Holiday Activities and Food Programme

 

 

During 2021 in the UK, providing food during school holidays to children who receive free school meals during the rest of the year, has been a very hot topic with the very public campaign championed by Marcus Rashford keeping it in the headlines. A government fund of up to £220 million was made available to local authorities in England, to support the coordination of free holiday provision, including healthy food and enriching activities.

HAF image
HAF image

 

Upshot has long been regarded as a great tool by local authorities and their delivery partners. Across the UK, community organisers such as development managers, support workers, sports coaches, and volunteers use Upshot to record participant and attendance data, media, notes and individual development journeys.

Still working within the restrictions enforced due to Covid-19, the HAF (Holiday Activities and Food) programme ran in Easter with a mix of online and socially-distanced sessions and then children enjoyed returning to face to face delivery over the summer holidays. Across the country organisations were able to use Upshot to report on one of the key objectives of the HAF programme – to support children from the most deprived areas (in the 0-20% percentile on the Index of Multiple Deprivation) using the Map function in Upshot as well as having all the other real-time statistics at their fingertips.

In the south...

Active Surrey worked with over 70 providers to deliver sessions across the county. These ranged from multi sports to motor mechanics. Delivered to almost 5000 children, with over 35,000 attendances. There was great engagement with the average attendance per child recorded as over 7 days.

💬 “Upshot has been an integral part of our HAF programme this summer. At the click of a few buttons, we have been able to pull together reports and statistics which demonstrate the success of our programme. Feedback from our HAF providers about Upshot has been positive, it has allowed them to focus on delivery rather than an arduous reporting method!" 

Patrick Culligan, Holiday Activity Programme Lead, Active Surrey

In the midlands...

Sandwell Council Go Play, co-ordinated the work of over 30 providers to deliver activities such as swimming, pottery, outdoor adventure trips, cultural awareness sessions and cookery. The diversity of the providers brought many different groups in the community together. These included African-speaking, Bangladeshi, Yemeni, Abrahamic and Hindu charities. Over 3000 children took part in the programme from July to September.

💬 “Our central team and providers found Upshot very easy to use. We saved a lot of time on administration as everything was in one place, with an instant a real-time view at the click of a few buttons. Other departments are now interested in using Upshot and we are telling everyone about it. The HAF programme was such a brilliant opportunity for the community to work together to support children over the holidays."

Samantha Harman, Play Services Manager, Sandwell Council GoPlay

In the north...

Blackpool FC Community Trust (BFCCT) facilitated over 650,000 contact hours with local youth and community groups for over 2,500 children in the area. Combining forces with Active Blackpool, Magic Club, The Boathouse, Blackpool Boys and Girls Club and The Grange, a full and diverse range of activities were on offer. 

💬 “The inclusion of Upshot in our pitch to coordinate the Blackpool HAF programme was pivotal in the success of gaining the position. Being able to map out the Town’s deprivation and local demographic allowed our partners the opportunity to develop delivery in accordance to need. Post-delivery, the Upshot system has provided the team with crucial evidence in an evaluation tool that was easy to navigate, clearly demonstrates the impact of the service and validates the hard work invested into the delivery.”

Marc Joseph, Head of Early Years & Primary Programmes, BFCCT