Amazon and charity partner, Magic Breakfast, enlist Countdown presenter Rachel Riley for a special class with Castleview Primary School in Edinburgh
Amazon extends partnership with Magic Breakfast to provide healthy breakfasts for children across the UK, including school holidays; since the start of the pandemic Amazon has delivered more than two million meals
Magic Breakfast is among the thousands of charities around the world receiving millions of items through product and monetary donations from Amazon this festive season
Before the holidays pupils at an Edinburgh school enjoyed a very special Christmas surprise when their usual teachers were joined by Countdown presenter Rachel Riley. The TV star hosted a special maths class for the pupils at Castleview Primary School as part of Amazon.co.uk’s “VIB – Very Important Breakfast – Clubs”.
Co-hosted by Magic Breakfast – a charity which provides healthy breakfasts and wrap-around support to tens of thousands of children in disadvantaged areas of the UK, the exclusive, celebrity surprise lesson was created to mark the two millionth meal delivered by Amazon this year alone and forms part of a Christmas programme of donations by Amazon.
The VIB Club at Castleview Primary School is part of a series that will also include celebrity guest lessons at schools in Doncaster, Brent, Scunthorpe and Poole. The clubs will then be made available on the Amazon.co.uk YouTube channel to bring some Christmas magic to all children for free this festive season.
“No child should be too hungry to learn, and we’re proud to help Magic Breakfast deliver meals to children at risk of hunger. When COVID-19 meant schools had to close, we made it our mission to reach as many children as possible at home, delivering food parcels directly to the doorstep of thousands of vulnerable children,” said Rachel Seaward-Simpson from the Amazon Customer Services Centre in Edinburgh.
“This Christmas, we have created Very Important Breakfast Clubs to bring joy to children, schools and families across the UK, underpinning our ongoing commitment to deliver fuel for learning across the rest of the school year, including the holidays.”
“It was so cool to have a celebrity teach us in our class and Rachel was really nice,” said a pupil at Castleview Primary School. “She made the maths lesson super fun and gave us tips of how to spot prime factors in the real world.”
Clare Langley, Head Teacher at Castleview Primary School, added: “Amazon and Magic Breakfast do important work in our community and the breakfast clubs have been an essential part of our pupils’ lives, particularly during COVID-19.
“The support our school has been given by both Amazon and Magic Breakfast has been amazing and our pupils had the lesson of their lives with Rachel Riley this week. On behalf of the staff, boys and girls at Castleview Primary School, I’d like to thank Amazon, Magic Breakfast and Rachel for an unforgettable experience.”
Rachel Riley commented: “I believe all children deserve a healthy and happy start to their day so I’m taking part in these Very Important Breakfast Clubs with Amazon and Magic Breakfast.
“I hope I can also show children that maths can be fun with my special lesson about discovering prime numbers and factors in the world around us.”
Stars Surprise Schools with VIB Clubs
To start the day with a lesson like no other, children at five Magic Breakfast partner schools in Doncaster, Poole, Brent, Scunthorpe and Edinburgh, will be surprised with virtual visits from:
● Joe Sugg, one of the UK’s biggest YouTubers and 2018’s Strictly Come Dancing runner-up, will be joined by his partner Dianne Buswell totreat the class to a cha-cha-rming dance lesson in the first VIB Club
● Professor Green, the multi-platinum rapper and songwriter and mental health advocate, will be getting down with the kids to come up with some new rhymes in his freestyle rap session.
● Dr Ranj Singh, the NHS doctor and BAFTA award-winning TV presenter, will be beamed in with a brain-busting lesson in biology.
● Rachel Riley, Countdown presenter and the nation’s favourite mathematician, will be playing the numbers game in her lesson, showing maths is ‘easy as Pi’.
● Lia Lewis, British freestyle footballer and TikTok superstar, will kick-start the school day by teaching freestyle flair. With shin bounces, sole stalls and rainbow flicks all on the lesson plan, it will be a PE class with the wow factor!
Schools and families around the country will be able to enjoy the VIB Club lessons on the Amazon.co.uk YouTube channel for free this Christmas.
Feeding Bodies and Minds
Magic Breakfast, an Amazon.co.uk charity partner since 2016, provides healthy school breakfasts to children in disadvantaged areas of the UK to combat food poverty as a barrier to education.
When schools shut last year due to COVID-19, Amazon worked with Magic Breakfast to deliver food parcels directly to the doorsteps of thousands of children around the UK.
Last week the company announced that it has delivered two million ‘magic breakfasts’ to vulnerable children across the UK this year, and will expand its partnership to continue to deliver healthy breakfasts to children at risk of hunger throughout the rest of the school year and school holidays.
Amazon is also helping Magic Breakfast digitise classrooms, providing thousands of children with STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) equipment including coding robot kits and programming training.
Customers can support Magic Breakfast by donating here: www.magicbreakfast.com/donate/magic-breakfast; or by choosing Magic Breakfast as their charity on Amazon Smile (available on desktop and app), where customers can shop with the added bonus that Amazon will donate a portion of the purchase price to a charity of their choice.
“We’ve worked with Amazon for over four years and in 2020 alone, together we’ve delivered two million breakfasts to vulnerable children which is just astonishing,” said Alex Cunningham, CEO of Magic Breakfast.
“After a challenging year, ending with the cancellation of many school celebrations, we hope that our VIB Clubs with Amazon will give children a reason to smile this Christmas, as well as raising funds and awareness for the most vulnerable in our communities. None of this would have been possible without our partnership with Amazon, so thank you to Amazon for their unwavering support and helping us end a difficult year with some Christmas magic.”
Amazon’s Festive Giving
Magic Breakfast is among the thousands of charities around the world receiving millions of items through product and monetary donations from Amazon this festive season. Across Europe, Amazon committed €21 million to support those most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and in the UK,as well as increasing support for Magic Breakfast, Amazon.co.uk is donating to help organisations which are supporting communities directly impacted by the COVID-19 crisis.
These donations include delivering STEM gifts to children supported by Barnardo’s; supporting DePaul with the essential work the charity does to provide emergency housing, item donation and support structures for families and young people; helping the British Red Cross with its logistical support for the NHS including delivering medicine and getting patients home from hospital, as well as providing thousands of care packages for the elderly and isolated. Amazon is also working with NHS Charities Together, to provide gifts for children who are in isolation or cannot leave hospital this Christmas and to support the elderly during the festive season, as well as supporting Home Start by sending Christmas donations to local branches of the charity across the UK.
Helping Customers Give Back While They Shop
AmazonSmile makes it easy for customers to support a good cause this Christmas at no extra cost to them. While shopping for gifts, Amazon customers can support Magic Breakfast or any one of more than 30,000 participating UK charities by visiting smile.amazon.co.uk or by activating AmazonSmile in the Amazon app on iPhones and Android phones under “Programs and Features” (after selecting a charity via smile.amazon.co.uk).
AmazonSmile has the same low prices and convenient shopping experience customers have come to expect from Amazon, with the added bonus that Amazon will donate a portion of the purchase price to a charity of your choice. AmazonSmile has donated more than £5.5 million to UK charities and more than £175 million globally to hundreds of thousands of charitable organisations.
Customers can support Magic Breakfast by donating here:
www.magicbreakfast.com/donate/magic-breakfast
or by choosing Magic Breakfast as their charity on Amazon Smile (available on desktop and app), where customers can shop with the added bonus that Amazon will donate a portion of the purchase price to a charity of their choice.