HAF Fun Pompey Story So Far
Portsmouth City Council are delighted to deliver the Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme during the Easter, Summer and Christmas school holidays. Funded by the Department for Education until 2024, we can provide free holiday provision, including nutritious food and enriching activities, for children aged 5-16 who are eligible for benefits-related free school meals (FSM). The programme is called HAF Fun Pompey. They are some paid for spaces available and families who are not eligible for FSM can be referred by a professional service.
During the School holidays we worked in collaboration with a wide range of providers to create a fantastic programme of activities and events. These ranged from sport to performing arts, day trips to art workshops, and water sports to cooking classes. It also included events where the whole family could get involved.
In summer 2021 we had activities in 54 locations across the whole city, with 36 providers and every child was provided with tasty, nutritious food. This continued during the Christmas holidays 2021 when we had over 40 city wide locations , 25 providers provided hot meals and activities including trips to local pantomimes, ice skating, multi sports and cooking. Nutritious food was part of the programme with nearly 500 family food hampers being distributed .
During Easter 2022 we saw the foundations built in 2021 come into full swing with a jam packed programme and a welcome increase in our 11-16 year old offer. The summer programme saw some wonderful partnerships develop including with City of Sanctuary and the opportunity to explore the water and outdoor options in and outside the city to the max. Winter 2022 saw an increase in SEND specific provision including the first special school host, Redwood Academy. They joined the programme and provided four unforgettable days including archery, inflatables, cooking, swimming and much more. Across the winter provision our providers excelled in their food offers, including family food hampers and teaching children recipes using slow cookers, soup makers and air fryers.
We are very excited with what 2023 has to offer, including 5 new providers who are joining our rich mix of over 50 providers.
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Feedback from HAF participants and families
“This was a wonderfully organised event. It took into consideration people from different backgrounds and provided a variety of activities with great quality products. Really enjoyed it.” HAF Family
“They had a brilliant week packed full of fun and games! Both mine received certificates for playing games, yoga and dancing! Go Carts and nerf guns, disco, you name it they have done it! Also well done to my boy for eating a curry! Anyone that know him knows how fussy he is, the staff are amazing…roll on next week!” HAF Parent/Carer
“My favourite part was EVERYTHING…making friends, games, puppets and having fun.” HAF Participant
“Dinner tasted lovely. I’ve never had parsnips before.” HAF participant
“Loved everything! Was so nice they could try different activities each time they went. Loved yoga and even got to do off site trips.” HAF Parent
My youngest gets quite nervous but the staff have been very comforting and they are all smiles when they get collected at the end of the day. The guys on the door are really friendly and remember who’s child matches to who’s parent so well!” HAF Parent
PORTSMOUTH CITY COUNCIL
Meet the team
“We are proud that we offer sessions where lots of delicious, healthy food is consumed after a whole range of activities to choose from, including drama, sailing, fitness and cooking. This is genuine community partnership working at its best with local providers and a range of internal and external partners including schools, Play Youth and Community, Portsmouth Museums, leisure, arts and cultural venues all pitching in.” Councillor and Deputy Leader Suzy Horton
“The most rewarding part of the programme is visiting the provision and seeing how many smiles are produced through the endless amount of fun on offer. Thanks to the commitment, creativity and passion of our providers we are able to offer a fantastic range of activities and reach families across the city. ” HAF Project Lead, Ciara White
HAF enables us to make sure that our children, young people and families have opportunities to discover what our great city and nearby areas have to offer – making sure they get out and about, visiting our museums; theatres; art galleries; woodland; beaches and sports centres. Hopefully leaving a lasting legacy of future confident explorers! Nicola Clannachan, Head of Housing Community Services
Working with the HAF programme is definitely one of the most fun parts of my job at Portsmouth City Council! It is always a pleasure to get out and meet children, young people and their families who are enjoying HAF activities, as well as talking to the providers who put so much imagination and energy into creating our fantastic programme. Alison Critchley, Childrens, Families & Education
