Information for parents about Holiday Activities with Food
Information for parents about Holiday Activities with Food
York’s Holiday Activities and Food Programme (HAF) offers fun activities for keeping active, being creative, and trying something new over the Easter, summer, and winter school holidays for school aged children.
Read more about:
- Eligibility criteria to access the HAF programme
- Free School Meals criteria
- Children who are Electively Home Educated (EHE) or not currently attending school
- Accessing the HAF voucher
- Lost vouchers
- Booking information
- Vouchers from other local authorities
- Cancelling your place on an activity
- HAF activities for children with disabilities and additional needs
- Parents and guardians at activities
- Getting to the HAF activity
- Food
- Supermarket and monetary voucher
Eligibility criteria to access the HAF programme
All children and young people receiving benefits-related free school meals are automatically eligible for free places with the York HAF programme.
Apart from receiving benefits-related free school meals, there are no other criteria that guarantee a child or young person is eligible for York HAF.
York HAF is first and foremost a food poverty initiative. There are more children and young people in York that we would like to make eligible than we have funding for. However, your child’s school can also make a small number of additional children and young people eligible by exception if they face significant financial and or other disadvantage.
The Department for Education funding guidelines, limits how many non-benefits related free school meal children and young people can be made eligible.
If you believe your child should be made eligible for our programme, contact their school to request this. Individual schools have been given the responsibility to make additional children eligible by exception.
If your child does not attend school, email: [email protected] confirming this and the reason for their eligibility.
Free School Meals criteria
Find out more about eligibility for Free School Meals.
Please note: the York HAF programme is only eligible to children receiving benefits-related free school meals. Children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 who are entitled to free school meals under the Universal Infant Free School Meal Scheme are not automatically eligible.
Guidance on York HAF eligibility for children and young people who face disadvantage but are not on benefits-related free school meals is included below.
Children who are Electively Home Educated (EHE) or not currently attending school
A child or young person who is EHE or who is registered with a school but not currently attending may be eligible for a York HAF voucher if they live in York and:
- would receive benefits-related free school meals if they attended school, or
- face significant financial and or other disadvantage
If your child or young person would be eligible for York HAF and is still on a school roll (for example, they are registered at the school but for whatever reason are not currently attending), contact the school to request they issue you a York HAF voucher via their HolidayActivities account.
If your child is electively home educated or is no longer on school roll, you can enquire about eligibility by email: [email protected] confirming:
- child’s name
- child’s date of birth
- first name and surname for a primary parent or guardian
- an email address for a primary parent or guardian
- a mobile number for a primary parent or guardian
- that the child is not currently attending school
- that the child would be eligible under the criteria of the programme
Accessing the HAF voucher
Parents and guardians of eligible children or young people will receive a unique electronic voucher for each holiday period. This will be sent by schools via an email or text, through an online platform called HolidayActivities. You can expect your vouchers two weeks before the school holidays begin. If you haven’t received them within one week before, then contact your school.
If your child is eligible and you haven’t received a voucher for a free York HAF place (and the date above has passed), contact your school. Each school is individually responsible for allocating these vouchers to eligible children and young people.
Lost vouchers
If you’ve been allocated a York HAF voucher for the current holiday period and have already claimed it via HolidayActivities, by clicking the link in the email or text, you should log in to www.app.holidayactivities.com using the email address or social login you first accessed the platform with. Your voucher code for the current holiday period will be in your account at the top, under your child’s name and school.
If you have been allocated a York HAF voucher for the current holiday period and have not already claimed it via HolidayActivities, you can:
- Search your emails or texts for HolidayActivities to see if it is in your inbox or junk email folder.
- Contact the HAF coordinator Shelby Graham who can search the booking system for your voucher code.
Please note: once you have claimed your voucher, you do not need to know the 16-digit code when making bookings directly on the HolidayActivities platform. You would only need it if making bookings directly with providers.
Booking information
Free York HAF places are booked and managed through an online platform called HolidayActivities. You can access the full parent guide on the HolidayActivities website.
If you or someone you know isn’t able to use the online platform to request a place, contact the activity provider or the HAF coordinator directly by email: [email protected].
If you're booking with the provider, have your 16-digit voucher number available. If you don’t have your voucher number, contact your school or the HAF coordinator.
If you're eligible for a free York HAF place and don’t yet have a voucher, activity providers are asked, where possible, to accept your booking on the basis that you'll provide them with a valid voucher number before the activity takes place.
The number of activities that can be booked depend on the number of credits issued. 1 credit is equivalent to a 4-hour session. Some of our delivery providers operate for full 8-hour days, which counts as 2 credits. When you receive your voucher, it will come with the appropriate number of credits for that holiday period:
- for the Easter school holidays, children and young people are funded for 8 credits
- for the summer school holidays, children and young people are funded 16 credits
- for the winter school holidays, children and young people are funded 4 credits
If the activity you wish to book is full, you should join the waiting list for the activity using HolidayActivities. Often, places become available on activities that were previously fully booked, and this is the best way to make sure you get to take part in the activities you want. You'll receive a notification from HolidayActivities if a space has become available for your child.
Vouchers from other local authorities
Unfortunately, we can’t accept vouchers from any other local authority to book free places on our activities. If you go to school in another local authority but live in York, you won’t receive a voucher automatically, but if you are eligible, you can contact us and we can issue a voucher.
Cancelling your place on an activity
We understand that plans change, and you may need to cancel your place on an activity. We ask that you do this with as much notice as possible, so that the space can be offered to another child.
If you booked a place on a York HAF activity via HolidayActivities, you can also use that platform to cancel your place as long as there is less than 48 hours before your activity is due to begin. Go to www.app.holidayactivities.com and log in to cancel your place.
Please note: cancellations have to be manually accepted by the provider, and therefore, can take some time. The associated credits will not be added back into your account until that has been completed. If you have 0 credits remaining, you will not be able to immediately book onto an activity if you cancel your place on another.
If you need to cancel a place on an activity that begins in less than 48 hours, you must telephone or email the provider. Their contact details are available on the booking system.
Our programme has limited places and funding. If you can no longer attend activities, we ask that you let the provider or HAF coordinator know as soon as possible. If you do not let the organiser know you cannot attend, another child misses out on food and activity for this session. If you repeatedly fail to let the organiser know, you may lose your voucher credits and bookings for the period.
HAF activities for children with disabilities and additional needs
Some of the activities we offer are specifically for Special Educational Needs or Disabilities (SEND) children and young people, and many others are inclusive. When you log onto HolidayActivities, you can use the search filters to see what is suitable for your child. If you have any questions, contact the provider directly using the details in their listing.
Parents and guardians at activities
Contact the session provider to discuss this with them. Some providers currently do not allow parents or guardians to be in attendance due to safeguarding concerns.
Getting to the HAF activity
Families will need to make their own way to the HAF activity. Unfortunately, our current funding doesn’t allow for transport costs. There’s lots happening across York, and we hope you can find an activity near to where you live
Food
Children attending the activity sessions will receive at least one meal. These meals meet school food standards and wherever possible are served hot. Many providers offer more than 1 meal and snacks throughout the day. The provider you book with will be able to let you know what food will be provided at their sessions.
Providers are required to meet dietary, cultural and other food requirements.
You should not be asked to bring your own food to any activities.
Supermarket and monetary voucher
The York HAF programme does not distribute any vouchers with monetary value or cash.
The Department for Education funding for the York HAF programme is only allowed to be spent providing fun and enriching activities over the school holidays, where a healthy meal is provided to the children and young people taking part.
Anyone struggling to pay for food, energy and other essentials can find information about support available in York.
