During Summer 2021, 20 Children’s Quarter Member groups worked together to provide nearly 7000 places for disabled and vulnerable children and young people from low income families offering activities and healthy food at 21 locations in Birmingham and beyond. Community-led and parent-led groups; special and mainstream schools; children’s centres, charities, arts groups and women’s groups, all worked together to make 2500 hours (that’s more than 100 days) of inclusive provision and prepare more than 11000 healthy meals:
Fit for All
Fit for All is the name of the campaign to ensure that initiatives providing holiday clubs, activities and healthy food for children and young people during school holidays are accessible and welcoming for ALL children including disabled and vulnerable young people.
The Fit for All Summer 2021 programme was coordinated by Children’s Quarter (CQ) which is a cooperative of groups committed to social inclusion of disabled and vulnerable children and young people. The programme was delivered by 20 of CQ’s member groups. It was part-funded by the Government’s Holiday Activity and Food (HAF) fund which aims to make sure children who are eligible for free school meals get access to activities and healthy food during school holidays. Fit for All received this funding through Bring It On Brum – which is the initiative which uses the Government’s HAF money to make opportunities for activity and healthy eating for Birmingham schoolchildren who are eligible for free school meals.
Where, Who and What?
The Map below shows where the groups that delivered Fit for All were based and gives details of the number of sessions, hours delivered and healthy meals provided by each.
The CQ member groups that took part in Fit for All in Summer 21 were: Ackers Adventure; All Saints Youth Project; Autis Birmingham; Balsall Heath Cats; Creative Active Lives; Dame Ellen Pinsent School; Hamstead Hall Academy; Hamilton School; Merdien Adventure Playground Association; Norton Hall Children and Family Centre; Open Theatre; Parks for Play; Phab Camps; Resources for Autism; SEND Socials; Seven Up Charity; Shining Stars Association/Chinese Community Centre in Birmingham; Square Peg Activities; WE:are; and Wilson Stuart School.
Enrichment Activities and the Visiting Chef
As well as providing opportunities for physical activity, sports and play, Fit for All partners organised a wide range of ‘enrichment activities’. For example, with Fit for All, disabled and vulnerable children and young people were able to go camping (with Phab Camps); take part in drama (with Open Theatre); join adventure play (at Meriden Adventure Playground); and there were days out, picnics, adventures and special activities organised by all the partners throughout the Summer. Added to this, CQ member Creative Active Lives, played a special part in the programme by helping other Fit for All partners to deliver themed sessions with specialist practitioners.
Delivery partners were able to book Creative Active Lives workshops through Children’s Quarter. During Summer 2021, Creative Active Lives delivered 36 enrichment workshops including with Hamstead Hall Academy, Norton Hall Children and Family Centre, Square Peg, Autis, Seven Up, Balsall Heath CATS, All Saints Youth Project and WE:are. Activities included: movement and music; beading; working with clay; yoga; circus skills and hula-hooping. Enrichment activities provided by groups and by Creative Active Lives working with groups helped Fit for All to live up to its aim to make not just activities – but also adventure – available to disabled and vulnerable children and young people in Birmingham.
Fit for All partners were also able to book the services of the Children’s Quarter visiting chef to enliven food choices, recipes and get disabled and vulnerable children and young people involved in preparing food and deciding what to cook. Chef Domingas Sousa made visits to: Ackers Adventure; Dame Ellen Pinsent School; WE:are; Balsall Heath CATS; Norton Hall Children and Family Centre; Hamstead Hall Academy; All Saints Youth Project; Autis; and SEND Socials. As you can read in the case studies ‘Postcards from Last Summer…’ food plays a particularly important (and potentially tricky) part in organising Summer activities with disabled and vulnerable children whose food choices may be very limited. The Visiting Chef played a key part in the success of partners in serving up food that was both culturally acceptable to Birmingham’s diverse young people and which helped them widen their food choices.
Project Management
Children’s Quarter provided project management and coordination, including linking Fit for All with the wider Bring it On Brum initiative; specialist training; providing cover and supporting small groups in particular in delivery; additional fundraising support; management of enrichment activities and the visiting chef; reporting and evaluation. CQ ran planning and evaluation sessions for partner groups before and after the Summer programme. You can read the results of the evaluation sessions held in September 2021 using the ‘Working Out What Worked’ link below.
What Next?
If you haven’t already, have a closer look at the delivery map above – try clicking on the ‘sunshine’ location markers for information about what was delivered. The markers also give links to the groups and, in some cases, to case studies we have prepared. They tell you a bit more about what went on at some Fit for All locations.
You can skip to reading the case studies either by looking at the Postcards from Last Summer page or following these individual links: Balsall Heath CATS Hamstead Hall School Norton Hall Children and Family Centre Parks for Play Resources for Autism S.E.N.D Socials Birmingham Square Peg Activities Wilson Stuart School
Or have a look at the wider value added of Fit for All in Key Aspects of the Programme
Or find out more about the wider Bring it On Brum initiative.