Holiday clubs can help bridge attainment gap, says minister

Minister for Children Vicky Ford MP was in the Black Country to see the £220 million holiday activities and food programme (HAF) in action.

During her visit she stopped off at Fallings Park Primary School in Low Hill, Wolverhampton, one of several venues in the city running a summer club, where she joined youngsters in a football match before donning an apron to make pizza.

WATCH the minister's visit here:

In Wolverhampton the scheme is being run by the Wolves Foundation, with support from schools, the city council and local MPs. While the Government has funded six weeks provision, cash from the foundation's groundbreaking Feed Our Pack project has enabled it to be extended.

School leaders say demand has been sky high and the scheme has been a "massive hit" with parents and children, with Fallings Park Primary hoping to continue to run summer clubs for years to come.

Mrs Ford said the HAF formed a key part of the Government's catch up plan to support children who have missed out on schooling due to lockdown, which also includes summer schools for those entering secondary school and a £3 billion package for recovery.

She said she was impressed how the scheme had been extended in Wolverhampton by partners across the city joining forces, and that the scheme could play a major role in closing the attainment gap in education.

She said: "The pandemic has led to a real understanding of vulnerability, and people from across society have focused on helping those who have more need than themselves.

"It is one of the positive things to come out of the Covid crisis.

"The seeds of the HAF project were sewn before the pandemic. We've been trialling the project for the past three years to try and work out what families needed during the holidays.

"In 2019 we had a manifesto commitment to put a billion pounds into holiday and wrap-around childcare. We wanted to make sure we got it right.

"There is no doubt that Covid has brought that extra concern of wanting to make sure that children could do fun activities to make sure they come out of this summer with that confidence that is so important to your mental wellbeing as a child.

"It's been incredibly successful, and can help close the attainment gap between children from different backgrounds."

Sam Holmes, a middle leader at Fallings Park Primary, said the school had started working with the Wolves Foundation over the past academic year, with some families at the school receiving food parcels to help them during the pandemic.

He said the fact that 80 families had been helped with food parcels over the summer showed the level of need in the area, while 90 of the school's 740 pupils were being supported with food and activities.

"We know the difficulties that some of our families have faced during the pandemic, particularly during the holidays," he said.

"We have a great partnership with Wolves and I think the scheme has worked really well. We'd like to continue this in future and demand is so high we could probably get a scheme here every school holiday."

Mr Holmes said the school was keen to "give something back" to the scheme and had raised just under £12,500 for the Wolves Foundation through a charity day.

"It is nice that while we are supporting our families we were also able to do our bit to help," he added. "We serve this community 365 days a year, not just during school term."

Jennifer Ebblewhite, deputy head and safeguarding lead, said: "This is something we have wanted to run for a long time, but we need that extra support from Government and Wolves working together.

"Many of our families need a structure and a routine and this helps that to happen, while also giving us a stronger relationship with our parents and enabling us to develop closer links."

Wolves Foundation's Feed Our Pack project was launched during the Covid lockdown, when the foundation was unable to deliver many of its usual programmes in the community.

It was kickstarted with a £250,000 donation from former Wolves boss Nuno, which was matched by the Premier League and topped up with more than £100,000 in donations from fans.

Foundation head Will Clowes said the scheme had been a "combined effort" in Wolverhampton, with Wolves coming together with the city council, schools and public health teams to "meet the need" for activities and support for youngsters during the holidays.

"With the investment from the Government we have been able to make this happen and it's a real success story for the city," he said.

"The harsh reality is that a lot of people in the city don't have regular access to food, which is why it is important fort us to work with food banks and support the HAF programme.

"Ideally we would like this to grow. For that to happen, having greater access to school facilities during the holidays will be key.

"That will allow us to put staff in the right places to work with children right across the city."

Jane Stevenson, Conservative MP for Wolverhampton North East, said: "The Government funding has allowed the schools, the Wolves Foundation and the council to work together to support young people during the holidays.

"I'll be pushing for Government to help this continue because it is something that Wolverhampton really needs.

"This project has been on a scale that we have not seen before and moving forward I'd like to see a mixture of voluntary groups, the public sector and the private sector all involved."

Wolverhampton Council's education chief, Councillor Mike Hardacre, said: "We were very pleased to welcome the minister in order to show what can be done with the six weeks worth of funding that the Government has provided for the 13 weeks of activity that we are actually putting on.

"It has been a great success and we will be pressing the Government for money to cover the 13 weeks that children are out of school."

Asked whether she would be pushing for more funding for HAF programmes, Mrs Ford said: "I want to make sure that the funding we have is used in the way that children and parents want it most.

"We have found that families don't necessarily want it for all weeks of the summer holidays, and they don't necessarily want it every day of the week, which is why after working with the pilot projects we have decided to encourage councils to focus on delivering at least four weeks and at least four days of those weeks.

"Some local authorities are working with organisations to top it up.

"We also want to focus on the longer school holidays, rather than the shorter holidays when families might want to do something together."

During her stay in the Black Country she also visited centres running schemes in Walsall, including Bloxwich Community Partnership holiday club and the Frank F Harrison Community Association's Ace project.