Fun and Food

Our Fun and Food programme runs during the Easter, Summer and Christmas school holidays across the county. All sessions are free and include breakfast/lunch/tea and snack. Children taking part in the programme can enjoy a wide range of sessions including things like: sport, dance, art and crafts, outdoor adventures, fun with animals, circus skills, seaside trips and much more.

If your child gets benefits-related free school meals, then you will receive a Fun and Food Ticket through your school, with details of how to find out what's on in your area and how to book your child a place.

If you haven't had a ticket and think you should have had one, please Contact Fun and Food tickets.

Please note: All children from reception to year two get a free school meal through the Universal Infant Free School Meal scheme. The Fun and Food programme is aimed at children whose parents apply for free school meals based on their income and any benefits they receive. To find out more about benefit-related free school meals and if you could apply for them, visit Apply for free school meals.

Extra sessions for more children

We have also recently received £600,000 in extra funding from the government's household support fund and the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. We have given this out to local groups, so that they can open up their sessions to more children. This means that children who do not get a benefits-related free school meal, but do meet one of the criteria below, can now also attend sessions.

Children with a special educational need or disability
Children in care
Children who are home educated
Children with a Social Worker or Early Help Key Worker
Children at risk of anti-social behaviour
Children with poor school attendance and/or children excluded from school
Children affected by the cost-of-living crisis
Other reasons identified by applicant such as living in an isolated or extremely rural area

Please contact any local groups directly to see if they have extra places available, you can get information about lots of the local groups across the county by following Fun and Food County Durham on Facebook.

Annual report

View our Fun and Food Annual Report 2023/24 (PDF, 3 MB).

Standards for holiday provision

All of our activity providers are required to meet certain standards with the activities they provide. If you would like to learn more about these standards you can view the Standards for Holiday Provision (PDF, 178 KB).

If your child is attending a Fun and Food group and you have concerns about the standard of the activities, please Contact Fun and Food.