BREAKFAST isn't just about putting fuel in your tank to help drive you through the day. It is also a social occasion, and nowhere is that more evident than at Ghyllside Primary School, in Kendal.

It's three years since the school started a breakfast club' with the help of National Lottery New Opportunities funding. The move was in response to working parent demand for wrap-around' care. As well as the breakfast club, for example, which runs from 8am-9am, Ghyllside also offers an after-school club from 3.20pm-6pm.

The breakfast club costs £2.50 a morning (there are free places for those parents who need the service but can't afford it) and can cater for anything up to 24 children across the four to 11 years age range. The club is also soon to be extended to cater for three year olds.

Although they attend the club, some children are given breakfast at home. However, by far the majority are catered for in school. Breakfast club cook' is classroom assistant and play leader Kealey Johnson.

On offer are cereal and toast, fruit and fruit juice; jam, marmalade and chocolate spread.

"We are very conscious of allergies so we don't have anything available which might contain nuts," said Marie-Anne Williamson, teacher in charge of nursery, where the breakfast club is held. Mrs Williamson is also vice chairman of the school's voluntary management committee which set up the breakfast club.

"The club provides a very calm start to the morning for the children."

Also, apart from helping improve concentration levels, breakfast has one other important beneficial effect at Ghyllside it is a social event.

"The children, all ages, sit together and chat away," commented Mrs Williamson. "They are developing social skills. It's lovely to see the older children mixing with the little ones. This club helps both the children, and the school."

As part of National Breakfast Week, schools have been asked to take part in a nation-wide on-line classroom survey to look at the effects of eating a healthy balanced breakfast on cognitive function, particularly memory and attention levels.

Although links between breakfast and mental performance are widely accepted, this large-scale survey, the first of its kind, is expected to provide definitive results.

It is hoped that the survey will help raise awareness within schools of the importance of eating a healthy, balanced breakfast and provide hooks for discussion and exploration of the Balance of Good Health, within the national curriculum, in both science and PSHE.

The study is being conducted in collaboration with CDR, a leading cognitive research company. The overall results will be published in the summer.