Logistical Support for Bath Area Play Project
During the 2022 Summer Holidays, KES provided a school van, free of charge to Bath Area Play Project, to help the charity facilitate its free play sessions for families in the Bath & North-East Somerset area.
Aims
Bath Area Play Project required a van to help them transport play equipment to their free play sessions across the Bath & North-East Somerset area during the 2022 Summer Holidays.
Bath Area Play Project is a registered charity and local voluntary organisation. It promotes and facilitates opportunities for children and young people to play and participate in positive activities. The charity promotes the importance of self-directed play for child development and the rights of children.
Rather than pay to hire a van, thereby using up valuable funds, the organisation asked KES if the school would be happy to loan a van to the charity for the duration of the holidays. The School was happy to do this.
Having an additional vehicle enabled the charity to offer more activities and more choice at each of its sessions, as it was able to transport more equipment. Over 4,500 children attended the sessions over the summer.
Having use of the van also allowed BAPP to transport volunteers who were without transport.
Background
The partnership came about after the Director of BAPP reached out to schools asking for assistance. This is the first time the School has helped the charity and we hope to continue supporting the project in some way.
Resources
The main resource required in this partnership was a school van, which was provided to BAPP, free of charge for the duration of the play sessions over the 2022 Summer Holidays.
Impact
BAPP has confirmed that over 4,500 chilldren attended its play sessions over the summer, an average of 300 children per session.
The van was hugely beneficial in terms of logistics - transporting play equipment and volunteer staff.
The BAPP sessions are very popular with local families. Quotes from attending parents include:
“These play sessions have been a godsend. Seeing all your happy faces and making us feel so welcome. And the amount of things you have for the children is amazing – they can’t stop talking about what they have done and they are so tired out. Don’t know how you guys do this every day – thank you just isn’t enough.”
Caroline Haworth, Director of BAPP says: "Having another vehicle was invaluable and we would not have been able to offer as much choice and variety as we did as doubling our load capacity meant double the play! Use of the van was also a huge benefit to the logistics of our summer programme and made moving and organising equipment so much easier for the staff team. It also meant that for some staff and volunteers without transport, they could get to and from sessions with the driver helping team dynamics and morale."
Pupil Involvement
No KES pupils involved in this initiative.
Frequency
The BAPP play sessions took place throughout the 2022 Summer Holidays.