How KickStart Breakfast created the foundation of our breakfast club Buller High school

Buller High School, our 2019 KickStart Breakfast Club of the Year winner, share their experience and how their breakfast club has evolved since starting in the programme in 2013. HOD Food & Nutrition and Breakfast Club Coordinator, Jude Eakin share’s how the school’s engagement with the programme continues to grow each year with integrating the senior hospitality and food technology students learning into their KickStart Breakfast club.

‘Watching the students who turn up every day to make their school a better place. Every year we get more students and staff signing up to help and every year their level of commitment deepens.

We are open to all students in the Buller area and their whānau, parents, siblings, grandparents. – this inter-generational approach is effective and inclusive. It also makes the transition to high school less threatening for our primary students. We have great support from the primary schools and Homebuilders, they visit frequently and often help. It’s priceless to have such open channels of communication with our primary schools.

We run a barista training course where the students work shifts at Breakfast Club serving visitors and teachers a great cup of coffee and when it’s cold – hot chocolate for our children. Having whānau bring their children in and sit down to have a coffee. We are given frequent donations of local fresh fruits and vegetables.

Our L3 Trades hospitality students prepare meals to be served at Breakfast Club as part of their training. Our senior management team come in once a week and work with the students, this gives the students and visitors a chance to chat informally and create relationships.

The whole school, students and staff take this venture seriously and have pride and a sense of ownership in the club is its strength. We knew that providing a great breakfast to our students would be useful and would help improve both attendance at school and engagement in class. We were surprised at the extra benefits that have become clearer as time passes – the relationship building between staff, family and students, and the opportunities provided for our students to show leadership and manaakitanga.

We would like to thank KickStart Breakfast for giving us the foundation to build a breakfast club that we are proud of, we couldn’t have done it without you.”