FAQS

Electively Educated children (and eligible for FSM) you will need to register with the Barnet Elective Education team (Barnet | Elective Home Education | England (ehebarnet.org.uk) and provide evidence of your benefits entitlement.  

• Income Support 
• income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance 
• Income-related Employment and Support Allowance 
• support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 
• The guaranteed element of Pension Credit 
• Child Tax Credit (provided you’re not also entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual gross income of no more than £16,190) 
• Working Tax Credit run-on - paid for 4 weeks after you stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit 
• Universal Credit - if you apply on or after 1 April 2018 your household income must be less than £7,400 a year (after tax and not including any benefits you get) 

For parents who have notified their child(ren)’s school that they are in receipt of income related benefits by which qualifies them for pupil premium will also be entitled to benefit-related Free School Meals will receive a 16-digit e-voucher via the school (holiday activities team).

Contact the Child & Family Early Help Programmes & traded Service and discuss the activity provision you can deliver. Once you have done so you will need to complete a provider application here: https://barnetyouth.uk/Barnet-Providers

You will be contacted and asked to collect your child.

If your young person attends our activity without the appropriate support they may not be allowed to stay to take part in the activity and if you have already left you will be contacted and asked to collect them.

We have a range of activities and courses within the following areas: Arts, Business & Careers, Educational, Media & Music, Outdoor Activities, Performing Arts, Skills for Life, Sports, Fitness & Wellbeing & Volunteering.

Positive Activities run throughout the entire year – during the term-time and during the school holidays.

At present, all positive activities are fully funded and there is no cost to the parent/ carer or young person.

At present, all of our term-time and Holiday Activities are completely FREE!!

All bookings need to be made online using our website booking system. If you are having difficulty in booking your activity, please call the contact centre on: 0208 359 3100 and they will help you.

No, for a number of reasons, including Health & Safety, Safeguarding and course capacity, you cannot just turn up to an activity and take part. If you arrive with a young person who is not booked in, you will be turned away. We do, however, have a DofE drop in session that runs every Thursday evening at Canada Villa Young People’s Cente 5pm – 8pm.

Child and Family Early Help works with 0-19 year olds and up to 25 years with Disabilities and / or Autism. Each activity or course on our website will show an age range. You can search for the appropriate courses through the ‘search’ button.

Positive Activities are fully inclusive (as well as all other delivery provided by the service), and we try to support all children and young people. It is important that we are informed of any additional needs your young person has, so we can support them in the best way possible and ensure they get the very best out of the activity or course they are taking part in. . There is an SEND Survey that you can complete for your young people providing details of their additional needs.

If your young person needs 1:1 support, unfortunately we (Barnet Council’s Child & Family Early Help Programmes Team) aren’t able to provide 1:1 or additional support for a young person to access any of our activities, courses or programmes. Your 1:1 support worker would need to be provided by you as a parent/carer or any professionals (Social Worker/ 0-19 Practitioner etc) involved with your young person. The worker providing 1:1 support would need to be DBS checked and meet all the requirements to support a young person with SEND (Special Educational Needs or Disabilities and or Autism). Also the worker can be arranged by contacting the Short Breaks Team or Disabled Children’s Team and using your Short Breaks allocation. If you don’t have knowledge about these two teams please know that you can contact them and find out if your child is eligible: -
Short Breaks: - https://www.barnet.gov.uk/children-and-families/children-and-young-people-disabilities/disabled-childrens-activities-short-0
0-25 Disability Service: - https://www.barnet.gov.uk/children-and-families/children-and-young-people-disabilities/0-25-disability-service

Staff are not able to administer any medication. If your young person requires medication during the activity, they must administer their own medication. All medical needs must be specified in your dashboard prior to attendance

Face-to-Face provision takes place at a number of venues throughout the London Borough of Barnet. On our website, each activity will display the address of the venue it is taking place at. If there are any changes to the venue, we will notify you via email. If you have trouble finding the venue address, please call 0208 359 3100 and ask for “the Barnet Youth Support Line”.

All resources and equipment required during the activity will be provided. However, if your young person has their own equipment they would like to bring in, they are more than welcome to. Please ensure your young person brings a bottle of water with them. Your young person is welcome to bring snacks with them, but please ensure you consider other people’s allergies and remember all of our activities are NUT-FREE ZONES. Food is not provided during Positive Activities. We recommend taking the unpredictable English weather into consideration with regards to your young person's clothing, as well as considering whether they will need sun cream, a sun hat, waterproofs, or warmer clothing - none of which will be provided by us. Please ensure all items brought to our activities are clearly labelled with your Young Person's name. Please ensure no valuable toys or belongings are brought with them.*

*Positive Activities and our partner providers cannot be held responsible for any loss or damage. Any personal equipment brought in is brought at your own risk and the service is not responsible for any loss or damage.

Unfortunately, if the young people are not within the activity or course age range, they will be unable to book the same activity. However, we do have a number of suitable activities for all ages. If your child would like to be grouped with friends, or family please can both parents/carers let the tutor know before the workshop..

There is a field on the registration form to specify the name and contact number of the people who can collect your young person. Only these people can collect the young person. If for some reason your young person needs to be picked up by someone else, you MUST inform the Positive Activities team

Our courses run from a number of venues throughout the London Borough of Barnet. Not all of the venues allow access to, or have on-site parking, or have a waiting area for you to wait for your young person Therefore, we advise you have noted the correct address of the venue and look-up suitable travel options and/or parking.

You should receive a booking confirmation email to the email address you provided when registering for an account. The email will also tell you the status of your booking, which will either be 'Accepted', 'Pending', 'Awaiting Approval' or 'Waiting List'.   If your child’s application has been successful you will receive an email confirming your child's place.

Certain activities we are offering have an automatic approval process once we receive an application and it is approved straight away, until the course capacity is reached. Once that happens, we will be offering a waiting list place. You will receive an email saying your application has been received and you are now on the waiting list.
Other courses have a very limited course capacity and not everyone that applies will get a place on them. Certain activities will need to be reviewed once all applications have been received before places can be allocated manually. In this case, you will receive an email saying your application has been received and is pending or awaiting approval.
Please wait until you receive an email confirming your application has been successful and your child has been accepted and received a place on an activity before planning to attend. If your young person can no longer attend the activity/course they are booked onto and the activity has already begun, you will have the option in your dashboard to 'drop out' of the activity. This is the same as cancelling. If you drop out of an activity via your dashboard, the status of your booking will change to 'dropped out'. When you cancel your booking through your dashboard, the status of your booking will change to 'cancelled'.

You can view and manage all of your bookings through your dashboard here: https://barnetyouth.uk/myspace_barnet_activities.aspx

You can cancel your booking through your dashboard here: https://barnetyouth.uk/myspace_barnet_activities.aspx

As our activities are currently FREE, this does not apply. However, we do not offer refunds on paid activities or courses unless there is a significant change of circumstances, which can be discussed with a member of the team.

If you know that your young person is going to miss a session, or if a significant amount of the course will be missed and we are informed with a number of weeks or days prior to the session, we will be able to release their space and offer the place to another young person. We understand that circumstances can change very quickly and sometimes a young person can no longer attend an activity for a number of reasons. Please make sure you update your profile and cancel your booking in advance.

If your child misses three consecutive sessions in a row or misses three separate sessions across a delivery period and we aren’t informed, or an appropriate reason isn't shared, we will have to remove your child from the activity. Also our 3 strike policy means if your child continues to not attend our activities, it could impact on your child accessing our activities in the future and your account may be locked

School holidays can be tough for children from disadvantaged families who struggle to afford the extra costs such as food and childcare. This means they are less likely to access organised out-of-school activities, more likely to experience ‘unhealthy holidays’ in terms of nutrition, physical health and more likely to experience social isolation.

Barnet. Active. Creative. Engaging. Holidays.

BACE is provisioned by Barnet Council with funding provided by the Department for Education as part of a nationwide programme for all Local Authorities to help combat holiday hunger.

Children and young people who attend school in the Borough of Barnet who receive Free School Meals.

At least one healthy meal a day, fun and enriching activities and daily physical activities. Organisations will also give some nutritional education to improve children's and young people's knowledge of healthy eating. Our Website, Pre-recorded videos and Booklet will also offer parents advice, cook-a-longs, sign posting on making nutritious low-cost food, emotional wellbeing and keeping active.

We want children and young people who attend BACE Holidays to: Eat more healthily over the school holidays Be more active during the school holidays Take part in engaging and enriching activities which support the development of resilience, character and wellbeing along with their wider educational attainment Be safe and not to be socially isolated Have a greater knowledge of health and nutrition Be more engaged with school and other local services.

The project is for children and young people in Reception up until Year 11. Activities and clubs are divided into different age groups. 

Following COVID19 guidance, group sizing will be followed by goverment guidance. If you wish to place your child in a bubble please email the team: BACEHolidays@barnet.gov.uk

Where possible a hot healthy nutritionally balanced lunch that follows Public Health Englands guidance. Some locations will have a packed lunch which will meet the requirements above. When booking your child / young person's place you will be asked for any dietary or allergies.

Each camp with vary depending on the programme you choose for child however many of the camps we offer will include all or some of the following: 

Focusing on Multisports, Arts and Crafts, Performing Arts, Nutritional Education, fun and games and supporting with serving lunch following and meeting the Holiday activities and food programme 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) guidance.

All activities will be face to face unless the Government guidlines or restrictions change. If your activity is online then you will be sent all the details via your dashboard.

Yes. All of our activities are inclusive for SEND children and young people with additional needs. It is important that we are informed of any additional needs your young person has, so we can support them in the best way possible. If your child or young person requires 1-to-1 support, this needs to be arranged by the parent/carer and the details provided to our team by email: BACEHolidays@barnet.gov.uk 

You can still apply for the Summer round of BACE Holidays, please contact us at BACEHolidays@barnet.gov.uk to let us know if you are struggling to secure a venue.

You can still apply for the Summer round of BACE Holidays, please contact us at BACEHolidays@barnet.gov.uk to let us know that you will need support with the food provision, which we can sort inhouse.

For the Summer programme, providers are able to apply for the following:

• Spot Buy Places – We can buy places in existing schemes/clubs and also for new places in new schemes/clubs targeting areas which have high levels of Free School Meals (FSM) children.
• Full scope delivery – For Summer holiday events, short activities, innovative projects and initiatives lasting a minimum of 4 hours per day or more; targeting areas which have high levels of FSM children.
• Part delivery – For a particular element of the project. i.e.: Preparation and Delivery of the Food (x1 healthy meal per child, per day) or delivery of a particular activity.

If you are a holiday activity/scheme or club and would like to be involved in delivering this programme or would like to partner with us, please email us at BACEHolidays@barnet.gov.uk 

We are seeking to fund a diverse range of projects and enrichment activities which are attractive and engaging for all ages and abilities of school children and include nutritious food. Activities can be open to all children with priority given to those receiving benefits-related free school meals. Children who are not in receipt of benefits-related free school meals can pay to attend if there are sufficient spaces. Spaces for children who are in receipt of benefits-related free school meals will be made available at no cost to the family.

School holidays can be particular pressure points for some families because of increased costs (such as food and childcare) and reduced incomes. For some children that can lead to a holiday experience gap, with children from disadvantaged families:

• less likely to access organised out-of-school activities
• more likely to experience ‘unhealthy holidays’ in terms of nutrition and physical health
• more likely to experience social isolation

Free holiday clubs are a response to this issue and evidence suggests that they can have a positive impact on children and young people and that they work best when they:

• provide consistent and easily accessible enrichment activities
• cover more than just breakfast or lunch
• involve children (and parents) in food preparation

Full programme requirements

The aim of the programme is to make free places available to children eligible for free school meals for the equivalent of at least 4 hours a day, 4 days a week, 6 weeks a year. The HAF programme needs to cover 4 weeks in the summer and a week’s worth of provision in each of the Easter and Christmas holidays. We are not looking for one provider to cover all of this provision and understand it is likely to be a collective effort. It is also envisaged that we will be able to target more FSM families, age ranges and areas as well as diversify the content, if we divide the provision between various organisations.

One of the main requirements is to provide food and activities around food, if you are unable to facilitate this, we may have options to partner you with other organisations. We welcome applications from joint organisations, and we will look to partner organisations if we feel your applications could be stronger together and/or if in order to satisfy the HAF criteria, you need to collaborate with another organisation.

Organisations can therefore apply just to deliver the enrichment element of the programme, or the food element – but decisions on funding will therefore need to take into account of appropriate linking across different projects to ensure that there can be a coordinated approach to delivery for those children and families involved.

Organisations can also apply for only one or all of the holidays, for instance, schools may be interested in educational activities for just the Easter and other organisations may be set up for outdoor activities in Easter for the pilot areas and summer in other areas, and one group may like to focus on a Christmas 2021 project. You can also apply for different age ranges - the HAF provision needs to cater for all school aged children and activities need to be age appropriate. We are open to all suggestions and proposed plans that meet the HAF aims and objectives.

We are interested in proposals from providers who can deliver:

1. Enriching activities: clubs must provide fun and enriching activities that provide children with opportunities to develop new skills or knowledge, to consolidate existing skills and knowledge, or to try out new experiences. This could include physical activities such as football, table tennis, cricket; creative activities such as putting on a play, junk modelling, drumming workshops; or experiences such as a nature walk, visiting a city farm etc.

1. Food: clubs must provide at least one meal a day (breakfast, lunch or tea) and all food provided at the club (including snacks) must meet school food standards. The expectation is that the majority of food served by providers will be hot, however, we acknowledge that there will be occasions when this is not possible and that a cold alternative should be used. All food provided as part of the programme must comply with regulations on food preparation and take into account allergies and dietary requirements and preferences as well as any religious or cultural requirements for food.
2. Physical activities: clubs must provide activities which meet the Physical Activity Guidelines on a daily basis.
3. Nutritional education: clubs must include an element of nutritional education each day aimed at improving the knowledge and awareness of healthy eating for children. These do not need to be formal learning activities and could for example include activities such as getting children involved in food preparation and cooking, growing fruit and vegetables, and taste tests.
4. Food education for families and carers: clubs must include at least weekly training and advice sessions for parents, carers or other family members which provide advice on how to source, prepare and cook nutritious and low-cost food.
5. Signposting and referrals: clubs must be able to provide information, signposting or referrals to other services and support that would benefit the children who attend their provision and their families. This could include sessions, information provided by:
• Citizen’s Advice
• School Nurses, dentists or other healthcare practitioners
• Children’s Services and other local authority services
• Housing Support Officers
• Jobcentre Plus
• Organisations providing financial education

Policies and procedures

Clubs must be able to demonstrate and explain their safeguarding arrangements and have relevant and appropriate policies and procedures in place in relation to: 

i. Safeguarding
ii. Health and Safety
iii. Insurance
iv. Accessibility and inclusiveness, including addressing equality and diversity
v. Where appropriate, clubs must also be compliant with the Ofsted requirements for working with children

What we delivered over the Easter holidays

During the Easter holidays we worked with community organisations and holiday activity providers to deliver an exciting and varied programme of events. Due to Covid most of the provision was online. We were able to deliver some activities in person for the most vulnerable young people. This included:

• Variety of online zoom sessions, which children joined at home.

• Musical Theatre
• Martial Arts
• Yoga
• Arts and Crafts
• Cook-a-longs
• Empowerment Talks
• Emotions and Understanding workshops
• Planet Junko creations
• Fitness
• Dance

• These activities were complimented with an activity pack which children and young people received all the resources and equipment they needed to take part in the online sessions.

We also delivered the following:

• Outdoor sports such as football
• Activities specifically for children with SEND, Yoga, Street Dance, playing board games
• Provided meals for eligible children
• Provided 1500 activity bags to children & young people
• Advice on nutritional food via videos, live tutorials and sessions
• Signposting parents to support networks
• Created a BACE Holidays booklet with advice, guidance, fun activities and nutritional facts.

We received great feedback from children, young people, parents and carers and also from providers who delivered or took part BACE Holidays, for example: 

“My son attended skateboard senior sessions in Easter break. And he had thoroughly enjoyed it. He is interested to join in weekly skateboard sessions.”

“My daughter joined the zoom classes. I'm delighted by her yoga classes, dancing class, healthy eat and arts & crafts. It has given kids knowledge and met the activities aim. My daughter is really enjoying learning from the different activities. It has given her mind development from small age to learn yoga. It quite impressive. It is helping children a lot and they are enjoying it. I'm happy with teachers and everyone involved in helping the kids programme. Thank you for making it the very best. For children this kind activity gives them a learning ability platform. They not staying on the iPad or watching tv or playing game.”

What we want to deliver this summer

We are pleased to announce plans to deliver a 4-week Programme this summer, offering 16 hours of free enriched activity each week and a healthy nutritional meal. 

We have secured a number of venues across the venue to deliver a variety of activities inside and outside. These are mostly schools. The aim is to provide activities for young people for 4 hours a day, which would include the nutritious meal.

This fund is open to the voluntary and community sector, schools and private providers who can meet the objectives of the programme. We are seeking to engage with a wide network of community-based organisations, including existing holiday care providers, schools, freelancers, sports coaches, creative and performing arts providers, nutrition and much more. A Healthy meal each day must also be provided, with a minimum of four hours of activity provision, for at least four days a week.

You will need to demonstrate an ability to deliver the following aims of the project:

• To eat more healthily over the school holiday
• To be more active during the school holiday
• To take part in engaging and enriching activities which support the development to support the development of resilience, character and wellbeing along with their wider education attainment
• To be safe
• To have a greater knowledge of health nutrition and
• To be more engaged with school and other local services

We need to provide the equivalent of at least 4 hours a day, 4 days a week, 6 weeks a year. The HAF programme needs to cover 4 weeks in the Summer and a week’s worth of provision in each of the Easter and Christmas holidays.

• 1 week at Easter
• 4 weeks in the summer
• 1 week at Christmas

Children and young people from 5-16 years old in the London borough of Barnet, who receive benefit-related Free School Meals will be eligible to take part in the activities.

Barnet Active Creative Engaging (BACE) holidays are part of a national drive from the Department of Education (DFE). We know children and young people have been severely affected by the covid-19 lockdown and this has affected many families financially as well as the developmentally of children. The Holiday Activities programme is a chance to support families who are on reduced incomes that face increased costs with childcare and food pressure points during the school holiday period to keep children and young people engaged in the holidays, provide vulnerable children with nutritional meals and supporting them to be educationally stimulated so they are not left behind in the holidays and can catch up with the negative effects of lockdown.

The DfE is providing funding to every local authority to coordinate a programme that provides healthy food and enriching activities to children and young people who are in receipt of benefit-related free school meals during the 2021 Easter, Summer and Christmas Holidays. Barnet Council is receiving up to £1.1 million from the DfE to support children who receive benefits related free school meals for the period 1 April to 31 December 2021. Barnet Council and Young Barnet Foundation are delivering this project in partnership working with local providers and venues.

For more information on the Holiday Activities and Food programme nationally, please see here and read about guidance on protective measures for out of school settings during the coronavirus pandemic here