Hundreds of children across Devon aged 5 to 16, who are eligible for benefit-related free school meals, begin an action-packed Easter holiday this week, as part of Devon County Council's government-funded Holiday Activities and Food programme.
The programme is to provide free activities and healthy meals during school holidays, and the council has joined up with activity providers to arrange the activities across Devon.
And with a very wide range of activities on offer, organisers say that that young people are in for a treat this Easter.
Exeter Living Award winners Boo To A Goose Theatre, start a tour of Devon libraries this Easter with their latest show: Shipwreck Sam - Return to Dead Ghost Island.
Expect pirates, puppetry, sea shanties and hornpipes as the audience are trained up as the ship’s crew. Bonny Betty, named after her grandma’s ship, takes on terrible naughty pirate, Big Bill Bucketbelly, in a race to recover her grandma’s buried treasure (with the children’s help of course).
This interactive adventure, full of of fun and participation, will be coming to a library or venue near you between...
Straight off the beach from protecting swimmers at Bondi, Trent Maxwell (better known as Lifeguard Maxi from hit TV show Bondi Rescue) will be visiting Bovey Tracey to educate our children about water safety ahead of summer.
Royal Lifesaving Society UK Honorary Vice President Ian Hutchings and his wife Sue are delighted and excited to host Lifeguard Maxi at their Bovey Tracey lifesaving club on Monday April 11th at Finlake Holiday Park in South Devon.
Open to children aged 8-14, there are two sessions available: 10am-1pm and 2pm-5pm.
All children aged five and over are eligible to have the COVID-19 vaccination from 5 April.
Bookings can be made online or by calling 119 from 2 April. The vaccination is not being given to this age group in school. Walk-in and pop-up clinics are advertised on NHS England’s site finder here , but please check that the clinic is offering vaccinations to this age group.
Having the COVID-19 vaccine reduces the likelihood of further disruption to their education, developing Long Covid and passing the infection onto vulnerable family members and friends.
The South West will receive £2,236,741 to help more children learn to cycle with Bikeability.
The funding is part of a record £20 million investment for the Bikeability Trust from the Department of Transport. It will be used to deliver cycle training for children and families.
Bikeability has trained more than 3.6 million children since 2007. This funding has the potential to deliver half a million training places for children and their families across the UK, supporting even more people to introduce active travel into their everyday lives. The funding will ensure even...
More than two thirds (69%) of adults in the South West believe it is now unacceptable for parents or carers to physically punish their child, the NSPCC can reveal.
Nationally, a YouGov poll of almost 3,000 over 18s, of which 364 respondents were in the South West, commissioned by the charity, showed 68% of respondents think physically disciplining a child, for example by smacking, is not acceptable.
On the day (March 21) the “reasonable chastisement” defence is abolished in Wales almost two thirds (64%) of the people who expressed an opinion said it is time to change the...
Tesco customers buying fruit or vegetables in Devon will be helping to support children living in food insecurity.
From 21 March until Sunday 3 April, Tesco will give a donation when customers top up their trollies with healthy fruit and vegetables in store or at Tesco.com during the supermarket’s Buy One to Help a Child event.
The cash donated by Tesco from sales of all types of fruit and vegetables will enable its food redistribution charity partner FareShare to help thousands of children’s charities who rely on regular donations to help families and young people in...
LGBT+ people across the South West are being urged to explore adoption as a potential parenting route as a part of a national campaign launching today (7 March).
With over 80,000 children in care in 2021 in England alone, LGBT+ Adoption & Fostering Week brings together local adoption agencies and potential new LGBT+ adoptive families. The campaign is led by LGBT+ focused agency New Family Social, with support from local adoption charity Families for Children. #BeTheChange – the theme for 2022 – asks LGBT+ people to think about the range of vulnerable children they could...
A major new study will show how widening inequalities in education and employment caused by the COVID-19 pandemic will impact children’s life prospects.
Experts hope their work – which includes a comparison of the life chances for today’s young people with those who started jobs during the 2008 recession - will help UK governments and policymakers to develop long term recovery plans to improve outcomes for all children.
The study, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, is led by Professor Lee Elliot Major, from the University of Exeter and Professor Stephen Machin and Andrew...
