Aims, Standards and Marketing
Aims
The aim of the Healthy Holiday programme is to provide free places for children eligible for benefits related free school meals, and other identified vulnerable groups from Foundation Stage 2 to Year 11. These places are available for at least four hours a day, four days a week and for six weeks a year. This covers four weeks in the summer holidays and at least a week’s worth of provision in each of the Easter and winter holidays. Each holiday club provides at least one free meal a day, hot or cold, to ensure all children in attendance at the camps are being fed in line with the school food standards, introducing new, healthy foods that can be enjoyed together by children with their peers, and building a healthy relationship with food.
We want to help children:
- To eat healthier over the school holidays
- Have a greater understanding and knowledge of food, its nutritional value and other health-related issues
- Have a greater understanding and knowledge of overall wellbeing
- To engage in more active activities
- To engage in enriching activities which support the development of resilience, character, social skills, wellbeing, attendance along with their wider education attainment.
- To be safe, secure and not socially isolated
- To be more engaged with school and other local services
- To receive support for their individual needs
Programme Standards
The holiday clubs meet the following programme standards:
- Healthy meals: holiday clubs must provide at least one healthy meal a day and must meet the School Food Standards throughout the day.
- Enriching activities: holiday clubs must provide fun and enriching activities that provide children with opportunities to develop or consolidate skills or knowledge.
- Physical Activity: clubs must also provide at least 1 hour of physical activities which meet the Physical Activity Guidelines on a daily basis.
- Increasing awareness of healthy eating, healthy lifestyles, and positive behaviours: holiday clubs must incorporate helping children understand more about the benefits of healthy lifestyle and behaviours in a stigma-free environment.
- Signposting and referrals: clubs must be able to provide information, signposting or referrals to other services and support that would benefit the children who attend their provision and their families.
Policies and procedures: clubs must be able to demonstrate and explain their safeguarding arrangements and have relevant and appropriate policies and procedures in place. Where appropriate, clubs must also be compliant with the Ofsted requirements for working with children.
Marketing
Rotherham Healthy Holidays is promoted in various of ways ranging from physical flyer to digital materials e.g., newsletters, council social media and webpage.
Programme information and eligible unique reference numbers are distributed to schools to share with eligible families.
The programme is regularly communicated with internal and external partners who are supporting eligible families.
You can visit the new website via https://www.rotherham.gov.uk/healthy-holidays
