FUN And Free Food At Invercyde’s Family HubsINVERCLYDE Council is running free Family Fun Hubs during the autumn school break (14 to 18 October).
On offer are games, crafts, books, fun and a light lunch for everyone who turns up. While the aim of the hubs is to encourage reading, play and family time during the school holidays, they also have the more serious purpose of addressing the problem of ‘holiday hunger’.
The hubs are aimed at nursery and primary age children and operate on a drop-in basis with a wide range of times, dates and venues available. Full details are on the council’s website.
They are based at: Aileymill Primary School, Blairmore Nursery School, King’s Oak Primary School, Lady Alice Primary School, Newark Primary School, Rainbow Family Centre and St John’s Primary School.
Councillor Jim Clocherty, convener of Inverclyde Council’s education and communities committee, said: “There is such a thing as a free lunch after all! Our Family Fun Hubs provide a wide range of activities for younger children while also helping them develop their reading and counting skills.
“Importantly the hubs also involve parents, carers and grandparents. There’s a lot of evidence that shows that reading to children, and getting involved in their learning, can make a major contribution to how well they do at school.
“From the start of this school year, Inverclyde Council began providing free school meals for all children in primary four as well as primary one, two and three. We also changed the rules on who was eligible for free school meals and help with cash for school uniforms so that an extra 230 families could claim these important benefits.
“These changes are a huge help for families during term time but sometimes children miss out on nutritious meals during the holidays. Our free Family Fun Hubs are an important part of our approach to dealing with that holiday hunger.”
