Holiday Activities and Food annual report

The Department of Education provided funding of £851,770 for 2022 in Gateshead to fund Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) over the Easter, Summer and Christmas School Holidays for benefits-related Free School Meal (FSM) recipients and vulnerable children.

Our holiday clubs all include:

• healthy meals 
• enriching activities (provide fun activities with opportunities to develop skills and knowledge)
• physical activities (which meet the physical activity guidelines)
• nutritional education (awareness of healthy eating and how to source, prepare and cook nutritious and low-cost food
• signposting and referrals to other services and support

In total there are 7200 children who are eligible for school meals, living in 4500 households across the borough. The programme also aims to help additional families who are struggling to make ends meet but do not access this benefit.

A HAF (Holiday Activities and Food Programme) Steering group meets monthly to plan and co-ordinate the Brighten the Day programme. 

Representatives on the steering group include officers from Public Health, Children's Services, Poverty Team Localities Team, Leisure Team Gateshead Youth Council, Libraries Team, Communications Team and the Digital Team. 

We continue to meet with and offer the Gateshead HAF programme to as many schools as we can. This can be challenging however it is important that we continue to chip away at this area of delivery. 

Along with developing a partnership with our new Family Hub network we see this area key to the sustainability and increasing the take up of families in receipt of benefit related FSM in Gateshead.

DfE funding allocation of £851,770 for 2022 in Gateshead to fund Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) over the Easter, Summer and Christmas school holidays for benefits-related Free School Meal (FSM) recipients and vulnerable children.

The holiday clubs in Gateshead were delivered in 70 venues; 13 community organisations, 22 schools (including 3 secondary and 3 special schools), 12 sports venues and 4 church organisations. 

Over 30,000 places were delivered across the three programmes. 

In 2022 HAF funded over 100 educational/cultural/enriching visits for families including:

• a day at the beach
• a day in the woods
• ice skating
• museum visits
• cinema
• pantomime 
• art galleries

The programme was very popular and was well received by children and young people and their parents and carers. 

Finance

Total funding and spend - £851,770

This was broken down as follows:

• Administration = £85,000 (10%) administration costs include funding for HAF lead officer, HAF senior support assistant, travel and mileage
• Capital expenditure = £15,985 (2%)
• Programme expenditure = £750,785 (88%)
   

Total places filled in Gateshead

Included in these figures are:

• 1,249 children with SEND
• 2,400 children whose parents are refugee and asylum seekers
• 400 Jewish children - non DFE

The average cost per child per day was £27.

Our providers

In 2022 a total of 70 organisations supported the HAF programme in Gateshead. These included:

• 16 primary schools
• 13 youth and community centres
• 12 sports and activity groups
• 7 arts and theatre pop ups
• 5 children's centres
• 4 churches
• 3 secondary schools
• 3 SEND schools
• 3 Jewish young people's support groups
• 2 refugee and asylum support organisations

Marketing

To promote our HAF programme we have a dedicated Brighten the Day webpage. The website features a promotional video for Brighten the Day, activities for families to get involved in outside of the HAF programme and details of the latest programme with how to book. 

This booking page is on a hidden part of the website and a link is given to families in receipt of free school meals so they can access activities in advance. Only when most of the spaces are booked is the page made public so any family can book.

We targeted families directly with a promotional email for our Christmas 2022 programme. The email had an open rate of 54%, many slots were booked by parents directly from the email link. 

Other marketing activity included:

• articles on the council's news story webpages
• press release on funding and activities released to local media
• stories in Council News, our resident's magazine which is distributed to over 95,000 households across Gateshead
• articles in Gateshead Now, our digital e-newsletter which has over 34,000 subscribers
• articles in our internal employee bulletin, distributed to over 4,000 staff
• social media via our corporate Facebook and Twitter pages,(28,000 and 22,000 followers respectively)
• branded HAF pop up stands which are used at activities and events 

Food

We worked hard this year to increase the number of clubs providing nutritious hot food. Many of our providers work with caterers who are able to offer the children and young people a choice of main course dishes in the morning (sometimes up to five choices!) then deliver those specific meals at lunchtime. This means fuller tummies and less food waste.

We now supply our HAF providers with our recommended list of local caterers to ensure standards remain high and small Gateshead-based businesses are supported. The food waste charity Magic Hat have provided meals and workshops to clubs across the year to meet our nutrition and sustainability aspirations.

Whist we have not surveyed the young people, we have anecdotal evidence that many are trying new tastes and flavours thanks to our programme.

Additional funding and support

Morrisons supermarket have been very supportive of the programme providing fresh fruit to all our local Sports Pop Ups. Many of our providers have been supported by their local shops and stores such as Tesco, Asda, Greggs and smaller convenience stores.

Nutritional education and promotion of healthy living / lifestyles

Using additional funding provided by the DfE in December 2022, we partnered with DishUp! to deliver 600 recipe boxes to our HAF families. These boxes come complete with a recipe card (and associated social media cook-along video) and all the ingredients to cook a two-course meal to serve four people. DishUp! work hard to ensure the recipes use little household energy and could be easily repeated using inexpensive ingredients.

We identified that a pop-up cooking kit model would be the best way to deliver nutritional education to children, young people and families.

A trial of these kits and the sample recipes in February half-term meant we were able to fine tune the model. The involved different age groups (younger children, a teenager only day, a family day) and recipes were adapted for each session. 

As the HAF team were involved on a daily basis, we know that children tried lots of new ingredients and flavours. We encouraged the participants to use all their senses, especially their sense of smell as this is so closely linked with memory and we wanted them to remember the sessions once they had left the kitchen.

We have now trained our HAF providers in the use of the pop-up kits and some of our partners used them during Easter 2023 and many are planning to use them as part of their summer programme and Christmas programme.

We are also fortunate in the locations who use the caterer Chartwells that as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility commitments they provide some cooking lessons for children attending clubs on their sites in Gateshead.

Level 3 Food Safety Training

The additional HAF funding from DfE in 2022 also allowed us to support eight of our main community based food providers to attend a Level 3 Food Safety course. This not only improves food safety, it also builds confidence within the communities we work with.

Enriching activity

As well as delivering their primary programme, all of our providers in Gateshead offer young people one or more enriching activities. This could be any one or more of the following:

Signposting and referrals

We provided participants and their families with information, signposting or referrals to other services and support which included Citizens Advice Gateshead (CAG), Children's Services, DWP, Benefits, Police, AA, free furniture and white goods, housing in Gateshead.

Gateshead Council's Community Physical Activity Team is strongly represented on the HAF steering group and through delivery of their branch of the project they are able to liaise with and utilise the expertise of several local community sport organisations.

Additionally, they have a number of sports clubs who apply directly for funding. This allows the HAF programme to include high-quality, engaging sports activity with experienced, national governing body qualified coaches. Some activities also take place at venues that may otherwise feel inaccessible to the target group, such as Gateshead International Stadium, and it is rewarding to see local children so excited to be participating in the same arena that has hosted international stars. Additionally, the programme has offered multi-sports camps, some that have the option of daily swimming to further enrich the activities available.

The Gateshead HAF programme feels that such a breadth of activities offers inclusivity through choice but recognises that some children will not engage with a more formal physical activity setting and delivery format.

This is why the Community Physical Activity Team also partners with the Hat-Trick project who deliver activities on MUGAs and fields within the housing estates of priority areas and so removes barriers around transport and accessibility.

Their "turn-up and join in" model coupled with music and a range of activities to choose from proves a highly effective way of engaging young people. We engage with a range of low to medium level SEND children with ADHD, behavioural problems and autism.

Although not directly linked to physical activity, it is worth noting that the sports activities are an excellent opportunity for young coaches to gain experience, contributing towards developing their life skills and increasing their employability.

Feedback from the children and families has been positive. It has highlighted the impact of the programme on both physical and mental health.

Here are just a few of the comments we've received.

Feedback from parents

"This was our first time sending Harry to a summer club and we were not disappointed!"

"We really appreciate the HAF programme in the holidays, A absolutely loves it and I love the fact that we feel he is safe and well cared for. You always do such a wide variety of activities with him to keep him occupied. We would not be able to go to work during the holidays if we did not have this excellent service."

"My children have made new friends and feel happy."

" I would like to compliment you on the scheme. The quality of care L received was exemplary. Every single member of staff approached him with kindness, caring and a genuine delight to see him. He and I were both greeted every day as old friends. I honestly don't think there was a single day I saw anyone without a beaming smile, they all seemed to thoroughly enjoy being around other young people."

Feedback from children

"I love my hot lunch and fresh fruit."

"Better than watching telly."

"Best family day ever."

Feedback from providers

"Using the links we've built with partner organisations we've been able to provide new single beds for a group of vulnerable families in Gateshead. One of the children said: I have never had my own bed before this is amazing."

"Children tell us how much they love the Brighten the Day events during school holidays." 

Gateshead play-schemes running during school holidays have benefited from the HAF funding specifically for our SEND young people. 

The play-schemes were able to purchase sensory equipment which helped young people on our schemes engage in activities and to regulate when needed.

The fidget bags and fidget poppers were mobile, so they were able to be used when transporting young people to and from home, during outings and within the quiet and sensory rooms. The wobble and vibrating cushions allow for improving balance, core stability and muscle strengthening as well as providing a calming effect. The lycra has offered us the opportunity to provide young people with deep pressure, a firm tactile sensory input that provides proprioceptive input to the whole body, to help calm and regulate throughout the day.

The smaller, resistant, and pressure-rich toys help reduce stress and anxiety and can be easily controlled by the individual or supporting adult.

This has all helped create a suitable, calming and stimulating environment for SEND children who have HAF programmes at play-schemes and Family Hubs.

Feedback from our families of SEND children:

"Finding a supportive environment that I feel confident can stimulate, educate and entertain is difficult - somewhere where A is safe and also needs around his own behaviour to others can be managed positively. The HAF play-schemes have always delivered this for A."

"I thought the HAF kids programme was great. B told me the list of activities he enjoyed and each day he brought home his work, even made a police officer costume with felt! A firm favourite in the toy box still today. Most importantly this gave me vital time to get out to the shops to re stock the fridge, cupboards and get my essentials to run the home. Taking both boys to the supermarket is a no go for us which is why I would struggle without HAF. Not to mention the 'burnout' every SEN parent goes through. HAF is much needed respite as the only break at all in the holidays, a much needed service."

"N on a personal basis benefits hugely from the programme. It adds a bit of structure to his week when he struggles massively with not having the consistency of school available to him. Facets helps regulate him and his behaviour at home that evening and the following day vastly improves. It gives him his "fix" and happily goes about his evening choosing less demanding activities to engage in. Most importantly to us as parents is that N is really happy when he attends Facets which in turn makes us very happy."

Our target for Summer 2023 is to offer 17,500 holiday club daily places in 60+ clubs across Gateshead for the equivalent of 4 hours a day, 4 days a week for 4 weeks.

We are currently in discussions with several new providers to help diversify the HAF offer in Gateshead.

One of our new and key areas for development is getting more teenagers engaged within the Gateshead HAF+ programme. To address gap in teenage provision the HAF team and steering group have been working with a group of young people, Northumbria University, NUcastle Foundation and Greggs to design and develop a HAF programme that teenagers would attend. 

Download the holiday activities and food annual report as a pdf (PDF, 3 MB)