The Greggs Foundation, the independent grant-making charity supported by Greggs plc, today celebrates one year since the launch of its free education programme that teaches children about the importance of food security and sustainability.
Launched in partnership with food education charity Rethink Food, the education programme, ‘Agents of Change’, has been rolled out to over 29,000 children in 290 schools across the UK since September 2022. By 2025, the programme is projected to have 600 schools signed up, reaching up to 50,000 school children.
The partnership has been instrumental to the Greggs Pledge commitment to build stronger, healthier communities, and add value to the highly successful Greggs Breakfast Clubs network, which has grown to over 840 clubs nationwide. In addition to the Agents of Change, all Breakfast Club schools have access to the Greggs Foundation’s hardship funding programme which issues in excess of £1 million in grants every year to support families in financial crisis.
About the programme
Against today’s backdrop of the climate, food-security and the cost-of-living crisis, The Agents of Change partnership was created to provide a structured and fun programme which addresses food education in an accessible way for children. The programme is a year-long course integrated into the school curriculum, aimed at Year 2 and Year 3 pupils which uses a multi-media online platform to teach children about sustainability, food security and healthy eating. The fun visual content is all bespoke to the Agents of Change curriculum – developing characters and subject-led scenarios that the children can respond to, as well as learn from.
Case study: Redhall Primary School
Darlington-based Redhall Primary School, a participant of the Greggs Breakfast Club for over ten years, was one of the first schools to sign up to the Agents of Change programme for its Year 2 class.
The programme has provided over 450 hours of education through seamless integration into the curriculum. Offering valuable learning and engagement opportunities, a key highlight for the students has been the healthy diets module, which involves creating individual healthy eating plates and discussions around the origins of food.
The programme has inspired the children to be more environmentally conscious and apply classroom-learned skills in their daily lives, fostering a greater concern for the planet and their dietary choices.
Tracy Lynch, Greggs Foundation manager said: “We are very proud with what we have achieved within our first year of launching the programme in partnership with Rethink Food. It’s been a fantastic addition to our Breakfast Club programme and has been welcomed by both pupils and teachers across our school network. The fun and engaging style of The Agents of Change has been a great way to offer an added value education programme to our Breakfast Clubs in a format which we know children respond to. We are excited to be able to support even more schools through our partnership with Rethink in the future.”[TL1]
Nathan Atkinson, Rethink Food said: This partnership has given us the opportunity to create an inspiring, positive, and empowering educational programme for primary school children. The feedback from schools has been extremely positive with young people across the country having taken positive action in support of a brighter future.
Further details on the Agents of Change programme and Greggs’ Breakfast clubs programme can be found on the Greggs Foundation website: https://www.greggsfoundation.org.uk/breakfast-clubs
