What is ease INTO?
The easeINTO programme, nationally known as the Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme, is a government funded initiative designed to support children from low-income families.
The council commission a range of clubs and activities to be delivered during the holiday periods. Based on an application process along with quality assurance visits and feedback organisations receive grants to deliver these sessions.
While we don’t directly partner with individual providers, we do support them through funding and report attendance information back to the Department for Education. Each provider is responsible for running and managing their own holiday clubs, so any concerns about specific activities should be raised with them directly.
More than 7,000 children who are eligible for income based free school meals can access the wide range of activities, all of which include a meal.
There are different programmes for the Easter, Summer and Christmas holidays with activities such as trampolining, swimming, cooking classes and sport.
It’s the perfect opportunity for children to try new activities and find new hobbies and interests, as well as explore new flavours and foods with healthy meals and snacks; so parents can buy with confidence in future knowing the smaller members of the family are on board!
The activities will engage, entertain, and enrich young people’s lives during their time off school, encouraging them to develop a lasting interest in new sports and activities, and supporting a nutritionally balanced diet.
If you have any queries or questions on ‘ease INTO’, email easeinto@northtyneside.gov.uk