Holiday Activities and Food annual report

The Department for Education provided funding of £813,840 for 2024 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

As of the 6 November 2024, the number of children who were eligible for free school meals in Gateshead was 7,749, living in 4,956 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. In 2024, we increased the number of schools we engage with, particularly with our secondary and academy colleagues. More recently, and something will be using going forward, we have introduced an e-vouchers booking system through HolidayActivities.com. Using this platform, we can ensure we're reaching as many free school meal eligible children as possible.

DfE funding allocation of £813,840 for 2024 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 65 venues: 15 community organisations, 22 schools (including 4 secondary and 3 SEND-specific schools), 12 sports venues, 3 Arts and Theatre Groups, 4 Pop Ups, 5 Family Hub's, 2 refugee and asylum groups and 2 church organisations. 

27,286 places were delivered across the three programmes - Easter, Summer and Christmas.

In 2024, 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
• ten pin bowling
• cooking

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

HAF Plus (Case Study)

Whilst the outcomes of HAF are excellent, quantitative data from the DfE shows that uptake amongst young people (11-16 year olds) is low, and qualitative data from HAF co-coordinators, holiday club leads, teachers and young people suggests that the HAF programme, in its current form, is not appealing to young people. The Healthy Living Lab at Northumbria University partnered with the Mayor's Fund for London, Gateshead Council, Leading Link and Northumberland Council, Street Games, Feeding Britain, and young people from four geographic areas across England to run a series of design sprints with the main aims of co-designing

a) four local HAF Plus frameworks and

b) a national HAF Plus framework that specifically meet the needs of young people.

This project not only captured the voices of young people but the co-design of local and national HAF+ frameworks was led by young people. Following the sprints, the HAF Plus framework is being rolled out across London (via Kitchen Social), Birmingham, Newcastle, Gateshead, Northumberland and North Tyneside local authorities. HAF leads and coordinators continue to undertake significant work and development of their HAF Plus frameworks by

a) ensuring that young people are active participants in the implementation and the evaluation of their HAF Plus framework,

b) ensuring that young people are represented on steering groups,

c) adopting new ways of working and partnering with local anchor organisations (for example universities, cultural organisations and businesses) and

d) working towards aligning and embedding HAF Plus within wider programmes and initiatives.

"Following on from the inspirational work of young people from Gateshead, in which they co-designed, with adult stakeholders, a very distinctive HAF Plus programme for young people, Gateshead Council, NUFC Foundation and Northumbria University began working on planning the implementation of the young people's designs by bringing together anchor institutions from across Gateshead/Newcastle with the aim of delivering a HAF Plus project across the summer 2024. The young people involved would manage their own independent programme of activities, make their own decisions on what activities to engage or attend. This would be facilitated by the HAFplus app and a Teenage HUB located in the Metrocentre, Gateshead. The HAF Plus offer will include a 28 day all zones Tyne and Wear travel pass that would enable the young people to independently travel to all the venues within Gateshead programme offer."  said Greta Defeyter, Professor of Developmental Psychology (Department of Social Work, Education and Community Wellbeing)

The activities:

This was supplemented with some online cookalongs and some sexual health advice which could be accessed via the resources side of the app.

The food offer was managed through vouchers held in and spent via the app.

The choices were:

• Grounded Kitchen - smoothie and poke bowl (choice of 4 protein options)
• Subway - sandwich, fruit juice or water and fruit leather
• Greggs - restricted to school food standards items as determined by the Northumbria University nutritional review

Northumbria University conducted a detailed review of the programme by speaking to providers, HAF co-ordinators and young people (opens new window).

The popularity of each activity was then used to guide which sessions to offer at Christmas 2024, Easter 2025 and Summer 2025.

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Finance

Total spend - £802,893. This was broken down as follows:

• administration - £81,384 administration costs include funding for HAF lead officer and HAF senior support assistant
• capital expenditure - £4,576
• programme expenditure - £716,933

Total places filled in Gateshead

Primary school children

Secondary school children

Unique child places in Gateshead

Included in these figures are:

• 1,070 children with SEND
• 212 children whose parents are refugee and asylum seekers. These clubs were specifically designed for this demographic. Some of these children would have attended other clubs outside this specific provision
• 164 Jewish children - funded from the 15% allowed under the grant conditions for non-FSM.

The average cost per child per day was between £25 - £30, with SEND and asylum seeker provision resulting in higher cost per day figures.

Our providers

In 2024, a total of 68 organisations supported the HAF programme in Gateshead. These included:

• 16 primary schools
• 12 youth and community centres
• 12 sports and activity groups
• 3 arts and theatre
• 4 pop ups
• 5 Family Hubs
• 4 church groups
• 4 secondary schools
• 3 SEND-specific schools
• 3 Jewish young people's support groups
• 2 refugee and asylum support organisations

In 2024, we provided a Gateshead HAF-provider youth mental health training day at a local venue to enhance the quality of our clubs in this area. We also continue to update our Brighten the Club online resources on specific topics. This year, we have added infographics on increasing fibre intake for children and making water more accessible/ palatable, amongst others.

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Background

We identified an absence of teenage involvement with the mainstream HAF programme in early 2022. Examining this absence of engagement from this important age group was seen as a major driver for the Gateshead HAF programme. Talking to HAF Leads across England in early 2022, it became clear that this was not just a Gateshead problem, it was a national problem within most of the HAF programmes in England.

Having worked closely with Professor Greta Defeyter, Professor of Developmental Psychology at Northumbria University, previously on several other successful mainstream HAF projects, we turned to Professor Defeyter and her remarkable academic team. We were confident that their innovative approach would support Gateshead Council in the development, design and delivery of a new HAF Plus programme for Gateshead.

Greta and her team developed a design sprint model that involved working closely with teenagers from Gateshead and key adult stakeholders they began to co-design a very distinctive HAF Plus programme for teenagers. Supported by Gateshead Council, NUFC Foundation and the Gateshead Youth Assembly, the team began working on planning this inspirational work. During the autumn and winter of 2022, the young people, supported by these key anchor institutions, co-designed a HAF Plus model for Gateshead. The young people involved were invited to present this new innovative HAF Plus model to the Department for Education in October 2022.

HAF Plus 2024

In 2024, we further enhanced the HAF Plus programme, working with Nebula Labs, a small Gateshead-based technology company, to develop a mobile app. This app was designed to allow young people to book onto activities of their choice over the school holidays. The HAF Plus app was first used over the Summer holiday period, 2024, and assisted us in delivering yet another successful Summer HAF Plus programme. In 2025, we plan to work with Nebula Labs once again to deliver the HAF Plus programme over the Summer.

Analysis of the HAF Plus programme 2024 was undertaken by Dr. Emily Round of Northumbria University, Newcastle. You can visit Northumbria University's website (opens new window) to get the full report, but here are some highlights and quotes:

The young people who participated in HAF Plus noted that they enjoyed the food element of the programme. Young people were provided with free food vouchers, allowing them to choose from a variety of establishments including Grounded Kitchen, Subway and Greggs.

"I loved Grounded Kitchen with all my heart and soul."

Providing young people with travel passes also proved very successful, allowing them to travel to and from activities, and giving them a sense of independence.

"Having your bus fare paid for already and stuff and not having to worry about the money made it so much easier to go out with friends, because you were like 'ah I've got this I don't need to worry about having the money for it'. I didn't need to worry about my Pop Card if I'd lost that or something. It just made it a lot simpler."

The HAF Plus app, developed in partnership with Nebula Labs, proved important to the success of the programme - it allowed young people to make and cancel registrations to clubs themselves.

"Well, most people have phones and its easier than all going to the Metro Centre and signing up on bits of paper and then it makes it easier to cancel. Yeah, and then you've always got your phone on you so it's convenient."

Once again in 2024, with guidance and support from Greta's academic team, NUcastle Foundation and Gateshead Council, the young people involved managed their own independent programme of activities, making their own decisions on what activities to engage or attend. The programme was based in the Metrocentre's Community HUB.

Activities included:

• stottie making with Big River Bakery
• HAF Plus university day, including cooking classes, sport and meet an Olympian
• risograph printing at the Baltic Gateshead
• gaming design with Protégé
• hair and beauty with Gateshead College
• DJing with Gateshead College
• cinema
• adventure golf
• 10 pin bowling
• football at Newcastle United Foundation
• social Forestry at Gibside National Trust
• swimming at 3 Go Gateshead Venues

In August 2025, we plan to hold a day of celebration for HAF Plus at Northumbria University, led by the young people who have taken part in HAF Plus since it debuted. The event will have a range of fun-filled activities on offer, utilising Northumbria University's state-of-the art facilities, as well as a range of speakers.

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. 

To ensure eligibility of children, in early 2025, we have introduced an e-vouchers system which feeds into the HolidayActivities.com booking system. This is an significant improvement on the 2024 system which was not automated.

2024 marketing activity included:

• articles on the council's news story web pages
• 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 X social media pages, (29,000 and 22,100 followers respectively)
• branded HAF pop up stands which are used at activities and events.
• emails and SMS to FSM families

In 2024 we found, through our monitoring visits, that only a very small proportion of clubs were now not providing a hot meal. While only a very small number of clubs were not providing a hot meal, we recognise that there is need for improvement. Throughout 2025, we will work closely with clubs to ensure every child receives a hot and healthy meal over the Easter, Summer and Christmas holiday periods.

Food waste remains an issue with providers, with some reporting food waste when only one choice is offered. We have mentored those organisations and recommended they seek to use caterers who can provide a choice or to use tools such as 'Bushtucker Trials' to increase confidence in the children to try new foods. (See nutritional education and promotion of healthy living / lifestyles).  In an effort to reduce food waste in 2024, we offered HAF providers the chance to have a 'smoothie bike' at their club. This offering allowed children to make their own smoothies from fruit and vegetables that would otherwise go to waste. The bikes combined exercise with nutritional education. As children pedaled the bike, a high-powered blender worked to produce delicious and nutritious smoothies for them to enjoy. The implementation of the bikes was thanks to an in-kind donation from Albany Contract Furniture, based in Gateshead. With the success of the 'smoothie bike' in 2024, we plan to do something very similar in 2025, in collaboration with REfUSE Cafe, Durham - a 'pay as you feel' cafe, built by volunteers, run by volunteers, and fuelled by food waste.

The elimination of non-school-food-standards drinks was a particular focus in 2023. Our regular infographic series for our providers included 'Flex your Water' advice which has seen Creative Water Stations popping up at clubs across Gateshead. Following our focus on this in 2023, we were pleased to see a marked improvement in 2024, with little to no fizzy or sugary drinks on offer to children.

Chicken or vegetable fajitas remain the most popular meal across the clubs in Gateshead perhaps because they are so colourful as well as tasty, with pasta bolognese of course coming a close second. Clubs continue to provide children with a range of healthy snacks, including fresh fruit and vegetables.

At Christmas, we once again were able to send the majority of HAF club attendees home with 2 DishUp recipe boxes, as part of our permitted remote provision. These boxes contain everything a family needs to cook a meal for 4 using low-fuel. All recipes are vegetarian and contain easy-to-follow recipe cards, supplemented by videos on social media. These boxes were accompanied by a Wild for Life box that contained several activities which could be carried out in the children's homes. This was a very popular addition to our Christmas provision. 

Additional funding and support

We would like to thank the following organisations for their support during the HAF and HAF Plus programme over 2024. With their support, we were able to provide additional fun-filled activities and provisions for the children and young people.

• Greggs Foundation
• Albany Contract Furniture
• Morrisons
• Savills

Breakfast club food

Breakfast club

Breakfast club food

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In 2024, our Pop Up Kitchens continued to be well used and travelled between HAF clubs across Gateshead. The fact that the kitchens can travel between clubs means many children across Gateshead can enjoy and benefit from this provision. Their use falls into two main categories:

• children cooking their own meal for that day, generally their own lunch.
• children cooking a meal to take home to enjoy with their families.

We have a total of 5 Pop Up Kitchens that can accommodate 16 children in pairs and 24 children in groups of 3.

We have found that, when the children are involved in cooking their own lunch, they are more likely to eat it. It also helps the children understand where their food is coming from and develops valuable skills they can use in later life.

During term time and some half term periods, the Pop Up Kitchens can be loaned out to youth clubs and adult learning programmes to further increase nutritional activity for the benefit of the whole community.

At Christmas, we were able to issue 2 DishUp recipe boxes to the majority of HAF club attendees. These boxes were sent to the homes of these individuals and contained everything required to make a healthy, vegetarian meal for 4. Easy-to-follow recipe cards were included in the boxes, supplemented by videos on social media. As well as receiving a DishUp recipe box, families also received a Wild for Life box. This offering contained several activities that children could follow at home, ensuring they remained active during the Winter months.

Chartwells continue to provide some cooking lessons for children attending clubs on their sites in Gateshead as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility Programme. 

Bushtucker Trials have been a really popular way of encouraging children to try new textures and flavours. They have also proved to be effective in reducing food waste, as children are more likely to try new foods, and so less goes to waste. On the topic of reducing food waste, and promoting a healthy diet and lifestyle, we have offered HAF providers the chance to have a smoothie bike at their provision. Children are able to engage in exercise, while creating nutritious smoothies, typically made from surplus fruit and vegetables that would otherwise go to waste. By the end of 2024, we had purchased a total of 10 high-powered blenders that could be used to make smoothies. 

Resources on the GULP website have proven popular in the post-lunch period at clubs to interactively illustrate the sugar content of many popular drinks.

Working on their Offer

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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:

• arts and crafts
• arts and culture
• baking 
• book club
• circus skills
• computers
• cooking
• dancing
• educational trips
• environmental trips
• gardening
• Lego
• let's get musical
• local history
• math games
• photography
• puzzles
• scrapbooking
• storytime
• theatre
• various sports
• volunteering

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, housing in Gateshead. Children and Young People's Mental Health Service have also visited HAF and HAFplus venues. South of Tyne NHS Dental Team also visited many HAF clubs in the Summer of 2024.

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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 Team 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.

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.

For HAFplus, teenagers could freely access Gateshead's gyms and tennis courts, hence harnessing our internal relationships with other Council services.

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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

Parents and carers reported that the benefits to their young people had been hugely positive. All thought that attendance had made their young person: happy, more confident, more independent, build friendships, and better prepared to return to school in the following term.

"Maddison had an amazing time, thank you."

"Thank you as always, Ava and Darcy loved it."

"Ajay has had a great week, thanks so much! He tells us all about his day, he says he enjoys it."

Feedback from children

When asked, "what would you be doing if you were not here?", one child responded, "at home, asleep or playing a game on my own". Another responded, "on my phone in the house, no exercise, playing with siblings, on my phone, on my phone". These quotes clearly highlight the need for the enriching activities provided to the children through the HAF programme.

Across 18 venues, all but one child who was asked, "do you want to come back next time?" responded "yes".

Feedback from providers

"Another successful summer HAF programme. The children enjoyed a variety of sports and were also given access to the clip and climb, soft play and swimming pool facilities at Gateshead Leisure on the last day."

"The application process and data gathering have been made as easy as possible by the provision of on-line forms and templates."

"Another great summer of HAF. The HAF Team at the Council have been fantastic as always."

"It is wonderful to offer children and young people the opportunity to take part in dance that cannot access it. You can see the benefits to these young people as they go through the week with increased confidence."

We remain committed to ensuring the HAF programme is inclusive for children of all backgrounds, including those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

Many of our HAF providers are highly trained to accommodate SEND children at their clubs. Our SEND provision means that all children, irrespective of their background, have the opportunity to have fun and thrive - SEND provision also provides parents with respite over the school holidays. We continuously work with our club providers to provide SEND-specific training, as we encourage further SEND provision as part of our HAF programme.

Feedback from parents of SEND children has been incredibly positive. We have included some quotes from parents below:

"I wanted to share how valuable the school holiday clubs are. They mean you don't have to stress over childcare for work which can be hard to find, especially with a child with disabilities. My son absolutely loves the holiday club and has attended all the sessions that have been available to him. It also greatly helps that he is familiar in his surroundings and the staff are brilliant with him".

"The summer club gives an opportunity to return to the familiar and have fun with friends and be supported by people who know them well. This happiness is the most important factor. However, it also supports the whole family. Working parents may have an opportunity to work flexibly. For others it offers a break from the caring role".

"Chloe really enjoyed Summer camp as it was an invaluable resource that kept her in touch with her friends from school during the holidays".

As part of our HAF programme in 2024, we offered a total of 26,139 day places across the Easter, Summer and Christmas holidays and engaged with children from across Gateshead.

In Summer 2024, the HAF Plus programme was attended by 160 young people and a total of 2,046 individual activity days were available for booking through the HAF Plus app.

In 2025, to ensure the HAF programme is further meeting the needs of HAF-eligible children, we will move to an e-vouchers system for club bookings, using the HolidayActivities website (opens new window). In doing so, we aim to reach increasing numbers of children who are eligible for support through the HAF programme. We will work with schools across Gateshead to ensure details of the HAF programme, and the new e-vouchers system, are communicated to the parents/guardians of all eligible children.

For HAF Plus, the programme will once again be controlled by Gateshead's HAF Plus app.

As before, every young person involved in the programme will be issued with a 4-week all-zone Tyne and Wear travel pass which is key to HAF Plus' independent travel model.

We will expand on healthy lunches and refreshments, working with a variety of establishments to give young people an array of healthy food choices that can be acquired using vouchers. We will add venues across Gateshead where these vouchers can be redeemed.

As in previous years, we will use feedback from the young people to shape the programme. Earlier in 2025, we held a conference at Newcastle United Foundation to gather feedback from young people on what they'd like to see as part of the HAF Plus programme in Summer. All the activities available during the 4 week programme will be tailored for young people.

Activities for 2025 will include:

• escape rooms at the Metrocentre
• board game hangouts
• creative writing at Baltic
• graffiti wall

In August 2025, we will hold a day of celebration at Northumbria University for our HAF Plus programme. We will be inviting young people who have previously participated in the HAF Plus programme and will have a range of activities on offer, as well as speakers on the day.