Item 11 - Summer Holiday 2025 Programme Evaluation
West Dunbartonshire Council · 17 September 2025
Back to Educational Services Committee — 17 September 2025 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
Page 1
WEST DUNBARTONSHIRE COUNCIL Report by Senior Education Officer – Services for Children and Young People Educational Services Committee: 17 September 2025 Subject: Summer Holiday 2025 Programme Evaluation 1. Purpose 1.1 The purpose of this report is to: a) Update members on the impact of plans to reduce holiday hunger and provide summer support to families across West Dunbartonshire Council (WDC) during Summer 2025. 2. Recommendations 2.1 The Educational Services Committee recommended to note: (a) Progress and impact of authority-wide plans by partners to reduce holiday hunger and (b) ways in which funding has been administered and governed. 3. Background 3.1 In 2023 Council agreed to extend the Holiday Hunger Fund to ensure the provision of meals and social activities for school children over holiday periods, throughout West Dunbartonshire. £100,000 per annum was committed to enable community partners to work together to address the challenges of holiday hunger and associated increased costs for families. This has proved successful, and uptake and partnership working has been effective in meeting the needs of our children and families over holidays. App.1 Holiday Programme Partner Funding Overview 3.2 At very late notice, Scottish Government committed a further £19,993 to support the needs of children with disabilities in accessing Summer activities. 4. Main Issues 4.1 One in four (240 000) of Scotland’s children are officially recognised as living in poverty. Sixty-eight percent of these children live in working households. Experiencing child poverty can undermine the health, wellbeing and educational attainment of children. ITEM 11
Page 2
https://www2.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Social- Welfare/IncomePoverty/povertytable 4.2 It is recognised that holiday periods add to the stress of poverty for families and result in less access to food and social activity for them than their peers. Foodbanks report increased demand during holiday periods. Resultantly, every WDC summer session planned offered free access to activities and lunch or snacks as an integral feature. 4.3 WDC implemented a two-pronged approach to planning the Summer Programme supported by the additional funding. One strand being a community-based model which was open to all children and young people for five weeks of the summer holidays, some of which were still operating until the last day of the summer break. This offer provided over 600 places. The other strand was targeted support with a range of partners to meet the needs of particular cohorts of children and young people with severe and complex needs, supported by familiar trained staff. 4.4 Partners delivered the following: Approximately 100 children per session were supported by Golden Friendship Club via 15 sessions across the summer. They helped tackle holiday hunger by providing over a dozen family focused sessions, each offering children fun and engaging activities with access to a hot roll and a healthy packed lunch on departure; As well as a variety of STEM and Virtual Reality activities, Bellsmyre Digital Club provided 192 lunches across their programme; Ben View treated children to a range of day trips such as cinema, Flip Out, Heads of Ayr as well as family favourite Blair Drummond; WDC Kinship Care built upon last year’s programme to support their 110 families culminating in an end of summer trip for all; Y-Sort-it supported Young Carers with a range of day trips including the ever- popular fishing trip as well as tackling the West Highland Way. Their programme was designed to support over 2000 places and reflect feedback from previous programmes. It recognised issues with oversubscription and the desire to “Provide families an opportunity to spend time together, taking part in activities in the evenings or at the weekend”; Scottish Families Affected by Alcohol and Drugs (SFAD) provided 1:1, groupwork and trips away for young people affected by family addiction; building on work that they undertook with some young people across the school session; West Dunbartonshire Foodshare provided 350 brunch bags with 5 days worth of breakfast, lunches, snacks and packed lunches across every week of the summer break supported by their combined SHINE and Cash for Kids funding. This resulted in 700 children being supported over the holiday period; Vale of Leven FC ran a football camp with 52 children attending and 260 meals served. Children engaged in football drills and games that promoted confidence, skill building and inclusion. Parents praised the friendly coaches, free meals, and safe environment;
Page 3
Tullochan successfully delivered a four-day activity programme consisting of eight structured sessions, engaging a total of 79 young people. Each day included both indoor and outdoor activities, along with the provision of breakfast and lunch to all. The young people took part in Outdoor Activities such as beach combing sessions with metal detectors in Levengrove Park, creative arts and craft sessions, bushcraft and fire-pit sessions and indoors activities such as team building games, watching films and playing board games. The programme received highly positive feedback from the young people. The Specialist Setting Summer Programme provided 383 day placements for 133 pupils from six of our specialist settings. This extensive support over the month of July ensured continuity of care and social opportunities for pupils with complex additional support needs; Pupils benefited from the consistent support of familiar staff members who have a deep understanding of their individual needs. This approach fostered a safe and trusting environment, allowing for meaningful engagement in all activities. We are currently evaluating the programme with staff to inform next steps; A range of activities were offered to meet diverse interests and developmental needs. These included sports via Active Schools, Bikeability sessions, creative arts with Clifftop Projects and creative dance sessions led by our partners at Indepen-dance; The program made excellent use of the facilities at Kilpatrick School, including the adventure playground, soft play area, and the newly created sensory garden. These resources, with some sessions supported by a local park ranger, provided unique and stimulating environments tailored to the pupils’ needs; In line with our holiday hunger initiative, the program provided 189 free lunches. This vital support helped ensure that our pupils had access to nutritious meals throughout the summer, addressing a critical need for many families. 4.5 Partner evaluations are due by the end of August 2025 however early feedback is noted below from a range of participants, partners, and parents: "This is the third time my 7-year-old has attended. He loved it every day. The coaches go out of their way to make all the children feel safe and welcome." "Free lunch with pizza and Tunnock's snowballs was a hit!" “Children formed new friendships, even among those who were unfamiliar with each other at the start of the week. Coaches reflected on a smooth, positive experience, thanks to their increasing experience in running the programme.” “This has been the best day ever!” “I wish the sessions weren’t finished.” “I am really grateful for the chance to have good, fun activities to go to with my
Page 4
children. With money being tighter this year, it has been really hard to budget for nice extras.” “I don’t know how I would have entertained my children all summer without these sessions. They would have eaten me out of house and home!” “I was worried about electricity costs if the boys were indoors all day this year. The club kept them happy and busy and the extra bonus was they were fed!” “The sessions ran as planned and were well received by the young people who took part in them. The range of activities ensured that the young people participating had an enjoyable time. We provided the young people breakfasts and lunches ensuring they were well nourished whilst attending the sessions.” 4.4 To ensure the appropriateness of spend and quality of projects, Officers will monitor value for spend, procedures in place, numbers attending and views of participants and providers via the forthcoming evaluations. Information gleaned will inform change and improvement as necessary in line with the funding available. 4.5 Evaluation at time of reporting, tell us the uptake of events averaged almost 70% across the period with all partners offering lunch or food. 4.6 At time of writing final costs are being clarified. It is anticipated the cost will be approximately £93, 000. There are additional plans for spend in the October or Easter school holiday periods. Final figures will be clearer when all summer invoicing is completed. 4.9 Next steps include planning for October and Easter school holidays in session 2025-2026. This will involve meeting a range of WDC and third sector partners to feedback and evaluate progress and learning so far and further coordinate offers and sessions. People Implications 5.1 There are no implications for people as a result of this report, however, these outcome focused plans aim to improve the life chances of children and young people 6 Financial and Procurement Implications 6.1 All activities related to the implementation of this policy are contained within the WDC Holiday Hunger Fund and Scottish Government Holiday Playschemes and Activities for Disabled Children 2025-26 guidance. 6.2 £61,730 has been spent on projects across the Council to support a range of 22 partners as well as a further £30,000 for the ASN programme held at Kilpatrick.
Page 5
7.1 Risk Analysis If the Council is unable to ensure positive outcomes for children, we will not be meeting their needs (Children and Young People Act 2014) (Equalities Act 2010). 7.2 If the Council is unable to ensure positive outcomes for all children and young people, it could result in reputational damage. 8 Equalities Impact Assessment (EIA) 8.1 This fund and governance enhance the quality of the service provided to all children and young people and therefore can be seen to have a positive impact in terms of the equalities. 9 Environmental Sustainability 9.1 There are no environmental implications as a result of this report. 10 Consultation 10.1 Legal Services and the Section 95 Officer have been consulted in relation to the content of this report. 11. Strategic Assessment This report reflects the Council’s aspiration to reduce inequalities for the people of West Dunbartonshire. Claire Cusick Senior Education Officer ___________________________________________________________________ Person to Contact: Claire Cusick– Senior Education Officer 16 Church Street, Dumbarton, G82 claire.cusick@west-dunbarton.gov.uk Appendices: Appendix 1 Holiday Programme Partner Funding Overview Background papers: Wards Affected: All wards None