Havering’s Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) Christmas Programme 2024 is OUT!

The Holiday Activities and Food Programme (HAF) is a funded initiative that provides fun activity and food provision for children aged reception to year 11 who are eligible for BENEFIT RELATED Free School Meals during the Easter, Summer and Christmas Holidays.

 

The programme is designed to support families on a lower income, or children who are considered to be vulnerable. Children who attend a HAF club will have access to a full range of activities and will receive a healthy nutritious meal. School holidays can be a pressure point for some families due to increased costs and reduced incomes. Therefore, some children are more likely to experience ‘unhealthy holidays’ in terms of nutrition and physical health. This is where the HAF programme can help support those families and children to access local fun healthy activities and food during the school holiday periods. This not only provides the opportunity for children to enjoy the activities on offer and be fed with a nutritious meal, it also helps supports families financially during this period.

 

To have access to the funded sessions you MUST be eligible for benefit related free school meals (BRFSM) and have made an application through Havering, regardless of your child’s age as not all children in KS1 are eligible even though they receive a meal at school usually. The link to Free School Meals application is here. A referral for vulnerable families who do not meet the benefit related free school meals criteria can be made via your school and/ other services. Once referred and eligibility is confirmed you will be given a unique voucher code via your referrer to access booking your funded place on a HAF programme (BRFSM eligibility do not need a code to book). Eligibility checks will be completed to confirm your funded place post programme booking registration with HAF providers.

 

Every eligible child can access up to 16 hours of funded activities this Christmas Holiday!

 

For more information or to view and book the funded places available this Christmas please visit our webpage where all the Christmas HAF programmes and activities are listed www.havering.gov.uk/HAF You can also follow us via our Facebook page @HAFHavering for updates.