Information for families
The Department for Education (DfE) provides funding to local authorities to coordinate a programme that provides healthy food and enriching activities to school aged children:
- who are eligible for benefit related free school meals
- during the major school holidays (Easter, Christmas and summer).
Children will be able to access 4 sessions (4 hours per session) during:
- 1 week of the Easter and Christmas holidays
- 4 weeks of the summer holidays
In Slough, this programme is called the Holiday Activities and Food Programme, also known as the HAF Programme.
The sessions include a healthy meal, providing advice to families on how to source, prepare and cook nutritious food and a variety of exciting activities and sports.
It will be optional for eligible children to attend this provision. If not eligible, children can pay to attend and join in the fun.
Providers
Please be aware that the Expression of Interest for Easter is now closed.
We use an annual commissioning process and additional application rounds may open if required.
Key dates
| Programme | Dates | Days |
|---|---|---|
| Summer programme | 20 July to 28 August 2026 | 16 days, minimum 4 hours oer day |
| Winter programme | 17 to 31 December 2026 not including bank holidays | 4 days, minimum 4 hours per day |
If you would like to discuss this opportunity further or have any questions, please contact the HAF team by emailing HAFProviders@slough.gov.uk.
Additional support for families
The Household Support Fund (HSF) will be used to provide funding, per week per child, to households in receipt of Free School Meals during all school holidays from April 2025 to March 2026.
Early Years settings and schools pay this to families as:
- vouchers or
- direct payment to their account or
- some schools have signed up on the HUGG platform to make this payment as HUGG vouchers.
Please contact your childminder/setting/school if you think you are eligible.