FAQ

We welcome bids from community groups, schools, sports clubs etc. Any organisation with a registered bank account can apply. However groups must have all relevant policies in place. Staff working with young people where parents aren’t present must have gone through DBS clearance. These are listed on the application form.

Examples on what funding can be used for include but not exclusive to food costs, activity costs, essential activity equipment needed to deliver  I.e balls, frisbees, arts and craft materials, kitchen equipment, physical instructors, staff, volunteer expenses.

By 4x4x4, we mean provision which can offer a minimum of 4 hours a day, for 4 days a week and for 4 weeks of the holidays (we are aware that this may not be possible for all groups)

Physical Education and Wellbeing  –You should try and have upto at least 1 hr of physical  activity this can include gardening, walking, nerf wars, yoga etc as well as your traditional physical activity such as football.

Enrichment Activities – This can be anything ranging from arts, crafts, music, learning new things, cooking, Lego , science activities,  loose parts play,  story telling, activities will help develop fine and gross motor skills

Healthy meals – These must comply with the school food standard which can be found Here

Nutritional Education – This is not as complex as it sounds, it can range from tasting new foods, grouping foods into groups, planting and growing vegetables, understanding lables and cooking healthy meals. For further support see Public Health England’s Eat Well Guide Here

Family Cooking- Where possible we encourage groups to deliver or provide family cooking sessions, this will support parent on how to cook healthy meals on a budget.

The provision is to support children aged 5-16yrs (5-25yrs if they are SEND) who are eligible for Benefits Related Free School Meals.

The main focus of the programme is holiday Activity clubs however we will consider some online provision. Online provision would need to be made available via the Edsential Social Media Channels

Good quality nutritious food is essential to the provision of HAF. Ideally food should be in the form of a hot meal, however being nutritious is what’s most important, so as long as its nutritious then it’s fine to provide hot or cold food. The meal needs to be substantive so either lunch or an evening meal and this can be prepared by yourselves or you could use a local provider, maybe a local catering company or café. If you are preparing food yourself we would encourage you to link with a local Food Hub to source your food.

The DfE have stipulated as part of the condition of the funding that we need to collect data on the following: Name, date of birth, home postcode, school attending, gender and FSM status (this is self-declaration). Groups will also need to report on daily attendance and what they provided in regard to food and activities

There is no funding limit

If grants exceed £15,000 the funding will be paid in 2 instalments

There is no fixed price for match funding – often this may be volunteer/staff time, food already sourced, premises and venues etc

Applications are now open on our HAF webpage – Apply now

Cheshire West and Chester Co-ordinator – bev.irvine@edsential.co.uk  Tel: 07803 518 165 (General working days are Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday)

Wirral Co-ordinator – Adam Mellor, adam.mellor@edsential.co.uk  Tel: 07803 508 573 (working days Mon, Wed, Fri)

Halton Co-ordinator – chloe.appleton@edsential.co.uk  Tel: 07803 518 146

Central Co-ordinator – Heather Lewis, heather.lewis@edsential.co.uk  Tel: 07710 707 112

Organisations must have the following policies in place:

• Ofsted registered where relevant
• Safeguarding policy
• Health and Safety
• Equal opportunities this may sometimes come under your Equality and Diversity policy
• Media policy (if applying to deliver online resources)
• Public liability insurance

Edsential will collate all the provision in each local Authority and will be able to email all schools to promote to the relevant families. We would expect organisations to also promote locally.

Yes, parents and carers can be and are encouraged to be involved in any of the sessions so they can gain skills and knowledge surrounding health and nutrition.