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Breakfast program aims to nurture

Kinnikinnick Elementary School

Kinnikinnick Elementary School principal Cathy McCubbin knows that feeding children a balanced and nutritious breakfast each day can positively impact their learning, so she’s making it happen at her school and tracking the results.

Last week the principal officially opened the school’s breakfast program where kids can come to school, sit down and enjoy a proper breakfast each school day between 8 and 8:40 a.m.

The school is funding the program through grants and School District funds, but McCubbin isn’t sure how much the program will cost on an annual basis.

“That’s one of the things we’re going to find out,” McCubbin said, noting she also plans to track attendance, behaviour and learning outcomes in students who use the program regularly. “For now we are treating it as a bit of a pilot project.”

McCubbin hopes the positive impact of the program will be self-evident and that funds can be found to keep it going next year.

“We’re pretty sure we’re going to see a positive benefit. That has been my experience with this kind of program in the past,” McCubbin said, adding she ran a similar program at a school “up north” that saw positive impacts on student behaviour, learning, attention and emotional wellness.

Before the program started, many students at Kinnikinnick were coming to school hungry, McCubbin said, adding that the breakfast trays of fruit and muffins previously put in the hallways were usually picked bare.

“We’re a school that has a lot of students who are vulnerable and we are a high needs school,” McCubbin said. “We were recognizing that we were certainly having students coming in who had not had a proper breakfast or who needed more. In some cases, families would call to say they were sorry, but they didn’t have any food to give their children.”

When the Kinnikinnick breakfast program opened on Feb. 10 there were 32 students signed up, and by the end of the week, there were 45 enrolled. McCubbin suspects the number will grow more as parents and students become familiar with the program.

While there is a cost of $1.50 per meal for those who can afford it, no child will be turned away and there is no record kept of who paid and who didn’t.

“Any money that comes in just goes to support the program as a whole,” McCubbin said.

The pilot project will continue until the end of this school year when the data will be assessed. With that data in hand McCubbin hopes to make a pitch to School District No. 46 to create a permanent breakfast program at the school.