Holiday activities on offer for children and young people in Warwickshire

Some holiday activities are going to be offered to children and young people in Warwickshire.

Warwickshire County Council is publishing a newsletter of summer activities over the summer holidays and additional schemes will be added during the summer.

Work has been ongoing on over recent weeks to bring partners together to see what provision could safely and reasonably be offered to schoolchildren over the summer across all areas of the county.

The provision is a mixture of outdoor and online activities ranging from sports and crafts, multi-play and music, with several schools providing their sites for the outdoor activities.

Schemes run by private providers as well as the district and borough councils are included.

The planning for the activities has followed government guidance and risk assessments have been undertaken to ensure that they will comply with the necessary social distancing and that the systems are in place should a participant develop symptoms.

Public Health colleagues have been involved to ensure that any programme of activity is in line with their guidance.

A passport for all year groups from Reception to Year 5 has also been created and will be available for children and their families to provide some structure to summertime activities.

This will give children an opportunity to tick off their involvement in a range of actions geared towards getting them outside, weather permitting, or carrying out an activity online that will have some educational value.

Cllr Colin Hayfield, portfolio holder for education and learning, said: “We have been concerned at the amount of time that many children have not been in a school setting and we are grateful to parents for how they have stepped in and taken over the supervision and some of the learning of their children during what would have been normal school days.

“A huge amount of work has been done by county council officers in line with our partners to bring together some kind of offer.

"It is, inevitably, considerably less than would otherwise have been the case with the limits on social distancing but there is now something that parents can look at and involve their child with to give then some structure, some contact with their peers and to help children make the transition back to schools in September.

“It has been an incredibly difficult period for our young people and their families, and I am grateful to all involved for the efforts they have put in to give something over the summer holiday period which will make a significant contribution to the wellbeing of our young people.”

To view activities and more information go to: https://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/schoolsandlearning or go to: https://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/fis