Up to 750 schools will be invited to test the delivery of breakfast clubs in primary schools ahead of a national rollout.

The Department for Education has said that the early adopter scheme - designed to “test and learn what works” - will launch in the summer term (April 2025).

Labour previously pledged to roll out fully-funded breakfast clubs to all primary schools in England, claiming that the scheme “could cut almost half a million days of school absence”.

The party said the rollout of breakfast clubs across all primary schools in England expands “significantly” on the Conservatives’ plans, which it previously claimed reach just one in every seven primary schools.

Speaking at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool today, chancellor Rachel Reeves said £7 million of funding would help to begin the rollout of breakfast clubs from next April.

The DfE said today that the new programme will invite up to 750 state-funded schools in England with primary-aged pupils to work with the department, with early adopter schools to be confirmed by early 2025.

And the programme will focus on how breakfast clubs can be delivered in a way that “builds on what is already happening in schools”, “meets the needs of parents” and “ensures children start the day ready to learn”.

• Labour: Breakfast clubs plan ‘could cut half a million days of absence’
• IFS: Labour’s breakfast clubs plan risks school ‘mission creep’
• Pledge: Labour plans breakfast clubs in primary schools

At the Labour Party conference, Ms Reeves said: “This is about investing in education so we can invest in our economy, too.”

“Investing in the next generation so we can proudly say that they have had a chance to do better than the generation that came before,” she added.

James Bowen, assistant general secretary of the NAHT school leaders’ union, said that the pilot should be an opportunity “to trial different models of delivery and to get a better sense of what does and does not work, as well as what the likely take-up will be”.

“It will be vital that the government listens to the feedback from these early adopters before moving ahead with the policy on a larger scale.”

The department said it will also work with the wider education sector including local authorities and childcare providers, businesses and charities.

The plan to expand free breakfast clubs into every school has faced criticism - the Institute for Fiscal Studies previously warned that Labour’s pledge risked creating “mission creep” for staff and leaders.

Labour has also pledged to convert empty or under-used classrooms in England’s primary schools into nurseries.

The spare capacity in schools has been caused by declining birth rates and, under the plan, some 3,334 classrooms would be converted at an average cost of £40,000.

The nurseries could be run by schools, or by local private or voluntary-sector providers.