Aims/prorities: The Holiday activities and food programme is a government initiative that aims to provide healthy hot food and enriching activities during the school holidays, primarily to children and young people aged 5 to 16 who are eligible for benefits related free school meals. It is funded by the Department for Education (DfE). The aim is for children and young people to socialise, learn and play during the specified holiday periods, enjoy a hot meal and have fun.
With thanks to providers across Oldham, Oldham Council successfully delivered summer and winter programmes to over 5,500 children and young people and they are now at the stage where they would like to invite you to submit an expression of interest for their Easter Programme 2022.
You can find out more about this Fund by joining us at a Meet The Funder session on 10 February 2022 at 4pm - book a place here
Expression of interest: As they requested for Winter, the expression of interest is submitted via a webform on the Oldham Council website. The link to the webform is here; HAF Provider Expression of Interest Form - Oldham Council and they will only be accepting expressions of interest via this weblink. The webform isn’t perfect and at this stage, their website does not have the functionality to save forms part way through the application process. To support you with this task, they have provided a word copy of the expression of interest so that you can prepare your submission in advance before you begin the process of submitting your expression of interest online. Their web team have advised that due to the requirement to upload documents to the weblink, its best to complete the expression of interest via a desktop or laptop, rather than a mobile device. Please be mindful that the webpage will timeout after 30 minutes of inactivity.
The DfE have updated the HAF guidance for 2022 and the Expression of Interest form has been updated to reflect these changes in guidance. You can find a link to the guidance here; Holiday activities and food programme 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) and it is requested that you take some time to consider the updates to the guidance before submitting your expression of interest to ensure your provision can meet the new standards the guidance requires to be met.
Deadline: They ask that all expressions of interest are submitted via the weblink on or before 25 February 2022. They appreciate this seems early, but this allows them time to undertake their moderation process, issue grant agreements, raise payments, promote otheir offer and arrange bookings in good time for the start of the Easter break. The Oldham School Holiday period begins when schools finish on Friday 8 April and return for the summer term on 25 April, but please note that some school dates may vary. We can also confirm that the HAF offer for Easter is 4 hours over 4 days (as per Winter).
Contact: email address; OldhamHAF@oldham.gov.uk and a member of the team will be in touch.