Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) Programme

Newcastle’s Best Holiday Ever is a programme funded by the Department for Education for children who are eligible for benefits-related free school meals or in need. It is designed for families in Newcastle during the Easter, Summer and Christmas school holiday's to help children, young people and their parents have fulfilling, active, fun-filled and healthy experiences.

Part of the Holiday Activities and Food Programmes, Newcastle’s Best Holiday Ever has been running since 2019. We are really excited to continue to bring it to you and your family! Check out What's on by using the postcode search bar to find your locality or the buttons below...

5 to 10 Years

We believe school holidays are better when there’s a great choice of things to do to keep children and young people active. This includes having fun, being entertained and learning new things. That kind of break can help recharge the batteries, give parents a bit less to worry about and get kids ready to go back to school again.

We’ve got indoor and outdoor games, cookery skills, arts and crafts, sports, fitness and dance, health and wellbeing, quizzes, park activities, nature trails and more. We will update the activity programme before each applicable holiday period (Easter, Summer, Winter). If you are struggling to book, please contact the provider directly.

We love Newcastle and want to help our communities make the most of what’s on their doorstep by exploring our fantastic city during the holidays. We love to see how you spent your holidays, so follow us on Facebook: Newcastle City Council, Instagram: @NewcastleCouncil, Twitter: @NewcastleCC share your #HAF2026 #NewcastlesBestHolidayEver holidays with us!

Supporting additional children

The core purpose of the programme is to support disadvantaged children and young people from low-income families who are eligible for benefits-related free school meals.

The local authority has the discretion to use up to 15% of its HAF funding to offer free or subsidised places to school‑age children who are not eligible for free school meals, but who may still benefit from the programme.

This may include, for example:

children with special educational needs and/or disabilities who are not eligible for free school meals
children with an EHC plan (education, health and care)
children assessed by the local authority as being in need, at risk or vulnerable
young carers
looked-after children, previously looked after children and unaccompanied asylum-seeking children
children and families living in temporary accommodation
children who have low attendance rates at school or who are at risk of exclusion

This list is not exhaustive; we will commission providers to run holiday clubs for targeted groups.