Fit for All gets 3000 disabled, vulnerable and disadvantaged Birmingham schoolchildren into inclusive sports, play, youth and arts activities each year.
It’s a cooperative project. More than 40 schools, local organisations and grassroots groups come together – as Childrens Quarter – to make Fit for All happen. They run activities; provide healthy meals for participants; fundraise and manage volunteers and paid staff. Many of our community providers are led by families of children who are disabled or have special needs. Fit for All works with parent/carer groups including Birmingham Parent Carer Forum.
It’s the largest such project in the UK. Each young person who joins takes part in six Fit for All sessions each year during main school holidays. That is nearly 20,000 sessions and 20,000 healthy meals provided to young people. Most have special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or are at risk. Most are eligible for Free School Meals. Most also join clubs and camps run by Childrens Quarter members at half-term, weekends and after school.
Birmingham City Council and Bring It On Brum (managed by Street Games) support the project with Holiday Activity and Food funding provided by government’s Department for Education. Our members raise matching funding and involve experienced volunteers alongside expert staff trained in working with disabled and vulnerable young people.
Since 2021, Fit for All has included 7750 children and young people -including those with complex needs – in school holiday activities that would not have happened without this support. The table sums up some key numbers:
| in 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | |
| young people | 1135 | 2600 | 2470 | 3000 |
| sessions | 5370 | 17900 | 16000 | 18000 |
| SEND proportion | 40% | 55% | 48% | 45% |
| Vulnerable | 20% | 21% | 29% | 34% |
| Free School Meals | 61% | 60% | 57% | 65% |
Notes: SEND proportion is the percentage of participants with an EHCP or receiving SEN support at school. The vulnerable proportion is those, in addition to SEND participants, who are vulnerable according to criteria set by the Children’s Commissioner for England. Free School Meals shows the proportion of participants who are eligible for Free School Meals. Fit for All also includes young people whose families have no recourse to public funds or who are home-educated and are therefore not able to claim school meals.
More can be done. Which is why we apply for other funding to enable more delivery – and why we want to spread the word about what has been achieved so far in Birmingham. In 2023, for example, we worked with an All Ages Autism Award provided by Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care Board to involve a further 350 autistic participants and siblings through a sister project – Fit for You.
Please get in touch if you would like more information about Fit for All.