Objective: that no child starts their school day on an empty stomach. At the start of the 2019 school year, free breakfasts were offered in two test schools at Benauge and Grand Parc, as part of the poverty plan presented by the government. The results drawn by the former majority of this experiment were mixed, since the 300 breakfasts had not all found takers. By modifying the organization, the device will soon be extended to 2,000 potential breakfasts at nine priority schools in Bordeaux, according to the wishes of the national education system.
The first meals based on bread, dairy products and seasonal fruits will be delivered by the central kitchen (SIVU), after the All Saints holidays. It is the municipal agents who will organize the reception of children spotted by the educational team from 8:20 a.m. to 8:40 a.m. in kindergarten, and from 8:20 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. for elementary school.
A delicate implementation
The device will require a certain delicacy in its implementation. “We wondered how not to stigmatize certain families and also how to prevent certain children from not eating twice,” points out Sylvie Schmitt, the assistant in charge of education. Collaborative work between teachers, agents and more specifically those responsible for the sites was carried out to organize these breakfasts outside school time. The municipal majority sees it as an opportunity to develop its policy of “eating well” by involving dieticians in each school for awareness-raising actions.
For kindergarten students, a “breakfast” area will be set up in their classroom and elementary students will be invited by the agents “who know the children well and interact with the teachers” to go to a dedicated place. , emphasizes the education assistant. “The children must arrive before, it is the pitfall that I see there, as the system extended by the State is necessarily done outside school time,” she adds. Latecomers will therefore not have the opportunity to break the seed before the start of the course.
The deliberation concerning this device, funded by the State to the tune of 287,000 euros for the year, will be voted on by the municipal council in October.