Adaptations to Holiday Club Food Provision to Alleviate Food Insecurity During the Covid-19 Pandemic

Holiday clubs play a pivotal role in providing food and vital enrichment opportunities to alleviate food insecurity among children during the school holidays (holiday hunger). The need for these opportunities increased substantially for families throughout 2020, as food insecurity quadrupled in the UK during the Covid-19 pandemic. In this qualitative study, holiday club staff from England and Wales reflected on the adaptations they implemented in order to maintain food supplies and food-related enrichment activities for families during the first UK national Covid-19 lockdown and subsequently throughout the summer of 2020. Staff also reflected on the opportunities and challenges related to implementing these adaptations during this period. Twenty-five holiday club staff engaged in video-based interviews during August and September 2020. The findings revealed a range of innovative changes to holiday club food provision, and the challenges and opportunities faced varied across holiday clubs. Challenges during the pandemic in some clubs included staff shortages (typically due to furloughing and/or increased working demands) and difficulties sourcing adequate funding. However, staff identified that the opportunities for holiday clubs included enhanced partnership working during the pandemic, increased engagement with digital technology to communicate with families and deliver their online cooking sessions, and their ability to continue providing food and much needed creative opportunities for children unable to attend school and/or the holiday club. The ability of clubs to adapt their models of working when faced with adversity was essential in protecting their organisational resilience and delivering their vital services. The findings emphasise the important role that holiday clubs play in their communities and highlight their willingness to adapt and expand their role in response to the pandemic to continue to tackle food insecurity and provide vital food and food-related enrichment opportunities to families. The findings also identify lessons that can be applied to practise in the future

Evaluation Report Holiday Activities and Food Programme 2022 - Northamptonshire

Children and young people from disadvantaged backgrounds are more likely to be isolated and experience ‘unhealthy holidays’ during the school holiday period because of the increased financial strain on families through this period. Across the two unitary authorities of Northamptonshire (North and West) there is an estimated 87,000 and 101,000 children and young people aged 0-19 years, respectively. In North Northamptonshire, 13.4% (7,491 pupils) of all pupils are eligible and taking Free School Meals (FSM), while in West Northamptonshire, 11.1% (7,397 pupils) of all pupils are eligible and taking FSM, which is below the 16.2% average for 59 local authorities, nationally, but in absolute terms equates to an extra 1,503 and 1,409 more pupils than the national average, respectively1. There is a learning and development gap between children and young people that are eligible and are not eligible for FSM, with 57% of Key Stage 1 pupils eligible for FSM achieving a good level of development compared to 74% of pupils not eligible for FSM, in 2019. Despite FSM offering some financial relief to families during term-time, its absence during school holidays can leave children and young people at risk of experiencing further inequalities. The Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme was created to reduce this ‘holiday experience gap’ by providing free holiday clubs, which aim to reduce food insecurities and provide vital learning and development opportunities for FSM eligible children and young people. In 2021, Northamptonshire Sport co-ordinated the first year of local HAF programme provision. The University of Northampton evaluated the Summer 2021 local programme to identify the barriers and facilitators to programme delivery and the outcomes on children and their families. The current report evaluates Northamptonshire’s Summer 2022 HAF programme, whilst drawing comparisons with the 2021 programme’s delivery and the recommendations provided by the 2021 evaluation to understand how they were acted upon. The current evaluation utilised a mixed-methods approach to investigate the facilitators and barriers to delivery and the outcomes on children and families by aligning the evaluation’s objectives with the Government’s HAF programme theory of change. Data were collected from co-ordinators, providers, school staff, and parents/carers using a combination of online surveys and focus groups. Northamptonshire Sport’s contract extension to co-ordinate the HAF programme provided a longer lead-in time, which overcame many of the issues experienced in Summer 2021. There was a greater offer of healthy food and nutrition education to children by holiday club providers in comparison to Summer 2021, with providers utilising the online nutrition education resources that Northamptonshire Sport commissioned in response to recommendations from the Summer 2021 evaluation. Areas for further investigation include the enhancement of school engagement with the HAF programme, understanding non-attendance and methods to reduce non-attendance at holiday clubs, improving provider’s communication with parents so they are more aware of and play a more active role in the HAF programme, ensuring holiday club providers are suitably staffed to support children with special educational needs, and signposting families to wider support networks and groups that they can engage with outside of the HAF programme provision. Notably, communication is a central theme to these recommendations. In North Northamptonshire, 24% of eligible children and young people attended the HAF Programme. In West Northamptonshire, 30% of eligible children and young people attended the HAF Programme. Countywide this represents 27% of eligible children attending the HAF programme. A near doubling of uptake from the Summer 2021 HAF programme (15.2%). Within the Summer 2022 evaluation, it was evident that Northamptonshire Sport made a concerted effort with the longer lead-in time to act on recommendations to improve the quality and consistency of holiday club provision across Northamptonshire, which subsequently led to greater engagement with the programme. The HAF programme clearly supports vulnerable families and funding for the programme should continue in the future

Navigating uncertain illness trajectories for young children with serious infectious illness: a modified grounded theory study.

Background Infectious illness is the biggest cause of death in children due to a physical illness, particularly in children under five years. If mortality is to be reduced for this group of children, it is important to understand factors affecting their pathways to hospital. The aim of this study was to retrospectively identify organisational and environmental factors, and individual child, family, and professional factors affecting timing of admission to hospital for children under five years of age with a serious infectious illness (SII). Methods An explanatory modified grounded theory design was used in collaboration with parents. Two stages of data collection were conducted: Stage 1, interviews with 22 parents whose child had recently been hospitalised with a SII and 14 health professionals (HPs) involved in their pre-admission trajectories; Stage 2, focus groups with 18 parents and 16 HPs with past experience of SII in young children. Constant comparative analysis generated the explanatory theory

Barnet Resilience Schools Programme: Wave 2 Evaluation Report

The Resilient Schools programme was designed and implemented with the aim of educating students, parents and staff about mental health to recognise mental ill health among themselves as well as other, as well as support developing coping strategies and understandings about where to seek mental health support when needed. The University of Northampton was funded by Barnet Public Health to undertake an independent evaluation of the Resilient Schools programme in order to understand the effectiveness of the programme and to draw out key lessons learnt in order to support ongoing development and improvement.The programme evaluation consisted of pre and post-programme quantitative survey data collection in conjunction with qualitative focus group data collection. The survey data concentrated on changes occurring over the course of the programme in the following outcomes for students, staff and parents: mental health, wellbeing, resilience and digital resilience. Digital resilience is the ability of young people to develop a critical mind-set when accessing digital information to reduce their vulnerability to potentially harmful information (DoE, 2019). Information on the internet and social media platforms can often be presented in a very persuasive, yet misleading, manner. The qualitative data concentrated on student, staff and parent perceptions of the programme, what they felt was good about the programme and improvements and changes they believed could be made in the future.A total of sixteen (16) schools engaged in the evaluation activity; five (5) of these schools were involved in wave 1 (September 2017-July 2018) and 2 (September 2018-July 2019) of the programme, and eleven (11) schools were involved in wave 2 only. Within these schools, seven (7) were primary schools (with children aged 4-11 years), six (6) were secondary schools (with children aged 11-18 years), one (1) pupil referral unit (11 - 16) and one (1) was a special educational needs secondary school (mixed age groups). One (1) of these schools did not take part in any evaluation data collection, therefore a total of fifteen (15) schools engaged in evaluation activity. <br/

Barnet Resilience Schools Programme: Wave 2 Evaluation Report

The Resilient Schools programme was designed and implemented with the aim of educating students, parents and staff about mental health to recognise mental ill health among themselves as well as other, as well as support developing coping strategies and understandings about where to seek mental health support when needed. The University of Northampton was funded by Barnet Public Health to undertake an independent evaluation of the Resilient Schools programme in order to understand the effectiveness of the programme and to draw out key lessons learnt in order to support ongoing development and improvement.The programme evaluation consisted of pre and post-programme quantitative survey data collection in conjunction with qualitative focus group data collection. The survey data concentrated on changes occurring over the course of the programme in the following outcomes for students, staff and parents: mental health, wellbeing, resilience and digital resilience. Digital resilience is the ability of young people to develop a critical mind-set when accessing digital information to reduce their vulnerability to potentially harmful information (DoE, 2019). Information on the internet and social media platforms can often be presented in a very persuasive, yet misleading, manner. The qualitative data concentrated on student, staff and parent perceptions of the programme, what they felt was good about the programme and improvements and changes they believed could be made in the future.A total of sixteen (16) schools engaged in the evaluation activity; five (5) of these schools were involved in wave 1 (September 2017-July 2018) and 2 (September 2018-July 2019) of the programme, and eleven (11) schools were involved in wave 2 only. Within these schools, seven (7) were primary schools (with children aged 4-11 years), six (6) were secondary schools (with children aged 11-18 years), one (1) pupil referral unit (11 - 16) and one (1) was a special educational needs secondary school (mixed age groups). One (1) of these schools did not take part in any evaluation data collection, therefore a total of fifteen (15) schools engaged in evaluation activity. <br/

Evaluating the impact on Adolescents’ mental health and wellbeing: a United Kingdom inner city resilience schools programme

Background: This paper explores the impact on the adolescents involved in an independent second phase evaluation of a resilient schools’ programme undertaken during 2019 in inner city London borough within the United Kingdom. It was designed and implemented with the aim of educating adolescents about mental health using the following hypothesis. Hypothesis: How effective is the resilient schools’ programme in assisting adolescents develop resilience? Methods and Methodology: A total of twelve (12) schools engaged in the second phase evaluation, using a mixed method design. Quantitative surveys, a qualitative focus group and mental health awareness courses were utilised in this evaluation. Results: The quantitative analysis established that with age, social media connectedness scores increased as did the adolescents’ scores on three mental health and well-being subscales. The mental health workshops reported significant improvements in mental health knowledge and understanding. Personal confidence and an increased ability to support both themselves and others was also reported. The peer-led workshops assisted the adolescents in being significantly more likely to consider mental health a normal part of their everyday life. The qualitative analysis generated three themes: understanding and knowledge of resilience, improved mental health and resilience and engagement in strategies for support. The adolescents interviewed unanimously believed they had benefitted from resilience training, supporting the hypothesis. Discussion/Conclusion: The programme and its interventions may be beneficial in supporting the prevention of mental health issues among adolescents with good levels of wellbeing and resilience, and beneficial in providing targeted intervention among those reporting low mental health and wellbeing

Staff perspectives on the feeding practices used in holiday clubs to promote healthy eating in disadvantaged communities

An increasing number of holiday clubs provide free meals to alleviate children's hunger during the school holidays. Holiday clubs are well-placed to promote healthy eating among children from disadvantaged communities who may be at risk of experiencing food insecurity, but currently little is known about the feeding practices used by staff and whether these are conducive to maximising opportunities to promote healthy eating. Unlike previous research which has predominantly studied feeding practices in parent-child dyads and childcare settings, this qualitative study explored staff perspectives on the feeding practices they use to promote healthy eating within nine UK holiday clubs working with children from disadvantaged communities. Nine individual interviews and four focus groups were completed with 27 holiday club staff during the 2019 summer holidays. Thematic analysis revealed seven feeding practice themes, including teaching about nutrition; encouraging balance and variety; modelling; involvement; non-food rewards; restriction; and reoffering foods. The results revealed that some staff implement various positive feeding practices which align with the existing evidence-base of feeding practices in other contexts, which is a promising finding given the current lack of information and guidance from which to draw on. However, staff also sometimes reported using maladaptive feeding practices, including overt restriction and punishment. These results emphasise the need for guidance on effective ways to implement feeding practices with children in holiday clubs. Indeed, staff demonstrated their receptivity to engaging with training resources to maximise their opportunities to promote healthy eating behaviours among children