Two centres providing support to parents and the community.

The article describes visits to The Beeches Community Primary School breakfast club and the Unity Centre in Whitton, both offering services for families and local residents; The Beeches was among the first 750 schools in a pilot free breakfast scheme and the Unity Centre hosts NHS and community activities with coordination funded until June 2026.

I visited The Beeches Community Primary School breakfast club in Whitton and then the Unity Centre on Meredith Road. The Beeches was one of the first 750 schools to run a pilot free daily breakfast club ahead of a planned England-wide rollout. The Unity Centre is an NHS community centre and clinic that also hosts partner services and community activities. Charity Emmaus coordinates room bookings and access with funding in place until June 2026. Key details: - The Beeches runs a free breakfast club and was among the initial 750 pilot schools. - In November 2025 the government announced 500 more schools would join from April 2026 and 1,500 more from September 2026, with around 17,000 schools expected to offer clubs when fully rolled out. - The Beeches also operates a separate nurturing breakfast club; pupils were served cereal, fruit and toast during the visit. - The Unity Centre provides NHS health checks, ITFC Foundation Active Blues, walking and cycling groups, councillor drop-ins, a dementia lunch club run by Ipswich Dementia Action Alliance, reading sessions and monthly Suffolk Pride outreach. - Emmaus manages coordination of the centre's rooms and that funding is part of a Health Inequality Intervention programme running until June 2026. - There is some spare capacity in office-type and Friday community spaces, and ITFC Foundation hopes to extend its Family Hub into additional rooms if funding is secured. Summary: The visits illustrate local efforts to support children, families and residents through school breakfast provision and a range of community health and social activities. The national breakfast scheme is set to expand in April and September 2026, and coordination funding at the Unity Centre runs until June 2026. Further local expansion of family support services is subject to future funding decisions.