Holidays Are Fun annual report 2025 to 2026

Holidays Are Fun!

The Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme is funded by the Department for Education and delivered locally by Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council. To help reduce the stigma some families associate with the programme, the Stockton-on-Tees HAF team held a competition to rename it. This resulted in the title Holidays Are Fun, which has been positively received. Children now recognise the HAF acronym as representing fun, rather than linking it to holiday hunger.

The HAF programme is available to school-aged children from reception to year 11 who are in receipt of benefit-related free school meals. In addition, Stockton-on-Tees uses the 15% discretionary allowance to include vulnerable children, including those open to Children's Services, young carers registered with Eastern Ravens Trust, and families in receipt of Universal Credit.

This approach ensures that some of the most vulnerable children and young people can access enriching activities during the school holidays, while also helping to ensure they receive nutritious food at a time when they may not otherwise have access to school meals.

The aims of the programme are for children to:

eat more healthily over the school holidays
be more physically active during the school holidays
feel safe and less socially isolated
take part in engaging and enriching activities that support the development of resilience, character, wellbeing, and wider educational attainment
develop a greater understanding of health and nutrition
be more engaged with school and wider support services

HAF provision was delivered in line with Department for Education expectations across the main holiday periods.