Other information
Liz Hunt Director of Education, Inclusion & Early Years has supported the HAF programme. She has visited HAF providers with local Councillors to showcase the activities, the food and support for families that is happening across the city. It's an opportunity for providers and children to share feedback on the benefits of the programme and new initiatives they have introduced.
The Family Early Years and Childcare Service is led by Fay Armstrong who joined Southend Council earlier this year. Fay oversees the HAF programme and will be actively involved going forward. The team support the HAF programme by carrying out monitoring visits and supporting providers to navigate the Ofsted registration process.
The HAF programme has brought professionals working with school aged pupils together: we have connected with the following teams and schools to refer pupils who are not eligible for free school meals but would benefit from a funded place. We used the discretionary 15% of the HAF grant funding to support families who were not eligible but would benefit from a meal and free place. They included Virtual Schools team, Early Help Team, School Attendance team, Local Offer, Specialist Teaching Service, Edge of Care, Public Health, Welcome to the UK, schools and HAF providers. We funded 221 unique pupils over the 3 delivery periods: 55 secondary pupils and 166 pupils in primary schools.
Following a period poverty consultation analysis from July 2024 to October 2024, HAF connected with colleagues in Public Health and Tackling Poverty team to support our eligible pupils in schools and in local youth clubs with period products. Here is a summary of the pilot:
- supplies of period products and vends were installed to 9 locations in Southend aiming to support premium pupils impacted by period poverty
- locations included Youth Clubs, Secondary Schools and local youth spaces. Invitations for inclusion in the pilot were based on the highest proportion of premium pupils at secondary schools, youth spaces with the highest footfall and youth clubs who had requested support. Invites sent via email
- products were purchased from Personal Hygiene Services Ltd (PHS), a reputable supplier used by the Department of Education for the national period product provision scheme for state schools and education institutions across the country. Quotes were obtained from alternative suppliers such as Hey Girls, although PHS offered the best price and quickest service for this pilot
- the period products ordered were selected as the most sustainable and environmentally conscious option provided. Every location was provided with Lil-Lets organic pads and Lil-Lets cardboard applicator super tampons (opting for applicator tampons for accessibility purposes)
- vends were installed on-site by PHS, or by maintenance teams at locations that opted to manage their own installations. Each site has been provided with period product supplies of varying quantities, estimates made depending on size of location (such as schools requiring higher numbers than youth clubs). Each location is responsible for monitoring and stocking the vend with the supplies provided