Learning Partnership West – girl with hoop in park 
Childhood is a precious thing. Sadly over the last year our young people have missed out on the joy of birthday parties, fun with friends and a vast amount of education.
With schools shut due to Covid, between March–September 2020 children in England missed 575 million days of school. Many more days have been lost since, leading to calls for summer schools and holiday activities to help ‘Generation Covid’ catch up.
Fortunately at Easter some early spring fun was on the agenda. With the relaxation of government guidelines in March 2021, small groups of young people could benefit from play activities over the holidays. In Bristol some of our local good causes such as Learning Partnership West (LPW) were quick to respond. With little time to prepare LPW set up Easter holiday play sessions at PBA Sports and Social Club, Nibley Rd, Bristol.
One of our fund holders, The Bristol Port Company, jumped at the chance to help create some much-needed fun for local children.
We were really pleased to award LPW a £5,000 grant through The Bristol Port Company Fund held with Quartet Community Foundation. The money will support activities for children and young people in the Avonmouth area during Easter and summer holidays 2021.
Given the unprecedented challenges that millions of people have faced this past year, we are delighted to have been able to support this brilliant project which has benefited the health and wellbeing of children and young people in our local communities.
Archie Morrell, LPW Head of Service:
“Through a program of targeted promotion and outreach we were able to allocate spaces to our play sessions as well as provide lunches and food parcels to children and families local to the PBA Sports and Social Club.
“It was really great to be out working face-to-face providing positive activities for those who have, for a long time through the various lockdowns, been isolated and stuck indoors.
“During the easter break we ran four sessions at the PBA Club including the following activities; Forest School pencil making, hula hoop making, firelighting with marshmallows, circus skills and some free play. The children thoroughly enjoyed the activities asking “when will we be returning to do more of the same”.
“Our plans at present are to try and deliver some sessions in the run up to the summer break and, funding permitting, all throughout the summer too. It was a pleasure operating from the PBA Club, it’s a lovely space with loads of potential for it to become a long-term delivery venue for our team.”
The sessions ran in accordance with government and National Youth Agency guidance regarding social distancing and Covid security.
We’ve been supporting local charities with their Covid response since March 2020. As guidelines ease and more groups resume activities, we’re delighted to offer a range of grants to support the work of voluntary and community groups across the West of England.
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