Skipping breakfast linked to lower GCSE grades
Fiona Simpson
Tuesday, November 19, 2019
Students who regularly skipped breakfast before school achieved lower GCSE grades than those who frequently ate a morning meal, new research reveals.
Researchers from the University of Leeds surveyed 294 students to establish a link between eating breakfast and GCSE performance for secondary school students in the UK.
Students who said they rarely ate breakfast achieved nearly two grades lower than those who ate before school.
Almost a third (29 per cent) of students asked rarely or never ate breakfast on school days, while 18 per cent only ate breakfast occasionally. Some 53 per cent said they ate a morning meal frequently.
The latest national data for England found that more than 16 per cent of secondary school children miss breakfast.
As part of the study, GCSE grades were converted to point scores using the Department for Education’s 2012 system, where A* = 58, A = 52, B = 46, and so on. Adding up students’ scores across all subjects gave students an aggregated score.
Those who rarely ate breakfast scored on average 10.25 points lower than those who did so frequently, a difference of nearly two grades after accounting for other important factors including socio-economic status, ethnicity, age, sex and BMI, researchers said.
The study has led to calls for the government to expand the current limited free school breakfast programme to include every state school in England.
Charities Magic Breakfast and Family Action deliver a breakfast programme funded by the Department for Education, which provides free breakfasts to more than 1,800 schools located in the most socio-economically deprived parts of England.
Dr Katie Adolphus, from the University of Leeds school of psychology, said: “Our study suggests that secondary school students are at a disadvantage if they are not getting a morning meal to fuel their brains for the start of the school day.
“This research suggests that poor nutrition is associated with worse results at school.”
Alex Cunningham, chief executive of Magic Breakfast, said: "This study is a valuable insight, reinforcing the importance of breakfast in boosting pupils' academic attainment and removing barriers to learning. Education is crucial to a child’s future life success and escaping poverty – therefore ensuring every child has access to a healthy start to the day must be a priority.”
The research was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and The Schools Partnership Trust Academies.
