Update on the Holiday Activity & Food programme (HAF)

The Summer Holiday Activity & Food programme (HAF) delivery was very busy and 3524 children accessed a space during the summer holidays; 3114 of these were benefit related free school meal children. The split of age ranges were 2297 Primary children and 1227 secondary age young people.

On average primary children accessed 8 sessions and secondary accessed 6 sessions.

We continue to reach more of the eligible children and now have a 20% take up for Devon of our most vulnerable children. Other good news is the right children are accessing the programme and 92% of the primary children were eligible and 82% of the secondary age were eligible.

We are very proud that our Send families are continuing to access the programme and this summer we have provided enablers and more specialist places along with 1:1 support for children. We reached 796 individual children with send. 82% of these children attended a universal HAF setting and 18% were in specialist places.

We continue to offer extended criteria places for children in Devon and this summer they were accessed by 410 children. Due to increased demand from eligible children the take up of these places were 9%.

Attendance has improved and our HAF providers continue to work with parents to reduce the number of no shows and offer cancelled places to other children. The no shows were reduced from 5607 to 2983 – down by 2624.

Parent survey feedback

We asked parents what they thought of the activities:

Great activities, child really enjoyed. Was fully inclusive as my child has SEN and it is a challenge to find providers that will take them.

Incredible range of activities. He’s come home telling me about soft play, wild play, swimming, arts and crafts etc all in one session and so excited to go back every session

Brilliant, all the adults were so kind and enthusiastic and worked hard to facilitate an initially reluctant child to participate. Great to be outdoors all afternoon, and cooking/nature/craft a welcome alternative to the sports clubs – not all children are sporty.

Absolutely brilliant, both my girls love every session, staff are all brilliant, they love the food, and they come home so happy, means I can work still and being a single mum having the financial help is huge for me.

Seeing a seal when out in the river and really liked the veg soup!

Having fun and swimming seeing the animals at big sheep.

Favourite memory is meeting friends and going to the cinema and pottery making.

Swimming in the sea and horse riding.

Group sport activities and making new friends from different schools.

We asked parents for suggestions to improve HAF

• Keep them going in all the school holiday’s please
• For HAF to continue after the funding ends
• Make sure the HAF and the activities camp stay will be a great loss to the community if it doesn’t continue
• Continue the HAF Programme – we are both working parents (full time) – the summer holidays challenge us financially and having a child who has an EHCP, it is a valuable resource to create some form of routine which they thrive on when they haven’t got school.

Any other comments?

• Without these schemes we cannot afford to sign my son up for new activities. Therefore we are very grateful for the opportunities and meal to help get us through the summer holiday period
• Kids have loved their time, please send our thank you to them for allowing them to have a good time. My daughter can be shy at times and has been really welcomed
• Thanks so much for the HAF programme, a great range of activities for the children, and I cannot thank the team at the cricket club enough
• What a fantastic scheme for local children, we could not afford to take our whole family to these activities, it has allowed her to get out the house and make friends. So pleased for her.

My thanks goes to everyone involved in the HAF scheme. Without your dedication this scheme would not have happened.

98% of parents who responded to our survey said they would use the HAF scheme again. Thank you to all the parents who took the time to feedback to us and thank you to over 100 HAF providers who have really made sure the children have had a great summer .

HAF Winter programme:

We now move on to the final delivery session for HAF which is the winter programme we will go live with this on 25 November 2024.

Here is the link for further information: Holiday activities and food (HAF) programme – Education and Families

If you would like any further information on HAF then please do contact the mailbox haf@devon.gov.uk

Melissa Filby, HAF Co-Ordinator Devon