Ten-year milestone for ‘Food and Fun’ summer holiday scheme

This year is extra special as it marks the ten-year anniversary since the programme first launched with the aim of promoting healthy living, supporting learner wellbeing and improving engagement with families and schools during the school summer holidays.

What started as a pilot by Cardiff Council has expanded into the national ‘Food and Fun’ School Holiday Enrichment Programme, delivered in schools across Wales coordinated by the Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) and fully funded by Welsh Government.

This summer the schemes will again run across all 22 local authorities in around 230 schools, with over 14,000 places available each day.

Over £5.8m in funding has been provided by the Welsh Government for this year’s programme, which includes an extra £1m, with each scheme providing at least twelve days of support to children and families in their community.

In the last ten years over 800,000 ‘Food and Fun’ places have been provided, for children to benefit from a free healthy breakfast and lunch, with nutrition learning and a variety of activities delivered from a wide range of national partners such as Welsh National Sporting Governing Bodies, Cadw and Literature Wales. Enriching activities include cookery classes, den building, sports, music and much more. 

Schools that run ‘Food and Fun’ invite families to sign up during the summer term for the scheme.

A weekly family meal is also held by each scheme to bring together families during the summer holidays.

To celebrate the milestone the Cabinet Secretary for Education, Lynne Neagle visited the scheme taking place at Pantside Primary School.

During the event she took part in a cooking session, which saw the children making fruit kebabs, this was followed by a game of cricket and finally a nutritious lunch.

Cabinet Secretary for Education, Lynne Neagle said: “The ‘Food and Fun’ School Holiday Enrichment Programme has helped tens of thousands of families over the last decade. Providing free nutritious meals and enriching activities across the country. I am very proud to mark this special anniversary by visiting the very successful and popular Pantside Primary Food and Fun scheme.

“The summer holidays can be a challenging time for families and ‘Food and Fun’ highlights the important role that schools play in supporting children, their families and the local community.

“At the heart of this scheme is the dedicated local authority and education workforce, who have formed fantastic partnerships with a variety of organization to deliver a diverse range of activities for young people to enjoy.”