HAF 2024-25 Local Authority Annual Report

Section 1 – Local Authority details

This report is about Southampton City Council.

Section 2 – Highlights

During the 2024–2025 period, we received £1,231,290 in funding to support our HAF programme. This funding was strategically allocated to cover staffing, activity resources and spaces and food provision, ensuring a high-quality experience for all participants.

We have just under 16,000 active users on our platform who have supported our programme over the year. Adding to the 5000+ sessions during school holidays. These sessions were designed to be both fun and enriching, with a strong focus on physical activity, creativity, and learning.

Among the highlights of our programme were:

• Water sports activities, which provided exciting opportunities for children to build confidence and teamwork skills.
• New STEM provisions, introducing hands-on science, technology, engineering, and maths experiences that sparked curiosity and innovation.
• Climbing and boxing camps, which promoted physical fitness, resilience, and discipline in a safe and supportive environment.

We partnered with over 45 different providers, including schools, community groups, charities and local service providers, to deliver these sessions and reach a broad range of families.

Key strategies and themes for 2024–2025 included:

• Inclusion and Accessibility: Establishing and expanding our reach to children with SEND and those from underserved communities.
• Food and Nutrition Education: Embedding high quality cooking and healthy eating into our sessions.
• Youth Voice: Actively involving young people in shaping the programme.
• Sustainability and Capacity Building: Supporting local organisations to continue delivering impactful work beyond the HAF programme.

Section 3 – Children and families feedback

View our social media @hafsouthampton.

Section 4 – Food

All of our provisions provided a hot meal where possible every day. On those occasions where this was not possible, an alternative cold option was provided. For our special events, we also partnered with local food banks who run pantry style shops for families to access and shop around with free credit. 

Section 5 – Enriching Activities

Throughout the 2024–2025 HAF programme, we delivered a diverse and engaging range of activities designed to support children’s development, wellbeing, and enjoyment during the school holidays. Our sessions were inclusive, enriching, and tailored to meet the needs of our local communities.

Our childcare clubs provided vital support for families, offering structured, safe environments where children could take part in a variety of fun and educational activities. These clubs helped children consolidate social skills, build routines, and develop independence in a nurturing setting.

Sports and Physical Activities

We ran a wide selection of sports sessions, including football, basketball, athletics, and team games. These activities promoted physical health, teamwork, and confidence, while also helping children refine coordination, communication, and leadership skills.

STEM Workshops

Our new STEM activities offered hands-on experiences in science, technology, engineering, and maths. Children explored coding, robotics, and experiments, developing problem-solving, critical thinking, and digital literacy—skills that are increasingly essential in today’s world.

Climbing and Boxing Camps

Climbing and boxing camps were a huge success, helping children build strength, resilience, and self-discipline. These sessions also encouraged goal-setting, perseverance, and self-regulation, supporting both physical and emotional development.

Water Sports Adventures

Children had the opportunity to try kayaking, paddleboarding, and other water-based activities. These sessions not only built confidence and teamwork but also introduced new physical skills and safety awareness in aquatic environments.

Outdoor Education

Our outdoor education sessions included forest school activities, nature trails, and environmental learning. These experiences deepened children’s understanding of the natural world while enhancing observational skills, curiosity, and a sense of responsibility for the environment.

Inner-City Farm Visits

Visits to a local inner-city farm gave children hands-on experiences with animals, gardening, and food growing. These sessions supported learning in biology, nutrition, and sustainability, while also fostering empathy, responsibility, and a connection to nature.

Creative and Cultural Enrichment

We offered a wide range of creative activities, including arts and crafts, drama, music, and cultural workshops. These sessions encouraged self-expression, imagination, and cultural awareness, while also developing fine motor skills and confidence in communication.

Overall, the programme provided a rich environment for children to consolidate existing skills and develop new ones across physical, cognitive, emotional, and social domains. The variety of activities ensured that every child had the opportunity to grow, explore, and thrive.

Section 6 – Physical Activities

Physical activity was a core component of our HAF programme, with the majority of our provisions incorporating movement and exercise into their daily delivery, whether through structured sports or more subtle, activity-based learning.

We offered a wide variety of physical activities to suit different interests, abilities, and age groups. These included:

• Traditional sports such as football, basketball, and athletics
• Climbing and boxing camps, which focused on strength, coordination, and discipline
• Water sports like kayaking and paddleboarding, which built confidence and teamwork
• Outdoor education, including nature trails and forest school activities
• Animal care and farm work at our inner-city farm, where children engaged in physically active tasks such as lifting, carrying, and feeding animals

This broad range ensured that physical activity was not only accessible but also enjoyable and meaningful for all participants.

Our focus was on engaging children in physical activity in ways that felt natural and enjoyable, rather than forced or overly structured. By embedding movement into both obvious and less conventional activities—like animal care or gardening—we were able to reach children who might not typically engage in traditional sports.

We also recognised the importance of physical activity for:

• Supporting mental and emotional wellbeing
• Building confidence and social skills
• Encouraging healthy habits that extend beyond the programme

To ensure our physical activities were inclusive and engaging:

• We offered a wide choice of activities to cater to different interests and abilities
• Sessions were adapted to be accessible for children with SEND
• We worked with experienced instructors who created supportive, non-competitive environments
• Activities were often disguised as fun or purposeful tasks, such as lifting hay bales or walking animals, making them more approachable for children who may be less confident in sports

One of the standout successes was the integration of physical activity into non-sport settings, such as the inner-city farm and outdoor education sessions. These experiences not only kept children active but also taught them valuable life skills and fostered a deeper connection with nature and animals.

Our climbing and boxing camps also received excellent feedback, with many children reporting increased confidence, focus, and a sense of achievement.

Section 7 – Nutritional Education and the promotion of healthy living/lifestyles

Nutrition education was a key element of our HAF programme, woven into both structured learning sessions and hands-on experiences. Our aim was to help children and families develop a better understanding of healthy eating, food choices, and budgeting in a way that was fun, practical, and culturally inclusive.

Children took part in a variety of science-based activities that explored nutrition in creative and engaging ways. For example:

• Skittle tests and other experiments using natural colours helped children understand food additives and the science behind what we eat.
• Worksheets and discussions supported learning around food groups, balanced diets, and the impact of nutrition on health and wellbeing.

These sessions were designed to be age-appropriate and interactive, helping children retain key messages through play and discovery.

Many of our clubs offered children the chance to:

• Cook their own lunches, learning basic food preparation skills and healthy cooking techniques.
• Try foods from around the world, broadening their palates and understanding of different cultures and cuisines.
• Take home recipe cards, encouraging them to recreate meals with their families and share what they’d learned.

This hands-on approach helped children build confidence in the kitchen and sparked conversations about food at home.

To extend the impact beyond the sessions:

• Families were provided with recipe cards and ingredient lists to support home cooking.
• We partnered with local food banks, allowing families to redeem credits for ingredients used in the programme, making healthy meals more accessible and affordable.

This approach not only supported food budgeting but also helped reduce stigma and build stronger community connections.

Feedback from families and staff suggests that:

• Children and parents now have a better understanding of nutrition, including how to make healthier food choices on a budget.
• Attitudes toward food have shifted, with many families reporting increased confidence in cooking and a greater willingness to try new foods.
• Children have shown more curiosity and awareness about what goes into their meals and how food affects their bodies.

Section 8 – Special Educational Needs & Disabilities (SEND)

We offered an in depth SEN provision. With providers being able to label themselves at the initial application stage as ‘sen friendly’. To be an SEN friendly provider, they must then meet requirements that we set such as attending training, using resources such as zones of regulation, PECS, calming corners, sensory toys and blankets etc. These settings are then able to support young people who have lower needs and may need a little navigating throughout the day.

We then have our Inclusive Hub model, which parents will complete our SEN self referral form, which is reviewed by our SEN specialists, if accepted, they can access an SEN specific provision which is tailored to meet the needs of more complex young people. The ratios are smaller, they have access to wider specialist resources and staffing and the times are adjusted to suit the needs and storyboards are provided before arrival to ensure every child the best chance of succeeding. The reason this is also called inclusive hub is because this takes place alongside a mainstream provision at the same location – allowing siblings to attend the appropriate setting but on the same location, which is the only setting in the city that provides this.

Section 9 – Key challenges

One of the key challenges we’ve faced has been the lack of a clearly defined future direction for the programme. This uncertainty has made it difficult to shape a long-term vision and has hindered our ability to plan for sustainability. Without a strategic roadmap, efforts to secure ongoing support, align stakeholder expectations, and build lasting impact have been significantly constrained.

Section 10 – Marketing and Communication

We send our flyers and leaflets out to the resident blocks and mailing, we directly target schools along with attending summer fayres etc to spread the word. We launch with information on our social medias and also email all 16k users on the platform. Lastly, providers also push their end.