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The Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) Programme is a government funded programme that aims to provide healthy food and enriching activities to children and young people aged 5 to 16 who are eligible for benefits-related free school meals. HAF is funded by the Department for Education. The programme has provided healthy food and enriching activities to eligible children since 2018 and has ensured that during the school holidays more children in Dorset have:
Watch this video to see how our children and young people enjoyed all the activities this year and the impact it made to families:
The programme includes the delivery of enriching activities and nutritious food during the Easter, Summer, and Christmas school holidays.
HAF providers delivered a variety of activities including sports, cultural, forest school/outdoor education and food nutrition across Dorset.
In Dorset during 2023/2024 this has meant:
Funding summary
In 2023/24 Dorset Council received £962,240 from the DFE to support the HAF programme. This included £60,224 (6.3%) which was spent on administration costs. This funded 1 part time Programme Co-ordinator and 1 part-time Business Support Officer. An additional £250,000 was allocated from the Covid Outbreak Management Fund to support the programme.
We worked with the following organisations and partners to deliver the Dorset HAF programme in 2023/2024.
Organisations, partners and providers | |
---|---|
360 Degree Sports |
Mini Ballers |
Action Van |
Museum Of East Dorset |
Activate Performing Arts |
MW tennis |
Active Dorset |
MYTIME Young Carers |
Adventure 4 All |
North Locality Team |
Andrew Simpson |
Pavilion in the Park |
Artsreach |
Personal Best - SEND costs |
Artz+ |
Pesspa |
B Sharp |
Poole Forest School |
Bank of dreams and Nightmares |
Premier Education |
Bridport Leisure Centre |
PRIMARY SPORTS & EDUCATION LIMITED |
Bridport Youth & Community Centre |
Prime time Kids Club |
Champion Premier Skill Ltd |
Pro Coaching |
Chapelhay Fun Day |
Purbeck Sports Centre |
Chesil Partnership |
Purbeck Youth & Community Foundation |
Computer Explorers Dorset East |
Ripple Rebels |
Coombe House |
Riversmeet |
Cumulus Outdoors |
Saints Southwest |
Dorchester Arts |
Samurai Kickboxing |
Dorchester Cricket Club |
Sandmartins Holiday Club |
Dorchester Tennis and Squash |
Sherborne School (Leisure) Limited |
Dorchester Town Council |
Shining Stars |
Dorchester Youth and Community Centre |
Sports Explorers |
Dorset Council Cultural Services - Walford Mill |
ST Nicholas Church |
Dorset Skills and Learning |
Stars Holiday Club |
Dorset Wild Ones |
Streetlight |
DTCA Group Ltd |
SupaStrikers Bridport |
Educamp Ltd. |
Swanage & Purbeck Development Trust (Swanage Youth Club) |
Eolas + CIC |
Swanage and Herston Football Club |
Explorer Childcare Group |
The Magdalen Environmental Trust |
Friendly Food Club |
The Official Test Centre |
Gillingham Youth Club |
TREADS |
Globe Fit Ltd |
Verwood Hub |
Guggleton Farm |
Wessex Wilderness Skills CIC |
Happy & Healthy Kids |
Weymouth Outdoor Education Centre (WOEC) |
Houseworks |
Wild Ones |
Lets Get Loud |
Weymouth and Portland Adventure |
During Easter and summer, the number of eligible children participating in the programme increased year on year however there was a small decrease in numbers during the winter holiday period.
The number of eligible children reached in each holiday period:
Holiday period |
Primary-age HAF funded |
Secondary-age HAF funded |
Total HAF funded |
Easter 2022 |
757 |
154 |
911 |
Summer 2022 |
1373 |
489 |
1862 |
Winter 2022 |
806 |
210 |
1016 |
Holiday period |
Primary-age HAF funded |
Secondary-age HAF funded |
Total HAF funded |
Easter 2023 |
1120 |
217 |
1337 |
Summer 2023 |
1617 |
435 |
2052 |
Winter 2023 |
842 |
141 |
983 |
There is a significantly higher number of primary aged children accessing the programme compared to secondary aged. This is largely due to the need for childcare for the younger aged cohort and their willingness to attend holiday club type activity.
The proportion of primary age and secondary age children who have participated in the programme:
Period |
Percentage of total Primary school aged children attending |
Percentage of total Secondary-aged children attending |
Easter 2022 |
83% |
17% |
Summer 2022 |
74% |
26% |
Winter 2022 |
79% |
21% |
Period |
Primary-age HAF funded |
Secondary-age HAF funded |
Easter 2023 |
84% |
16% |
Summer 2023 |
79% |
21% |
Winter 2023 |
86% |
14% |
There is a significant proportion of children with special educational needs and disabilities who are also eligible for free school meals. It is essential that we continue to ensure providers are inclusive in their approach and support them to do this through access to additional funding and training opportunities
The number of children with additional needs and, or a disability who have participated in the programme:
Period |
HAF-funded with SEND % |
Easter 2022 |
47% |
Summer 2022 |
35% |
Winter 2022 |
23% |
Period |
HAF-funded with SEND |
Easter 2023 |
30% |
Summer 2023 |
42% |
Winter 2023 |
38% |
The programme is growing in popularity and the number of sessions attended each holiday period is also increasing. Feedback from families suggest that the participants enjoy their time at the provision and return attendances are good.
Total number of sessions attended:
Period |
Primary sessions attended |
Secondary sessions attended |
No of sessions / meals served |
Easter 2022 |
3342 |
641 |
3983 |
Summer 2022 |
11154 |
3357 |
14511 |
Winter 2022 |
2625 |
453 |
3078 |
Total |
17121 |
4451 |
21572 |
Period |
Primary sessions attended |
Secondary sessions attended |
No of sessions / meals served |
Easter 2023 |
4547 |
672 |
5219 |
Summer 2023 |
13950 |
2565 |
16515 |
Winter 2023 |
3242 |
460 |
3702 |
Total |
21739 |
3697 |
25436 |
Dorset has just over 9000 children eligible for free school meals, this map shows the geographical area where the greatest number of children eligible for benefit related free school meals live:
Dorset covers a wide geographic area which makes delivering a viable HAF programme challenging. We have focussed our provision around 10 key areas where there are large numbers of eligible children:
However provision in areas such as Lyme Regis is low and we will work towards engaging more providers in this area. We will also explore transport options for families living in very rural parts of the county, enabling them to travel to their nearest town where provision is available. We will also work with providers to increase capacity to ensure that where demand is high and there are waiting lists for places, these can be accommodated.
To support the delivery of the programme and ensure that the right partners continue to be engaged with and supportive of the programme we set up a steering group with representatives from the following teams:
Over 40% of Dorset children who are eligible for Free School Meals also have a special educational need or disability (SEND). This means that our providers must be inclusive in their approach to delivering activities. We helped providers do this by offering free training and ringfencing funding so that providers could employ additional support staff as required on a demand basis. We also engaged with three Short Breaks providers to offer additional specialised activities for children with more complex needs across the county.
We conducted a customer experience survey after the Summer holidays. We hoped to gain some useful information on the benefits of the HAF programme to the families that took part. We found out that:
In Dorset, we categorise our offer into three distinct segments:
Each holiday period has its own dedicated webpage and accompanying promotional materials, which parents and young people are directed to throughout the respective holidays. Statistics show that just over 80% of families read about HAF online using their mobile phone highlighting the need to ensure that webpages must be easy to navigate and mobile friendly. The listings site is hosted by Help and Kindness and had over 53,000 page views in 2023 to 2024.
We also have three connecting logos which change according to the time of year.
The 2023 – 2024 delivery of HAF was a great success however we are always keen to make it even better. Next year we will focus on the following areas of improvement.
We aim to:
Increase numbers taking part (particularly secondary age) by 10%.
Actions:
Improve the SEND offer, introducing a support level banding for providers and providing training to ensure that ALL providers are delivering support to children with mild to moderate needs.
Actions:
Develop new partnerships with food retailers to enhance the programme.
Actions:
Research and develop a mechanism to measure the impact of HAF, in particular school attendance and children’s health and wellbeing.
Actions:
In the first year of the HAF programme (2021) Yana, a refugee from Ukraine was booked by her mum onto some holiday sessions with Dorchester Tennis club.
She said it was just what she needed at the time: “When I arrived in the UK I didn't know anybody but I made friends through these sessions. It really helped me to settle in.” The coaches soon spotted that Yana had real potential and encouraged her to join the tennis club, waiving the usual termly fees. This made all the difference as Yana explains; “I had played tennis before but I really progressed once I got involved with the club.” When Yana’s mum started a job she was able to pay for one to one tennis lessons and Yana continued to improve.
Last year she was offered the opportunity to compete abroad with the club. Yana said “We competed in Holland and Belgium. It was so much fun to travel there with my friends. I have some incredible memories." Fast forward to the Christmas holidays of 2023 and Yana is busy assisting with sports sessions at Sunningdale School, Dorchester. All the children present have booked through HAF. They have finished their lunch and are enjoying some down-time playing on the school’s playground. Yana is chatting to the group and clearly has a great rapport with the children. Coach Michael Willemse says, “She’s a great help and an inspiration to the children. We’re really proud of what she has achieved.”
Now my daughter is 8 we can book on the HAF outdoor sports events and we have booked on lots of them over the Easter holiday: Miniballers, WOEC, Andrew Simpson and Adventure 4 All.
My daughter has ADHD and ASD and has been unable to attend school for 18 months. She loves being outdoors and being active so these sessions are fantastic for her. Today she clicked straight away with the instructor and this being a small group has been very good for her. They called me to ask how they could best support her and she looks relaxed and happy. She struggles to socialise and has anxiety around eating with others. She’s in the cafe eating lunch with the group now and I will be interested to see if she has eaten anything, it’s a good sign that she has joined in. We walk to all the activities. It took an hour and ten minutes to get here today from our home. We don’t mind walking as it suits my daughter to be on the move and she will be able to process the experience on the walk back. I always get in early and book directly with the HAF providers. They do advertise the sessions but I think HAF could do more general publicity through the schools as I don’t think it’s so well known now as it was at the start. I can’t fault this programme. It has done so much for my daughters confidence and it means she can get outside and do the kind of activities she loves to do.
During 2023 The Friendly Food club delivered 45 cooking and healthier eating sessions to 21 Dorset HAF providers. Locations included Weymouth, Portland, North Dorset, Swanage, and Ferndown. They also delivered training workshops to 48 HAF providers, suggesting ideas and activities on how to deliver the healthy food and nutrition part of the programme. The following resources were also given out:
During these sessions 1391 children and young people between the ages of 5 and 16 years participated.
The HAF sessions include fruit and vegetable identification, sensory exploration, vegetable preparation, healthy eating messages and basic cooking. With the older groups they also communicated budgeting messages. All the sessions led towards the children and young people creating their own hot lunch.
“I really enjoyed the chopping”
“I enjoyed working as a team to make our lunch. It meant that us older kids could help the younger ones”
“I have never cut up a pepper before”
“I was really worried about my younger brother using a knife, but after they showed us how to use it safely I felt much happier.”
“I want to add grated carrot to my scrambled eggs next time I make it”
“I am copying my grandma’s recipe. She would be really proud!”
“I don’t like tomatoes but I liked my curry”
“I tried lots of vegetables I hadn’t eaten before”
“I didn’t know that onions grew under the ground”
“I loved smelling the spices”
"I think this is fab"
"I really look forward to the Friendly Food Club coming to see us"
"I've told my mum to be better at using a knife to chop vegetables"
"I don't like peppers but I love this"
"I'm going to ask my dad if we can make this at home"
"I’m worried about the children near water and so I booked them into a paddling boarding week to overcome this! It was brilliant and they loved it!! Thank you"
"We are so very grateful for this service. Our son has severe learning difficulties and he has thoroughly enjoyed a number of activities. It has also acted as respite care for us and made the summer holidays more enjoyable for all of us. Thank you so much."
"Both my children attended HAF at Purbeck Sports Centre, I have 1 child with additional needs age 9 who I think benefited greatly from attending, he struggles with making friends and socialising and I can’t thank them enough for being understanding and supporting him. My daughter who is 8 also attended and she loved the freedom of mixing with older girls making new friends and giving her confidence away from me. Thank you"
"My son enjoyed the football, and the pond dipping at Lorton Meadows. Also we completed the summer reading challenge. Lots of lovely things were put on, thank you!"
The HAF programme team would like to thank all of our children, parents, providers and colleagues who helped make the 2023 programme a huge success.