Nutritious breakfasts are being served up to “hungry and malnourished children” at a school in London’s deprived East End.

They are being given free to every pupil at Whitechapel’s Thomas Buxton Primary to make sure no child starts the day too hungry to learn.

The project is run by Magic Breakfast charity with cash from Morgan Stanley Bank in Canary Wharf.

“Providing breakfast has enormous benefit to all hungry and malnourished children in the school,” the charity’s founder Carmel McConnell said. “It should be a wake-up call to business leaders in the City that there is such need on their doorstep, helping pupils flourish because they are no longer too hungry to learn.”

The 400-pupil school, which already had a breakfast club, decided that all children would benefit from healthy food to help them settle and concentrate in lessons.

Headteacher Lorraine Flanagan said: “It helps pupils focus and be more ready to learn. Many have a very busy morning and some travel a long way before they arrive.

“Just as lunch is integral to the school day, why shouldn’t breakfast be as well? I’m in favour of a policy that ensures all children have a healthy breakfast at the start of the school day.”

The school is serving toasted bagels and may consider introducing cereals as well, once the logistics are in place.

The free breakfast idea follows the Magic Breakfast charity’s latest survey revealing 96 per cent of 345 schools reported that eating a nutritious breakfast “had a positive impact” on children. It improved concentration levels for those who had eaten a ‘magic’ breakfast.

Magic Breakfast is delivering 1,000 bagels to Thomas Buxton school each week.