Information for schools about Holiday Activities with Food
Information for schools about Holiday Activities with Food
Eligible children and young people in your school community are invited to join in the fantastic activities the York Holiday Activities with Food (HAF) programme has to offer. This includes fun activities, a free meal, and opportunities for them to socialise, learn new skills, and stay active and fed over the school holidays.
Each school will be asked to identify and send eligible families a voucher via a free platform called HolidayActivities. Families then redeem and make their bookings on this platform.
We would be very grateful if you can help promote the York HAF programme through any updates that you share with your school community.
Schools can also get involved in the York HAF programme in a number of ways:
- as an activity provider
- a host venue
- allowing access to kitchen facilities that can be used to supply food to other providers
Read more about:
- eligibility for HAF
- how HAF vouchers are issued
- how to issue vouchers to families who do not have access to email or text
- how families book a HAF place
- booking information if a family does not have access to the internet
- HAF for children with disabilities and additional needs
- supermarket and monetary vouchers
Eligibility for HAF
All children and young people receiving benefits-related free school meals are automatically eligible for free places at York HAF activities.
Apart from receiving benefits-related free school meals, there are no criteria that guarantee a child or young person is eligible for the York HAF programme.
However, your school can also make a small number of additional children or young people eligible by exception if they face significant financial and or other disadvantage.
We have to comply to rules from the Department for Education regarding how much our funding can be spent on those made eligible by exception, so we must ask that you aim not to increase your total number of eligible children and young people by more than 15%.
When making your ‘eligible by exception’ choices, bear in mind that York HAF is, first and foremost, a food poverty initiative. There are far more children in York that we would like to make eligible than we have funding for. For example, a child or young person with Soecial Educational Needs or Disabilities (SEND) may face disadvantage, but this does not necessarily mean that their family would struggle with food poverty over the holiday period.
Your approach to allocating your ‘eligible by exception’ vouchers may change over time in relation to your cohort’s needs. There is no requirement to automatically issue vouchers to ‘eligible by exception’ children or young people who have received vouchers historically.
How HAF vouchers are issued
Each school is individually responsible for allocating York HAF vouchers to eligible children and young people via HolidayActivities.
HolidayActivities is a dedicated online platform built to run the HAF programme for local authorities across the UK. Many of York’s schools already use Wonde , the parent company of 'HolidayActivities', and your school’s usage of 'HolidayActivities' will be completely free to your school. HolidayActivities have a very helpful support team who are highly experienced in onboarding the system in schools across the country.
If your school has already logged into a HolidayActivities account and ordered vouchers in a previous holiday, you'll receive an email inviting you to automatically issue your vouchers for the upcoming holiday. Follow the link in the email from HolidayActivities and, when instructed, select ‘confirm’ to enable your York HAF vouchers to be automatically issued.
Please note: vouchers are not issued to parents and guardians immediately. City of York Council sets a date with HolidayActivities for all vouchers to be issued at the same time – this is usually around 2 weeks before the school holiday begins. To help ensure all families receive their voucher and can book a place at the same time, we encourage all schools to complete their voucher activation and ordering process as soon as possible.
The automatic allocation process can only identify and allocate vouchers to those who are eligible for benefits-related free school meals (using your school’s Management Information Service).
For any young people you wish to make eligible by exception, you must log onto HolidayActivities and do this manually as soon as possible. 'HolidayActivities' have a guide on how to add additional students.
If your school has not ordered vouchers from HolidayActivities before, you’ll need to set this up. The process is quick and simple. Email: [email protected] for assistance or telephone: 01638 438311.
How to issue vouchers to families who do not have access to email or text
If receiving an email or text is not accessible for a parent or guardian, provide them with their voucher in another way (for example, over the phone or by providing them with their 16-digit voucher number). Thank you for using the method that best suits the parent or guardian.
You can find their 16-digit voucher number in HolidayActivities.
Please note: you can only view unclaimed vouchers. If the voucher has already been claimed, the parents will have to access it by logging in. If they are struggling to log-in, they can email: [email protected] or the HAF coordinator by email: [email protected].
How families book a HAF place
Families can book and manage their free York HAF places on the HolidayActivities platform. Access the full parent guide online.
Here’s how it works:
- If eligible, parents and guardians will receive an email or text message from HoildayActivities.com and will click the link to view the voucher. Please note: if they have more than 1 child, they will receive multiple vouchers via email or text message. They will follow all 8 steps listed here for the first child. For the next child, they will click the link in the text or email sent to them, and it will add them to the account already set up.
- If parents and guardians have not used HolidayActivities before, they’ll need to create an account. This can be done easily by providing their email address or by clicking to log in via Apple or Google. If they sign up via email, they will not have a password. They will be emailed a unique link each time they go to log in.
- When signing up, they’ll be asked to enter their name, email, and phone number. Then they will click ‘save details.'
- The HolidayActivities voucher that they were emailed will be linked to their account and show the available credits they have to use. They can then click on the arrow to see the available activities.
- They will be asked to add the child’s age – this is to ensure they only see activities suitable to their child’s age group.
- They can now browse all available activities. They can click ‘view activity’ to see photos, available dates, and read a short description.
- When they’re ready to book, they will click on the ‘select date’ button. Please note: that an activity showing a waitlist does not always mean that an activity is full. They should request a place and they should receive a notification from HolidayActivities if the place is confirmed.
- They need to complete the parent details, child details, and a secondary emergency contact. These details will be remembered to make future bookings easier. They must confirm they have read and understood the terms and conditions. Once they select ‘complete booking’, they’ll receive a confirmation email notifying them that their booking is either confirmed or awaiting approval.
An example of the HolidayActivities Vouchers
Please note: if a parent or guardian did not receive their voucher via email or text (for example, it was written down for them due to accessibility reasons), they can go to www.app.holidayactivities.com to log in or sign up and manually connect their voucher to their account. They can also use the information on our information for parents about Holiday Activities with Food page about how to book activities without using the internet.
If parents and guardians have any issues in creating an account, making a booking, or managing their booking, ask them to contact the HolidayActivities team on email: [email protected].
Any parent or guardian asking to be made eligible will be redirected to their school. You as a school should make the decision about their eligibility.
Booking a place for more than one child
If a parent or guardian isn’t able to use the online platform HolidayActivities to make a booking, they should contact the activity provider directly.
Prior to every holiday period, the York HAF coordinator sends every school a brochure that includes all the available activities for that holiday along with general information. All provider contact information will be included in this.
If you need any further assistance, contact the coordinator by telephone: 07551 348839 and they can help you with booking your child onto activities. This can also include meeting at your local community centre to make the process easier.
Booking information if a family does not have access to the internet
If a parent or guardian isn’t able to use the online platform HolidayActivities to make a booking, they should contact the activity provider directly.
Prior to every holiday period, the York HAF coordinator sends every school a brochure that includes all the available activities for that holiday along with general information. All provider contact information will be included in this.
If you need any further assistance, contact the coordinator on telephone: 07551 348839 and they can help you with booking your child onto activities. This can also include meeting at your local community centre to make the process easier.
HAF for children with disabilities and additional needs
Some of the activities we offer are specifically for SEND children or young people, and many others are inclusive for those children. Parents and guardians can find out what’s available by logging onto HolidayActivities and using the search filters, looking at the brochure, or by contacting the HAF coordinator by email: [email protected]. If you or parents have any questions, contact the provider directly using the details in their listing.
HAF vouchers for children who are electively home educated and live in York
Email: [email protected] with details of the child you would like to take part.
Supermarket and monetary vouchers
The York HAF programme does not distribute any vouchers with things such as monetary value, or cash, credit, bank transfers.
The Department for Education funding for the York HAF programme is only allowed to be spent providing eligible children with fun and enriching activities over the school holidays, where free food is also distributed.
Anyone struggling to pay for food, energy and other essentials can find information about support available in York.
