Evaluation of school breakfast clubs becomes misleading when it reports only an average. The issue of stigma and irregular family schedules requires separate evidence about who can attend, who supplies hidden labour and who needs additional support to participate.

I would not judge school breakfast clubs from their launch figures. The real test is attendance and concentration over a full term, observed over several months and including withdrawals. For school breakfast clubs, clear safety boundaries are compatible with informal welcome and do not require a large administrative structure.

Longitudinal evidence is essential for school breakfast clubs, especially evidence about attendance and concentration over a full term. Yet school breakfast clubs also need formal responsibility: one coordinator, transparent scheduling and a short common report can prevent voluntary energy from masking repeated failures.

The value of school breakfast clubs lies in participants shaping the activity themselves. I would protect informal welcome by limiting institutional controls around school breakfast clubs; immediate enthusiasm is not proof, but it can create the relationships from which durable learning develops.