Richard Luscombe Plymouth City Council, Argyle Community Trust (ACT) and CATERed have teamed up to beat holiday hunger, isolation and inactivity that children could experience during the summer holidays.
Argyle Community Trust will be hosting a series of events over the 6 weeks where children are able to make new friends, get active and be fed a healthy lunch.
The Fit and Fed holiday programme provides meals and activities to children on free school meals in Plymouth during the summer holidays. This year it’s being funded by the Department for Education. There are over 45 holiday clubs offering a range of different activities, from street dance to science workshops and water sports to coding.
Jason Chapman, Deputy Community Manager at Argyle Community Trust, has been running the sessions at Manadon Sports Hub, Ford Primary School and Laira Green Primary School, which has seen children playing football, Frisbee, tag-rugby and dodgeball.
Jason said: “The school holidays can be a difficult time for children, whether you’re home or hanging around with your friends – a lot of the time children are spending time indoors and we wanted to encourage them to get out and play sports with their friends.
“For some families it can be difficult to afford to feed and entertain everyone throughout the holidays, which are supposed to be a fun time of year. Children can be isolated if there are no affordable activity programmes on offer or can be at risk of going hungry because there are no free school meals. All the children who came along really enjoyed themselves and made new friends while keeping active and eating well.”
CATERed, the award winning school meals provider, provided healthy and nutritious lunches for the children throughout the week.
“I’m so relieved about the pack lunches … I didn’t have one and was worried I wouldn’t get anything to eat.” – Freddie, 10.
Brad Pearce, Managing Director for CATERed said: “Providing extra meals during the school holidays can be a struggle for many families and there is evidence that the city’s food banks experience a peak during this time. We want to help families in a relaxed and fun way. Fit & Fed is a fantastic project that combines food and physical activity in neighbourhoods where this help goes a long way.”
Sophie 12, who took part in a Fit and Fed event last year said: “I’m an introvert and I don’t go outside a lot. I play a lot of video games and spend time on my phone. Coming to a session to play sport was really different for me but it’s been really good and I’ve enjoyed meeting new people and trying something new.
“It’s better than chatting to people online and has really boosted my confidence. Since I’ve been coming here I’ve started to really enjoy playing sport again, I feel fitter and want to play more often.”
Freddie 10, also took part in the session and said: “I’m so relieved about the pack lunches at the training session, I didn’t have one and was worried I wouldn’t get anything to eat but it’s free for me. The lunches are really tasty – had a wrap, lightly salted crisps, fruit, juice and a cookie!”
Jason Chapman added: “Fit & Fed is an excellent project and we feel proud to be working alongside Plymouth City Council and CATERed to help make this project possible and give young people a positive sporting experience during the school holidays.”
How to book
Look through the brochure and decide which clubs you would like to book. Each child can book up to four weeks for FREE.
You can attend the same club for four weeks or visit a different club each week, the choice is yours.
You can find clubs run by Argyle Community Trust under location numbers 11, 15 and 18 running all the way through August:
- Ford Primary School
- Laira Green Primary School
- Manadon Sports and Community Hub
For ages 5 – 14 years old.
There are limited spaces available so places will be given to those who apply first.
Our Fit and Fed holiday clubs are open to children living in Plymouth who are currently on free school meals.
Most of the holiday clubs can be booked via: www.plymouth.gov.uk/fitandfed/
