HOLIDAY ACTIVITY FUND (HAF)

FUNDED SPACES FOR CHILDREN

We are excited to partner with Local Councils to provide funded places for children who are currently receiving income-assessed free school meals (pupil premium). The way to book these funded spaces has changed so please do read on.

How to Book

The method of how you book will be determined in which County Council you live. Typically the process is you will receive an email or text message from your school with a direct link to access the funding on their chosen booking platform. You have to book on their site and have your booking approved by School’s Out Activities before you can replicate your booking on our site (which we need you to do to gain access to your QR Code for entry).

If you are booking for Suffolk or Essex places, then please follow these instructions and external links to the centralised booking systems.

Booking Suffolk Venues

Suffolk County Council uses a platform called EEQU. To make a booking for any of our Suffolk sites follow the links below:

📍Woodbridge – https://eequ.org/experience/5667
📍Ipswich – https://eequ.org/experience/5630
📍Felixstowe – https://eequ.org/experience/5674
📍Bury St Edmunds – https://eequ.org/experience/5672

Booking Essex Venues

Essex Council Council uses a platform called Holiday Activities. More information can be found here: https://www.holidayactivities.com/how-it-works/recipients/
Look out for a link provided by your school. This will have a unique eligibility code and selective access to the central booking website. All bookings are made here. Access to all families is provided at the same time to provide fairness.

📍Colchester
📍Shenfield
📍Chelmsford
📍Braintree – We do not currently have funding available at this site. We are working with Essex County Council to provide this.

📞 If you have any questions about the above, please do not hesitate to get in contact: 01473 942990. We look forward to welcoming you to our camps shortly.

Waiting List

Bookings are accepted on a first-come-first-served basis. Best to be quick as they sell out very fast. Each Council platform will tell you how many spaces we have left for each date. If your chosen venue and/or dates are fully booked, please look at other dates and venues. If not then each platform will allow you to join the waiting list in case of any cancellations. We will always have paid places available if you do need certain dates and the HAF entitlement has sold out.

Next Steps

Once you have requested spaces on the Council websites the process continues and checks are completed:

In the meantime we need you create an account on our website (if you don’t already have one) and also add in all of your children to your My Account area of the site. We take more details of your children than the council websites so require you to do this. Follow here to create an account: https://bookings.schoolsoutactivities.co.uk/dashboard
The Council will check your eligibility, and then we have to approve your bookings before they are confirmed.
We will then provide you with the amount of approved days to book on our website free-of-charge. These will not cover any extras such as Early Bird and Extended Fun drop off. You can add and pay for these and extra dates you require on top of your funding from within the My Bookings section of the website.
You can now also select your food lunch options for your children.
You will receive full booking confirmation.
For more assistance with this, please do not hesitate to contact our booking enquiries team (01473 942999).

What is the Holiday Activity Fund (HAF)?

The government’s expanded £220 million Holiday Activities and Food programme (HAF) is able to offer funded school holiday activity places along with a healthy packed lunch for children who are eligible. The idea was initiated by England Footballer, Marcus Rashford, who campaigned for children to be given access to fun and healthy experiences during their school holidays.

“It’s very important that children have activities to do during the holidays. I can only go back to my own experiences and what I would have been doing if I didn’t have places my friends and I could go in a safe environment.”
Marcus Rashford MBE

Who can access the HAF programme?

Funded holiday club places are available to children and young people who receive benefit-related free school meals in Mainstream, Academy and Free Schools education.

County Councils will offer paid-for places to children of all ages and backgrounds, where possible.

When is the HAF available?

School’s Out Activities and the HAF programme have already supported over 1000 children in Suffolk and Essex since its inception in 2021. The success of the scheme has resulted in the funding being extended at least until 2024.

Parents, carers and guardians can access the HAF during the Summer Holidays, Christmas Break and Easter. Currently, there isn’t any funding for the Half Term holidays with School’s Out Activities.

What food is provided?

For every HAF funded child at every holiday programme, children will enjoy a nourishing and tasty meal, as well as learning about the importance of healthy eating.

The School’s Out Activities lunchbox consists of choice of hot pasta dishes, and snacks such as crips, fruit, bars, water and flavourings. We cater for all allergies and dietary requirements.

School's Out Activities - Pick up timeline

How many days can I book?

The amount of days is allocated per child and not per family. Therefore if a family has 3 qualifying children, the amount of funding is allocated for each child and does not need to spread amongst siblings.

Easter Holidays = 4 individual days
Christmas Holidays = 4 individual days
Summer Holidays = 16 individual days

*These amount of funded days are guidelines only, and County Councils can provide more or less on application.

The funding excludes Early Bird (8-9am) dropoff and Extended Fun (5-6pm) collection. If you wish for your child/children to stay later than the usual daily time (9am – 5pm) you will need to pay for this addition. Early Bird and Extended Fun are priced at £5 each.