MOST people would agree that going to work in the morning is much easier after a good breakfast.

The same applies for children attending school, they are much more likely to have a productive day if they have had a healthy breakfast.

But in some areas of Bradford, children do not always come into school on a full stomach, which can hamper their efforts to learn.

Now one local business leader has called for other businesses to offer financial support to schools in their communities to help provide healthy breakfasts to their pupils.

Nasreen Karim, of Platinum Partnership Solicitors, has been sponsoring Hollingwood Primary School so they can provide breakfasts for more of its pupils, and wants other local businesses to offer similar support. Her Platinum Partnership Foundation provides support and funding for local good causes, and said providing breakfasts at Hollingwood has been a great way of giving back to the community.

The partnership came about after Mrs Karim rang around local schools offering support for any of their programmes. Hollingwood told her that with support they would be able to expand their breakfast club.

Thanks to help from Platinum Partnerships, the school was able to expand its breakfast club from 20 pupils a day to 30.

She said: "Some of the children in this area of Bradford are from underprivileged families and don't always come to school having eaten breakfast.

"Teachers say that if a child has a good breakfast then they will feel more alert. It is also really important for nutrition from the child's point of view.

"When pupils were sitting their SATs the school gave every pupils sitting an exam a breakfast. Pupils said they felt much more alert.

"I just want everyone to realise the importance of children having a good breakfast. It makes a massive difference."

She called for businesses to contact local schools to see how they can help expand their breakfast provisions.

The breakfasts on offer to the pupils at Hollingwood include pancakes, fruit and waffles.

Johnathan Duke, head of Hollingwood, said as well as providing breakfast for pupils, the club is a good way for children to prepare for the school day. He said: "We have run the breakfast club for some time, but this support has helped us increase the number of children that we can accommodate. We used to be able to give breakfast to 20 children, now we can give it to 30.

"It provides children with a settled start to their day, and puts them in the right frame of mind.

"Some children come into school and start off cold, going straight into class. This gives them a chance to talk to friends and get settled in to the school day. They are emotionally more settled and it also helps with attainment and attendance.

"If you look at performance of children as being like a wall, providing free breakfasts is a bit like a brick in the wall, if you take it away the wall won't fall down, but you won't be able to build that wall quite as high.

"It is not necessarily in a school's remit to provide breakfasts, but it makes a significant difference.

"We gave every pupils sitting their SATs free breakfasts. It gave them a chance to have some social time beforehand and put them in a better place to go on and sit their SATs.

The number of schools providing breakfast clubs has risen dramatically in recent years, according to recent figures from Kelloggs. A recent study by the cereal giant revealed that schools providing such provision have risen by almost 45 per cent since the recession started in 2008. Now almost 85 per cent of schools offer some kind of breakfast club provision.

The report also found that 45 per cent of schools with a breakfast club say it has improved attendance, 49 per cent say that it has improved concentration, 41 per cent have seen an improvement in behaviour and 15 per cent noticed an improvement in exam results linked to the Breakfast Club.