Essex ActivAte

Essex ActivAte is the name for the Holiday Activity and Food (#HAF2025) programme across Essex, run by Active Essex, Essex County Council and Thurrock Council, on behalf of the Department for Education. Additional funding is provided by Essex County Council to extend the offer to low income working families who also require support during the school holidays. This programme takes place during the Easter, Summer and Winter holidays. Where possible, Essex County Council and Basildon Borough Council provide additional support families during the smaller half terms as well.

The programme aims to support the physical and mental wellbeing of primary and secondary school children, through engagement in a wide variety of enrichment and physical activities, and provision of a nutritious, school standard meal.

Working with a network of trusted local delivery partners, Active Essex run these FREE face to face clubs during the school holidays for children and young people who are eligible for benefits based free school meals, as well as those from low income working families who would benefit from this extra support. We are also able to extend this support to children and young people who may be vulnerable to inactivity or social isolation, on a case by case basis, please speak to the club provider to discuss if this is an option.

Each Essex ActivAte club will deliver a variety of fun physical and enrichment activities, fun food education and a nutritious meal. Alongside this you can access family support and fun activities to keep children active and entertained at home. Check out our Family Support page below to get started!

For more information on our programmes, click here.

A couple of weeks before each half term and holiday programme, we will post on our Facebook and Twitter pages when clubs are available to view,  so make sure you’re following our social media!

Easter, Summer and Winter – Main Holidays

If your child/ren is on benefit based free school meals (BBFSM), you will receive a voucher from your school with your unique booking code. You will receive one code, per child, per main holiday. You must book your child/ren onto a club, using the booking link on your voucher, and not on this website. 

For further support on booking your child/ren onto a club using your code, click here.

If your child/ren are not on benefit based free school meals and you feel that they would benefit from attending one of our clubs, click here.

If your child cannot attend a club after they have booked on, please inform the club as soon as possible. Without doing so, you will lose your credits and stop someone else accessing a valuable space.

Take a look at our list of clubs delivering during the main holidays, including specialist SEND, mental wellbeing and secondary clubs.

June, October, February – Smaller Half Terms

To book your child/ren onto one of our clubs for half term, you will not receive a voucher from your school, and will need to book through our booking system, which will be live on our homepage ahead of the programme. You will need to select your area, find what clubs are available and book your child on. Depending on the club, you may need to book through our website, or contact them directly. For further information on smaller half term programmes, click here.

To find out if your child/ren are eligible for our programmes, click here.