School Holiday Enrichment Programme (SHEP): interim report

In an Oral Statement on 4 June 2024, the Cabinet Secretary for Education announced that I, Julie Morgan MS had agreed to lead a review of the School Holiday Enrichment Programme (SHEP) (promoted to learners and families under the ‘Food and Fun’ brand identity) for the Welsh Government on how provision can be maximised during the summer holidays to ensure they are reaching those children and young people who need it most.

Following a period of evidence review and stakeholder engagement, this report sets out the interim findings and recommendations of that review.

SHEP is a Programme for Government commitment, that sets out to:

Continue our long-term programme of education reform, and ensure educational inequalities narrow and standards rise. We will build on our School Holiday Enrichment Programme.

It is a school-based scheme providing healthy meals, food and nutrition education, physical activity, and enrichment sessions to learners in areas of socio-economic disadvantage for a minimum of 12 days during the school summer holidays.

Initially piloted by Cardiff City Council in 2015, SHEP has expanded into a pan-Wales programme and is now managed by the Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) and promoted to learners and families under the ‘Food and Fun’ brand. 

Five intended outcomes for SHEP:

• Improved mental health and emotional wellbeing.
• School engagement and education attainment.
• Improved aspirations.
• Improved physical activity.
• Improved dietary behavior.

Participating schools must have a minimum of 16% of learners entitled to Free School Meals (eFSM) to be eligible. Local Authorities co-ordinate applications from schools who wish to operate a 'Food and Fun' scheme and submit to the WLGA in January to February each year.

With 2025 expected to be the 10th year of the programme, the review offered a timely opportunity to focus on building on the success we have seen over the previous nine year, enhancing what already works and considering how best to draw in a broader cohort of participants.

Specifically, it looked at how SHEP could be enhanced, including being offered to and taken up by the most disadvantaged and ‘hard to reach’ learners. Work included consideration of existing data on SHEP take up, evaluations and wider reviews. Depending on final decisions around the scope of the work, it may also require discussions with the WLGA, local authorities, schools, learners and parents. 

As set out in the initial review specification, this interim report is presented in Autumn 2024 with a view to inform and support delivery of SHEP/'Food and Fun' schemes in Summer 2025.

I oversaw and engaged in the following activities with the support of the Equity in Education team officials from Welsh Government:

• A short desk-based review of relevant policy documents, reports and evaluations.
• Visited seven schools running SHEP to speak with staff and pupils about their experiences of SHEP.
• Facilitated ten online discussion sessions with stakeholders from local authorities, WLGA and the educational workforce.

Schemes visited:

• Cadoxton Primary School, Barry Ysgol Gynradd Aberteifi, Cardigan
• Bryn y Deryn school, Cardiff
• Trinity Fields, Caerphilly
• Ysgol Panteg, Torfaen
• Greenhill School, Cardiff (carried out in capacity as Cardiff North MS)
• Coed Glas Schools, Cardiff (carried out in capacity as Cardiff North MS)

Meetings held with:

• WLGA Programme team
• Ynys Mon LA
• Denbighshire LA
• representative LA Coordinators
• representative Headteachers
• representative Dieticians from Local Health Boards
• representative Scheme Coordinators
• representative LA Catering Leads

The results from these public engagement activities have been collated into this short report. 

From considering the evidence review of current provision, meeting with stakeholders and visiting schemes, my main impression of SHEP is of a high-quality service with each scheme having its own individual characteristics, some operating for a long time and well established, with others in their infancy.

I was struck by the enthusiasm of staff, the high quality of the materials used, the effective planning of the day and the stimulating activities offered. It was pleasing to see the good links made with parents, who expressed how thrilled and grateful they were with the provision, further evidenced by good attendance at the family meals.

This positive engagement appeared to have beneficial effects in terms of the wider relationship between children, their families and school, and subsequently, term time attendance. I understand that following this summer’s provision, a case study was undertaken whereby Head Teachers were asked to compare September 2024 attendances with September 2023 for the same sample group of children. Information collected suggests that exposure to Food and Fun over the summer holidays positively impacts improved attendance for children when they returned to school in September. This is positive sign, and I would be interested to see further research and data around this important issue.

In speaking to stakeholders some challenges were shared around lack of staff to support schemes to run and late notice of building works in the school, preventing schemes from running. It was also apparent that a lot depended on the enthusiasm of the leader in schemes and was often the reason why a scheme had developed in a particular school.

A message that came across strongly, with regard to the provision of food element of the Programme, is that nearly all the staff involved regretted the loss of the Bag Bwyd. Some local schemes had found their own way to overcome this, but it was definitely seen as a loss.

Overall, through this review I have confidence that the Programme is so valuable that there should be a systematic way found to ensure that availability is extended in low take up areas, so to avoid a ‘postcode lottery’. 

I am conscious that even though the programme is growing, in 2024 only 305 of the nearly 1,500 schools in Wales participated in the Programme. We also need to ensure that there is maximum take-up of the places that do exist.

The recommendations below set out actions focused on ensuring provision can be maximised during the summer holidays to ensure they are reaching those children and young people who need it most, whilst also recognising the Welsh Government need to give further consideration to what wider provision is needed to support families over the holiday periods.

1. Continue to expand the programme to ensure greater equity and inclusion for all children, with enhanced targeting to engage:
   1. More disadvantaged learners, including those who are looked after, have additional learning needs or are asylum seekers.
   2. Local authorities with lower participation levels to ensure equity of provision throughout Wales.
   3. Secondary schools to support transition between primary and secondary.
   4. Special schools, recognising the value of this provision for learners and their families.
2. Welsh Government to work with the WLGA to raise awareness of the Programme in LAs and nationally to maximise participation, including engaging media outlets.
3. Local Authorities to ensure effective planning to maximise participation by:
   1. coordinating SHEP with other summer holiday provision, that is, Playworks in order to avoid duplication and ensure provision is spread across the school summer holiday period.
   2. identifying when necessary school building works are planned and re-timetabling or re-locating provision, that is, by using a hub school model.
4. Recognising wider financial considerations, move to a multi-year funding cycle to support a greater degree of certainty and longer term strategic planning including around staff recruitment and training.
5. Consider, commission or undertake further research to look at whether:
   1. 16% efsm remains a robust and appropriate threshold for participation.
   2. Transport is a barrier to participation, access and attendance.
6. WLGA to maximise attendance at schemes on all operating days by facilitating the sharing of best practice.
7. WLGA to encourage Schemes to develop an innovative approach to staffing, including using volunteers or third-party providers in addition to school-based staff to participate where appropriate.
8. Welsh Government to work with WLGA to:
   1. Build on the nutrition elements of the provision, while considering capacity, training and support for staff and dietitians in delivery.
   2. Consider re-establishing the Bag Bwyd provision.
9. WLGA to ensure all terms and conditions and any guidance documents are properly considered and suitably robust so LAs, scheme co-ordinators, delivery partners and their wider organisations are fully aware of stipulations ahead of provision, particularly with regard to use of facilities, nutrition and safeguarding.
10. Consider ways to better recognise the successes of the programme, including recognising the efforts of staff and volunteers who ensure delivery.
11. Acknowledging the benefits of the scheme, while recognising wider budgetary considerations, consider school holiday provision more holistically. (that is, what should WG do in this space going forward in the context of childcare, child poverty, holiday hunger for example).

I was delighted to be asked by the Cabinet Secretary for Education to lead this review of the School Holiday Enrichment Programme. Through speaking to stakeholders and visiting schemes I have seen first-hand how valuable the Programme is, how grateful families are for this provision, and how much children enjoy and learn from this experience.

The recommendations in this report are focused on ensuring provision can be maximised during the summer holidays to ensure they are reaching those children and young people who need it most, whilst also recognising the Welsh Government need to give further consideration to what wider provision is needed to support families over the holiday periods.

I invite the Cabinet Secretary for Education to consider the findings of this review and take forward the recommendations set out in this report.

Julie Morgan AS/MS
Member of the Senedd for Cardiff North