Food, Families, Futures project sees summer take-up rise to almost 4,000

14 August 2017

Almost 4,000 places were taken up by children, parents and guardians attending school and community clubs as part of Children in Scotland’s Food, Families, Futures (FFF) project during the summer holidays.

FFF was launched last year after schools told Children in Scotland that many families in their communities were facing difficulties during the holiday periods when free school meal entitlement ends.

Working with food distribution company Brakes through its Meals & More programme alongside local councils and partner organisations, FFF was established to ensure families can be together, prepare healthy food, eat a free lunch, and take part in fun activities using schools as community hubs over the summer holiday period.

This summer the clubs ran in 26 schools across Glasgow and West Dunbartonshire from Wednesday 28 June – Friday 11 August.

The number of places taken up represents a significant increase and expansion of the project. Successful FFF pilots ran last summer at Ibrox and Dalmarnock Primaries, when a total of 140 children registered to attend the clubs.

Councillor Chris Cunningham, Glasgow City Convener for Education, Skills & Early Years said: “Another success for this very important project and I want to congratulate and say thank you to everyone who has been involved again this year.

“Glasgow is very proud to be a partner and we will continue to do all that we can to help, support and align services to families across the city. I have enjoyed following all the tweets from schools and partners across the city – the activities have been wide-ranging and looked such fun for all involved.”

Children in Scotland’s Chief Executive Jackie Brock said: “We are delighted by the impact FFF has made over the summer. But we are also aware that the demand for places highlights the real problems many families continue to face – and the urgent need for support and outreach to be strengthened.
“Partners groups such as PEEK and the Jeely Piece Club supported the clubs in each local area and were fundamental to the project’s success.”

“I want to thank them, our partner Brakes, Glasgow City Council, and the participating schools, but most particularly the families who took part in FFF. We hope that the project made a difference to them over the summer.”

FFF ensured that parents can be directly involved in preparing and cooking healthy meals, supported by community chefs attached to the schools.

Pem Hulusi, Brakes’ Meals & More Programme Manager, said: “We're proud to support children's wellbeing with our Meals & More programme, even as we highlight the needs of those without free school meals in the holidays. In visiting the clubs this summer, it was fantastic to see the difference compared to last year with the increase in provision.

“Seeing the kitchens packed with chefs from the communities, serving delicious meals for families, was a real highlight. It is terrible that there are families in the UK suffering from food poverty, but they do – and we're proud to work with Children in Scotland to tackle this issue."

Academic evaluation of summer holiday clubs across the UK, including those run under the FFF banner, is currently being led by Professor Greta Defeyter, Director of Healthy Living at Northumbria University.

Professor Defeyter said: “Research from Northumbria University has shown that holiday clubs afford a number of benefits to families and children. For example, holiday clubs help to reduce social isolation, provide a structure for family engagement in physical and social activities, provide free, healthy food, and bring communities together.
“We know that many children suffer from educational learning loss across the summer and we are currently investigating whether holiday clubs help to attenuate this loss."

The number of places has been calculated by multiplying the number of children attending each setting on each day across all projects, from 28 June to 11 August. The figure is an estimate based on information supplied to Children in Scotland by schools who took part.

Media contact

Chris Small

csmall@childreninscotland.org.uk

Notes for Editors

Children in Scotland is the collective voice for children, young people and families in Scotland, and organisations and businesses that have a significant impact on children’s lives in Scotland. It is an influencing and membership organisation, comprised of representatives from the voluntary, public and private sectors.

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Project challenging food poverty expands to 26 schools across Glasgow and West Dunbartonshire

3 July 2017

From today, 26 schools in the west of Scotland will be taking part in Children in Scotland’s expanded Food, Families, Futures partnership.

In partnership with local groups and food distribution company Brakes’ Meals & More programme, Food, Families, Futures (FFF) aims to ensure that families finding themselves in need when term-time free school meals end can access meals and support.

Through the project children and families will enjoy meals and fun activities, with community chefs on site at four schools to prepare healthy fresh food.

Participating primaries include Dalmarnock, Ibrox, Highpark, Langfaulds and Miller, and a joint club for Oakwood and St Benedict’s pupils.

Also part of the FFF summer schedule are three Gorbals community projects, Bridging the Gap, Task Childcare and Gorbals Youth Café, which will be open to children and families from Blackfriars and St Francis primaries.

Summer 2017 sees the FFF programme increasing from two to 26 schools in a year. The project launched last July at Dalmarnock and Ibrox primaries in Glasgow. A total of 80 children registered to attend the club at Dalmarnock, while this year more than 100 per day are due to take part.

Councillor Chris Cunningham, Glasgow City Council’s City Convener for Education, Skills & Early Years, welcomed the expansion. He said: “This is such an excellent initiative – and very effective as the outcomes from last year proved.

“I'm delighted that the council is helping to fund the expansion this year and that many more of our families in need across the city will benefit.

"The beginning of the school holidays is a joy to so many but creates additional, unwanted pressure to people experiencing food poverty. This worthy project will help, in some small way, to reduce some of this stress for families across Glasgow."

Lorraine Booth, head teacher of Glasgow’s Miller Primary, whose project started on Wednesday 28 June, said: ”We’ve had a really positive response from our families and it’s been a great couple of days already. I know that the impact of the summer club will be amazing and our school is very grateful to be a part of the programme.”

The FFF programme will also run in West Dunbartonshire, with Vale of Leven Academy and Clydebank High Schools open from 3 – 14 July to welcome pupils from 19 local primaries.

Councillor Karen Conaghan, Convener of Educational Services at West Dunbartonshire, said: “We’re delighted to be working in partnership with Children in Scotland on this project which will provide really positive support to families and young people. This two-week programme will provide activities for young people and bring families together to prepare and enjoy healthy meals. It complements the summer holidays camps which we have organised in schools to support pupils from areas of higher deprivation.”

Children in Scotland Chief Executive Jackie Brock said: “We’re proud to be working with schools in Glasgow and West Dunbartonshire over the summer as part of this growing project. FFF demonstrates the fantastic assets our local communities possess, and how they can draw on their strengths to improve experiences for children and families over the summer holiday period – a time that we know can bring real difficulties.”

Growth of the FFF programme follows the successful pilots in Dalmarnock and Ibrox and ongoing academic evaluation of summer holiday clubs across the UK led by Professor Greta Defeyter of Northumbria University.

Early findings from Professor Defeyter’s evaluation, presented at a recent Children in Scotland conference, suggested that FFF increased reading gain amongst the children who took part.

FFF is supported by Brakes as part of the company’s UK-wide Meals & More programme. Pem Hulusi, Programme Manager for Meals & More, said:

“We are delighted to support Children in Scotland in the fight against holiday hunger. Now into our second year in Scotland, we have 122 clubs up and running across the UK to bring holiday provision to nearly 4,000 children. With an industry forum at the House of Commons this year and our number of clubs ever-growing, we'll continue to build the movement and fight against UK child poverty."

During the past year the FFF project has worked with two schools in Eastern Perthshire and Irvine in North Ayrshire – also areas experiencing significant levels of child poverty.

The FFF summer programme runs from today until 9 August.

Media contact:

Chris Small, Communications Manager, Children in Scotland

csmall@childreninscotland.org.uk

0751 998 2748

Notes for Editors

Children in Scotland is the collective voice for children, young people and families in Scotland, and organisations and businesses that have a significant impact on children’s lives in Scotland. It is an influencing and membership organisation, comprised of representatives from across the voluntary, public and private sectors.

Find out more about Food, Families, Futures here.

Read more about Brakes’ Meals & More programme here.

From today, 26 schools in the west of Scotland will be taking part in Children in Scotland’s expanded Food, Families, Futures partnership.

Through the project children and families will enjoy meals and fun activities, with community chefs on site at four schools to prepare healthy fresh food.

Participating primaries include Dalmarnock, Ibrox, Highpark, Langfaulds and Miller, and a joint club for Oakwood and St Benedict’s pupils.

Councillor Chris Cunningham, Glasgow City Council’s City Convener for Education, Skills & Early Years, welcomed the expansion. He said: “This is such an excellent initiative – and very effective as the outcomes from last year proved.

“I'm delighted that the council is helping to fund the expansion this year and that many more of our families in need across the city will benefit.

"The beginning of the school holidays is a joy to so many but creates additional, unwanted pressure to people experiencing food poverty. This worthy project will help, in some small way, to reduce some of this stress for families across Glasgow."

Lorraine Booth, head teacher of Glasgow’s Miller Primary, whose project started on Wednesday 28 June, said: ”We’ve had a really positive response from our families and it’s been a great couple of days already. I know that the impact of the summer club will be amazing and our school is very grateful to be a part of the programme.”

The FFF programme will also run in West Dunbartonshire, with Vale of Leven Academy and Clydebank High Schools open from 3 – 14 July to welcome pupils from 19 local primaries.

Councillor Karen Conaghan, Convener of Educational Services at West Dunbartonshire, said: “We’re delighted to be working in partnership with Children in Scotland on this project which will provide really positive support to families and young people. This two-week programme will provide activities for young people and bring families together to prepare and enjoy healthy meals. It complements the summer holidays camps which we have organised in schools to support pupils from areas of higher deprivation.”

Children in Scotland Chief Executive Jackie Brock said: “We’re proud to be working with schools in Glasgow and West Dunbartonshire over the summer as part of this growing project. FFF demonstrates the fantastic assets our local communities possess, and how they can draw on their strengths to improve experiences for children and families over the summer holiday period – a time that we know can bring real difficulties.”

Early findings from Professor Defeyter’s evaluation, presented at a recent Children in Scotland conference, suggested that FFF increased reading gain amongst the children who took part.

FFF is supported by Brakes as part of the company’s UK-wide Meals & More programme. Pem Hulusi, Programme Manager for Meals & More, said:

“We are delighted to support Children in Scotland in the fight against holiday hunger. Now into our second year in Scotland, we have 122 clubs up and running across the UK to bring holiday provision to nearly 4,000 children. With an industry forum at the House of Commons this year and our number of clubs ever-growing, we'll continue to build the movement and fight against UK child poverty."

During the past year the FFF project has worked with two schools in Eastern Perthshire and Irvine in North Ayrshire – also areas experiencing significant levels of child poverty.

The FFF summer programme runs from today until 9 August.

Media contact:

Chris Small, Communications Manager, Children in Scotland

csmall@childreninscotland.org.uk

0751 998 2748

Notes for Editors

Find out more about Food, Families, Futures here.

Read more about Brakes’ Meals & More programme here.

Membership

Becoming a Children in Scotland member means adding your voice to an ever-growing network

Become a member

After the vote, a chance for councillors to deliver on our election calls

Following the results of the local council elections, Children in Scotland has called on all new and returning councillors to put children, young people and families at the heart of all local decision-making.

Children in Scotland Head of Policy Amy Woodhouse said:

"We congratulate and look forward to building a strong relationship with all elected councillors following today’s results."

"We are delighted that the majority of priorities and actions we believe could improve the lives of children and young people locally were incorporated into the main parties’ manifestos and discussed on the campaign trail.

"We will be pushing at local level, with the backing of our membership and wider children's sector network, for our recommendations to be taken forward."

Prior to the election we made a series of recommendations for candidates in the council election to consider, including:

Ensuring all families receive the benefits and support they are entitled to
Supporting early years development
Prioritising early learning and childcare, and
Protecting services which facilitate good mental health amongst our young people.