Aberdeen City Council’s Education Operational Delivery Committee has approved a £173,000 programme of play activities for children and young people during the forthcoming October school holidays.
The funds are a result of an underspend in this year’s Summer in the City programme, the success of which has led to the holiday programmes becoming permanent fixtures in the city’s calendar.
The committee also noted a report on the health and wellbeing of children and young people and the current level of support available via a multi-agency approach which has underpinned the holiday play programmes. The committee approved the establishment of a Health and Wellbeing summit with partners to help ensure a joined-up citywide approach to both mental health and physical wellbeing.
Committee Convener, Councillor Martin Greig, said: “I am delighted that we are able to build upon the huge successes of programme of Easter and Summer activities by planning for an autumn equivalent in October.
“We have seen the positive impacts these programmes have had on the health and wellbeing of participants and it is important that we continue to work with our partners in ensuring that our efforts maximise benefits to our children and young people. The summit will be an important part of that.
Vice convener, Councillor Jessica Mennie said: "The report highlights the tremendous boost to our young people’s health and wellbeing the Easter and Summer programmes have had and it’s fantastic that we can replicate this in October.
“We have already made a commitment to making Summer in the City and our Easter programme permanent parts of our holiday calendar and in keeping with our approach to these we will ensure we prioritise families most in need. “
The Summer in the City 2022 programme made 3,765 bookable opportunities available to all children and young people in the city as well as numerous drop-in activities in parks, museums, galleries and local communities. It is estimated that over 7,000 children benefited from these opportunities.
The programme for priority groups made a total of 6,636 bookable opportunities available with 1,197 of these being weeklong camps/childcare clubs, allowing parents to use the programme to support their childcare needs. Figures from the ACC booking system showed over 96% occupancy was achieved on weeklong, multi day and day long activities.
The programmes, delivered in partnership with organisations such as Sport Aberdeen and Aberdeen FC, and with the use of existing Council expertise and facilities, delivered a huge range of activities, completely free to users across the city from sports to science, arts and crafts to interaction with the city’s wildlife and green spaces.
The activities are based on a consultation undertaken by the Council with children, young people and their parents giving feedback on the fun activities they most wanted to enjoy.