A Full-Circle Moment at Knighton Normal School’s Breakfast Club
For more than a decade, Knighton Normal School has been part of the KickStart Breakfast whānau, creating a welcoming place for tamariki to start the day with kai, connection and care.
The school officially joined KickStart Breakfast in 2014, but its breakfast club story began even earlier. Before joining the programme, a small breakfast club was already part of school life, supported by people who understood the difference a settled, caring start to the day can make.
Today, Knighton’s breakfast club is still much more than a place to eat. It is a familiar morning hub where tamariki are welcomed in, share kai, help one another and start the day feeling included.
Student leadership is a big part of what makes the club special. Tamariki help the space run smoothly, showing responsibility, care and whakawhanaungatanga as they look after one another, check in on each other and all play a role in cleaning up. That shared ownership helps the breakfast club feel relaxed, familiar and genuinely connected to the life of the school.
The kai matters and so does everything wrapped around it: the routines, the kindness, the leadership and the relationships built around the breakfast table.
A full-circle reminder
On a recent visit to Knighton, our newest KickStart Breakfast team member, Caitlin, returned to a place she knew well.
Caitlin attended Knighton as a student and was part of the school’s original breakfast club. Years later, she is now helping support more than 1,500 schools across Aotearoa through KickStart Breakfast.
Her visit was a powerful reminder that breakfast clubs can leave a lasting impression - not only on the tamariki who come in for breakfast but on the student leaders, staff, whānau and volunteers who help bring them to life.
Help us find more breakfast club stories
Our visit to Knighton reminded us that breakfast club experiences can stay with people long after they leave school.
As KickStart Breakfast reflects on its journey since 2009, we’d love to hear from former students who attended or helped with breakfast clubs during their school years.
If your school is still connected with former students, whānau or community members who were involved, please encourage them to contact the KickStart Breakfast team at kickstart.breakfast@fonterra.com.
We’d love to hear where they are now, what they remember, and how breakfast club helped create a sense of connection or belonging that stayed with them.