Could your organisation support families to access exciting activities this Summer? If so, then why not join the Isle of Wight Council’s Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme… The programme provides enriching activities and healthy food to some of the Island’s most vulnerable children and young people. Funding is available for Island schools, charity, voluntary and community-sector organisations, and other out-of-school and holiday activity providers, to deliver HAF clubs this summer and Christmas 2024. HAF holiday club places are free for school-aged children who receive benefits related to free school meals and provide fun activities, nutritious meals and a safe space where young people can make new friends. To find out more about the Department for Education-funded programme and how to get involved, visit the council’s website. Applications launched on Monday (25th March) and organisations have until Friday 5th April to apply. Rhea Martin, the council’s HAF delivery officer, said:
“Lots of school-aged children and young people across the Island have already benefitted from HAF sessions. Organisations involved have also fed back to us the immense pride and achievement they have felt through their involvement. “School holidays can be particularly difficult for families because of increased costs, such as food and childcare and reduced incomes. This means some children and young people are less likely to access organised out-of-school activities and can miss out on the social and health benefits of such activities. “By taking part in a free holiday club where a nutritious meal is provided, children who might otherwise miss out, get to enjoy the same enriching experiences as many of their friends and peers. “I would like to thank all our providers for their hard work and dedication to the scheme and would encourage other Island organisations to get involved in 2024 to help make a positive impact during these challenging times.”
or alternatively – the kids could simply play in the street like the rest of us did when we were kids, at no cost to the parents and the child benefit actually got spent on food for the kids.
Play in the streets? Dice with the pissed up drivers we see prosecuted on our roads daily or twist an ankle on some pot hole.
Also, there’s a lot more traffic on the streets than there were when you were a kid.
Back then there were plenty of youth clubs and summer clubs, a lot of those places have closed and if these schemes didn’t take place, then instead of the cliched “how it used to be in the old days”, the old gits would moan that there’s nothing for kids to do these days.
never went to youth clubs or summer clubs and we were smart enough to see the cars coming and move out of the way, then return to the street to play football/cricket
we also played in the fields, with the uneven ground, stream at one side, climbed the trees over the stream – no one got hurt or twisted ankles and even if we did, we just picked ourselves up and carried on
We also played out in the streets, fields, woods, riverbanks, etc. while growing up. We were often breaking legs and arms, getting cuts and bruises, being chased by bulls, almost drowning, getting run over, and doing loads of other crazy things that could have killed us, but we all survived to adulthood. At least we were living life rather than being sat in front of a screen living vicariously through a video game. I feel sorry for modern kids because they are more likely to suffer from obesity related diseases or some mental disorder than break a leg falling out of a tree. We also knew how to behave properly unlike these modern kids who often have no discipline or respect for others.
Honestly, you old grunters want it both ways.
In one breath you say kids should be out on the streets and, in the next breath, bleat about them being out on the streets.
Make your mind up.
I did all that too and agree it was the best. However although there is no legal age to leave kids unattended IF those kids were to have an accident after being left all day by working parents the parents would be charged with neglect as guidelines say that children under 12 are rarely mature enough to be left for long periods which is why holiday clubs are necessary.
I never went to any clubs in the holidays just got up and went out for the day coming home when hungry or dark, if anyone says it’s not safe these days it’s was no different back then but we had a thing called common sense!! Don’t talk to strangers, don’t damage anything, don’t be rude, respect things! To many do gooders and snowflakes now for kids to enjoy themselves, I believe in natural selection as the stupid ones never made it and they were the ones who would have been a drain on society. Today we are breading snowflakes and don’t work won’t work and it’s why we are in the state we are in now! Never had a mental illness or boys who want to be girls as we had a proper mental institutions that we popped them in.
well said Stan
just because a man thinks he is a woman, doesn’t make him one…after all, chopping bits off, taking drugs and wearing women’s clothes, doesn’t change your biological sex, nor will it ever do
you are what nature made you at birth….no amount of surgery, drugs and ideology will change that.