Healthy Holidays for thousands of children in Leeds

It’s been another exceptional summer of Healthy Holidays activities in Leeds! 48 projects ran through the school holidays, providing fun activities and nutritious food for almost 6,000 children. 

Since the programme began in 2018, Healthy Holidays has been supporting families in Leeds who might otherwise struggle to feed their children during the holidays by offering children a place to go, and making sure they get to eat nutritious meals. This kind of support has never been more needed, with the ongoing impact of the increased cost of living adding even more strain to families’ budgets. 

Currently delivered in partnership with Leeds City Council as part of the Department for Education’s Holiday Activities and Food programme, Healthy Holidays goes far beyond providing fun and food. Each project delivers at least one hour of physical activity per day and provides food and nutrition education so families can gain the skills and confidence to make affordable, healthy meals at home. 

This summer saw a huge range of activities take place across the city. From physical activities like swimming, horse riding, biking, yoga, roller disco and footgolf to growing fruits and vegetables, learning to cook, making fruity animations and food quizzes. 

Children were also able to learn new skills like bushcraft, music-making, radio production, filmmaking, Arabic calligraphy and making bug hotels and planters, and had the chance to go on trips to the cinema, local parks, the seaside, the Yorkshire Dales, Thackray Museum of Medicine and more. 

There was even a range of unusual activities on offer, including ‘Time Team’ digs, Viking camps, barn construction, canal boat voyages and duck paddle boarding! 

One organisation, The Zone, delivered a Healthy Holidays programme themed ‘Celebrate Every Day’. Each week had a different theme, including ‘challenge week’ with sports, team games and baking competitions and ‘expand your horizon week’ where children could take part in new activities and cultural experiences. They also held conversations about youth voice and representation to mark International Youth Day, which resulted in a new Youth Council being set up. 

Alongside these fantastic activities, local families could be assured that their children were also receiving nutritious food. The Zone said “A year 5 boy was at The Zone every day during the summer. He was on free school meals before breaking up from school. With the Healthy Holidays grant we were able to calm the mother’s anxiety and confirm we have secured funding and can provide food, drink and snacks throughout the summer as well as packs for the Christmas holidays. She said ‘I am so thankful for the support The Zone has been able to provide for me. When I was informed about the help they can provide it was such a relief. Thank you does not cut it.’” 

We’re so proud of the Healthy Holidays programme, and the incredible difference it makes for families across our city. Activities will run again over the Christmas holidays, and Community Organisations can apply for grants to deliver Healthy Holidays in 2024 when applications open on 16 October 2023. You can sign up to our email list if you’d like to be notified when the programme launches.