Over the summer holidays, Oxygen Activeplay is building on their successful delivery of funded physical activity and healthy hot meals during the Easter holidays, by quadrupling the offered capacity to 6000 children across 11 of its parks in 12 different Local Authorities as part of the Holiday and Food Programme.
The group operates 13 indoor activity parks under the Oxygen Activeplay, RedKangaroo and Boost brands, as well as 5 owned Ninja Warrior UK venues.
Thanks to the programme, Oxygen Activeplay’s venues provide families, who are usually eligible for free school meals, with four hours of physical and enrichment activities, a nutritious hot meal, as well as signposting to additional local services.
Since the Easter school holidays, Oxygen Activeplay has secured additional government funding, allowing the group to offer quadruple the number of places, increasing from 1500 to 6000 and to support more families when it’s most needed.
Included in the increased capacity are targeted programmes for both teenagers and SEND children within multiple local authorities, ensuring an inclusive and engaging experience. During the Easter break, Oxygen Activeplay provided 300 SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disability) funded spaces across five sites, which have now increased to 1,060 across eight venues for Summer.
The broadening and increase of their funded provisions under the HAF programme is propelling Oxygen in their mission to energise the mind, body and soul of every kid on the planet and is acting as a welcome necessity for families in need of extra financial support, as childcare costs have increased by 5% since last year and are now expected to average £1,145 for the six-week break1.
In addition to supporting eligible families financially, the HAF programme and its operators, such as Oxygen Activeplay, make safe physical activity and healthy meals more accessible, which is particularly important as the Department for Education has recently disclosed that less than half of young people get the 60 minutes of activity a day they need. Their research also revealed that girls, those with SEND and those from disadvantaged backgrounds are the most impacted2.
Furthermore, UNICEF has published research that shows levels of obesity in reception-aged children in the most deprived areas are more than double those of children in the most affluent areas (12.9%, compared to 6%)3.
During each of the four hour-long sessions at either an Oxygen Activeplay, RedKangaroo, or Boost, children will get the chance to explore a unique activity mix of interconnected trampolines alongside a wide range of activities, including mega airbags, inflatable zones, trapeze swings, parkour areas, dodgeball courts, and more.
Meanwhile, Oxygen Activeplay’s five owned Ninja Warrior UK parks, located in Bristol, Leeds, Liverpool, Teesside and Walsall, offer an action-packed experience for ninjas of all ages with high-octane obstacle courses and giant inflatable runs. The parks also feature iconic challenges such as the famous Warped Wall, flying squirrel, and spider wall.
Stephen Wilson, Chief Executive Officer of Oxygen Activeplay, said: “We know how important the Holidays and Food Programme and the services we offer within that are to families across the country, so we are so proud to be able to quadruple our capacity over the summer holidays.
Our mission to support our local communities was aligned to recent findings from the Department of Education and UNICEF UK about the greater challenges that families in more deprived areas face. Being a part of the HAF programme allows us to give back to our local communities and to provide a fun experience for families who might not otherwise be able to access it.
The six-week break can be one of the hardest times of the year for parents, which comes with additional and different challenges for families of children with special education needs or disabilities, which is why we were and still are determined to increase our provisions for these families. We know our work is far from done and we are actively looking into increasing all of our provisions including SEND for future programmes.
To make the rollout of the HAF Programme across Oxygen Activeplay’s venues and their five Ninja Warrior UK sites possible, the teams have collaborated with the relevant local authorities and Active Partnerships.
