Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) - Expression of Interest Application Form - Winter 2022

Overview

Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) Programme 2022 for East Sussex - Expression of Interest Application Form – winter

Please note the link to complete the EOI is at the bottom of this page.

The winter holiday runs from Monday 19 December 2022 to Monday 2 January 2023.

Programme overview

The government has announced that the holiday activities and food (HAF) programme will continue for at least three more years

The DfE (Department for Education) have given funds to local authorities in England to coordinate holiday activities. We can use this budget to fund activity clubs over Easter, summer and Christmas breaks. All clubs should include healthy food and enriching activities.

Who the HAF programme funding is for

The holiday activity and food programme is for children who receive benefits-related free school meals (Reception to Year 11).

The activity clubs can be available to children not eligible for free school meals, who can pay to attend. However, we must prioritise places for eligible children. We support providers to offer wide access to places, depending on local supply and demand. 

The FSM data maps, at the bottom of the page, give more information about targeted areas across the county.

We welcome proposals from providers who can deliver within one or more area. We would also welcome interest from providers who would like to ‘scale up’ their current provision, to include a wider cohort of children. We would be delighted to discuss any innovative ideas you might have.

Please get in touch with the HAF team to find out more about the programme or with any queries - HAF@eastsussex.gov.uk.

Visit the government website for more information on the national programme.

Completing your expression of interest application

We would like to encourage applications via the EOI below. Please read through the information provided.

Programme requirements

Proposals should demonstrate how you will deliver:

1. Enriching activities - Clubs must provide fun and enriching activities. These should offer children opportunities to do one or more of the following:

• develop new skills or knowledge
• consolidate existing skills and knowledge
• try out new experiences

This could include:

• physical activities such as football, table tennis, cricket
• creative activities such as putting on a play, junk modelling, drumming workshops
• experiences such as a nature walk, visiting a city farm etc.

2. Food - Clubs must provide at least one meal a day (breakfast, lunch or tea). All food provided at the club (including snacks) must meet school food standards. The expectation is that the majority of food served by providers will be hot. However, we acknowledge that there will be occasions when this is not possible and that a cold alternative should be used. Clubs need to comply with regulations on food preparation. They must take into account allergies, dietary requirements, preferences and religious or cultural requirements.

If you don't have facilities to prepare food, you may partner with another organisation. We welcome applications from joint organisations.

3. Physical activities - Clubs must provide daily activities which meet the Physical Activity Guidelines.

4. Nutritional education - Clubs must include an element of nutritional education each day. This aims to improve the knowledge and awareness of healthy eating for children. These do not need to be formal learning activities. They could, for example, include activities such as:

• getting children involved in food preparation and cooking
•  growing fruit and vegetables
• taste tests.

5. Food education for families and carers - Clubs must include at least weekly training and advice sessions for parents, carers or other family members. These should provide advice on how to source, prepare and cook nutritious and low-cost food. 

6. Signposting and referrals - Clubs must be able to provide information, signposting or referrals to other services and support that would benefit the attendees and their families. This could include sessions, information provided by:

i. Citizen’s Advice

ii. School Nurses, dentists or other healthcare practitioners

iii. Children’s Services and other local authority services

iv. Housing Support Officers

v. Jobcentre Plus

vi. Organisations providing financial education

7. Policies and procedures - Clubs must be able to show and explain their safeguarding arrangements. They must have relevant and appropriate policies and procedures in place in relation to:

i. Safeguarding

ii. Health and Safety

iii. Insurance

iv. Accessibility and inclusiveness, including addressing equality and diversity

Where appropriate, clubs must follow the Ofsted requirements for working with children.

Programme aims

We need to make free holiday places available to eligible children for the equivalent of at least 4 hours a day, 4 days a week, 6 weeks a year. The HAF programme needs to cover 4 weeks in the summer and a week’s worth of provision in each of the Easter and Christmas holidays. We think this is best done as a collective effort. By funding various organisations, we can cover a wider age range, geographical spread and diversity of activity.

Organisations can apply just to deliver the enrichment element of the programme, or the food element. The decisions on funding will need to take into account appropriate linking across different projects.