Active Lincolnshire partnered with The HAF Team at Lincolnshire County Council to coproduce a Share and Learn event for providers of the Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme. Over 50 HAF providers and partners attended the HAF Share and Learn Event at Bishop Grosseteste University, Lincoln on Wednesday.

The Holiday Activities and Food Programme (HAF) provides funded places for children and young people who are eligible for benefit-related free school meals. The programme includes access to physical activity, enrichment activities, provision of healthy food and food and nutrition education to promote healthy lifestyles. The event was an opportunity to celebrate the valuable work of HAF providers in Lincolnshire, and to provide professional development opportunities. Based on provider feedback the event centred around sharing best practice, managing challenging behaviour and increasing awareness of funding opportunities outside of the Holiday Activities and Food Programme.

Enhancing positive experiences physical activity for children and young people is a core element of our work at Active Lincolnshire. By working with partners such as the HAF team, we are committed to growing opportunities and ensuing as many children as possible have access to inclusive, high quality sport and physical activity provision.

The event also provided an opportunity for networking, and providers had access to a marketplace of various partner organisations to create new contacts, develop connections and share ideas on opportunities to enhance positive experiences for the children and young people they cater for. Following provider feedback regarding CPD needs, Dr Jenny Sills and David Argyle led a workshop focusing on managing challenging behaviour when delivering activities to children and young people. The content focused on providing theory, advice and practical solutions to enable the HAF providers to be better equipped when faced with children with behavioural needs.

Attendees also heard from Kristen Ingraham-Morgan who set up Strong Girls Squad, Lincoln. The project was recognised locally last year by the Lincolnshire Sport & Physical Activity Awards and nationally by the Department for Education in the inaugural HAF 2023 awards for their work providing Holiday Activities and Food Clubs to girls aged 11-16. Jody Raggo from Voluntary Centre Services ran a workshop focusing around increasing your chances of success for securing grant funding. It allowed providers to enhance their knowledge and understanding of why bids fail, how to evidence the need and how to find the right funding streams. Voluntary Centre Services provided resources and a toolkit to help providers to secure external funding to not only support their sustainability but also enrich and enhance their offer for the children and young people at their settings.

Greg Brown, Active Lincolnshire Children and Young People Lead commented:

Collaboration is fundamental to successfully creating positive experiences for children and young people to have access to fun, inclusive experiences through sport and physical activity. It was fantastic to be able to work with the HAF team at Lincolnshire County Council to support the vast network of organisations providing opportunities through the HAF programme. The event was a huge success allowing providers to develop their enrichment offer, access training to enhance awareness and understanding of children’s needs and develop their understanding of funding to support sustainability.

Active Lincolnshire have previously worked with Lincolnshire County Council to develop The Creating Physical Activities Pilot project which was developed to upskill non-sport specific HAF providers. The project, which was funded by a Together Fund grant, supported providers to successfully run fun and inclusive physical activity sessions for the children attending their settings, as well as providing the activity equipment needed to run inclusive sessions.

For more information on HAF in Lincolnshire visit Lincolnshire County Council's website.