out on additional learning, and enriching activities.
The Shadow Education Secretary said that Labour’s plan will enable parents to work as well as strengthening children’s development, driving up standards in reading, writing and maths, contrasting this with the Conservatives’ failure to close the education attainment gap and support parents with young children to continue working the jobs and hours they choose.
The “landmark” new approach to childcare will be funded from the revenues raised by restoring the 45 pence income tax rate for the very richest individuals.
Labour has also pledged to build the most ambitious school improvement programme for a generation to help children excel in sciences and maths, widening access to arts, music and drama and building a modern careers advice and work experience system paid for by ending tax breaks for private schools.
The Shadow Education Secretary told Labour conference today that “life should not come down to luck”, drawing on her own story of growing up in a single parent family “where education was encouraged”, but under the Conservatives, “classes were too big, books too few, money short and opportunities rare.”
In the lead up to Labour’s policy announcement in Liverpool this week, Mr Morgan visited Windsor Community Primary School in Toxteth to see the benefits of breakfast clubs first-hand, which is being delivered in partnership with breakfast club provider, Magic Breakfast.
Labour has said breakfast clubs improve education outcomes, both through giving children the energy to learn, and by settling children in at the start of the day boosting attendance and behaviour.
The Shadow Schools Minister and Portsmouth South MP, Stephen Morgan, said:
“The evidence couldn’t be clearer: gaps in learning development, gaps in opportunities, open up early, so our solutions must start early too.
“We need a fresh vision of that education. One that looks to the future, not the past.
“Labour will build a modern childcare system. One that supports families from the end of parental leave through to the end of primary school.
“As the first step on that road, we will introduce breakfast clubs for every primary school child in England, driving up standards in maths, reading, and writing, and giving mums and dads choices.
“That’s what the next generation of Portsmouth and the country deserve.”
