Holidays Are Fun annual report 2024 to 2025
Food and education
In addition to offering children a hot nutritious meal that met school food standards, providers were asked to deliver nutritional and healthy lifestyle education as part of their Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme. Providers did this in a variety of ways. For some it involved educative sessions with paper-based activities. Others offered more interactive sessions, including food-based activities such as making fruit kebabs, homemade pizzas, taste testing, blind taste testing, growing herbs, cookery workshops or including children in cooking their own meals.
One of the providers delivering an older youth group recognised how interested young people were in cooking and at each session a handful of young people cooked with the food provider, taking it in turns to make the main course or dessert. This developed the idea of a slow cookery course where teenagers were gifted a slow cooker and attended several sessions to learn how to cook meals for their families for a budget of £5. Several other providers also encouraged children to help prepare meals each day.
One of our providers who works extensively to support families that require low level interventions offered family sessions that included healthy lifestyle education, taste testing, growing vegetables and herbs, food cost budgeting and cookery on a budget.
Additionally, many providers engaged with external agencies to deliver preventative education sessions including dental hygiene, vaping and smoking, positive friendship and basic first aid. Within Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council there is a Public Health Information Library, and all providers have access to resources and equipment to help deliver key educative messages and information in a fun informative way.
