A summer of fun planned with Reconnect Kent

Children and young people can look forward to lots of fantastic activities and opportunities this summer - from learning new skills such as dance, football and radio broadcasting, to fun days out, local festivals and holiday camps – thanks to Kent’s network of voluntary and community organisations.

Twenty organisations successfully bid for grant funding from Kent County Council to provide additional activities, support and opportunities to help children and young people reconnect to their pre-pandemic lives.

A total of £900,000 of county grants will go to organisations as part of KCC’s Reconnect: Kent’s Children and Young People programme, with organisations delivering projects across the county.

Examples of just some of the exciting activities that will be available to children and young people this summer include:

• The chance for students at 12 primary schools to learn how to make simple audio programmes and set up school radio stations as part of a project run by Academy FM Folkestone.
• Activities and events for children who are siblings of life limited and life-threatened children, so that they can meet up and form friendships with other children who understand their circumstances – provided by Demelza Hospice Care for Children.
• A Pride event and other activities for children and young people in the LGBT+ community, provided by Porchlight.
• Two new holiday clubs for young people aged 18-24 years old with severe and complex needs to enable them socialise and make friends, have fun and try different activities, provided by We Are Beams and Nova Children’s Project.
• Education lessons “in a box” that bring school subjects to life while promoting local attractions in Kent – for example, understanding physics through the ropes and pulleys used in the county’s dockyards and bringing history to life through Kent’s amazing castles.

Sue Chandler, Cabinet Member for Integrated Children’s Services, said: “It’s great to award funding to Kent’s voluntary and community sector so that they can provide even more exciting and worthwhile opportunities for children and young people this year. We’re very grateful for their enthusiastic support of Reconnect and their original ideas that will give children and young people the chance to make some great memories this summer.

“We enlisted the help of students at Astor Secondary School in Dover to score each bid and they provided great insight into the types of activities children and young people want to see available.”

Reconnect has already awarded £1.6 million through its locality grants scheme to small local organisations to deliver activities for children and young people. The final round of locality grants closed on 1 February and award decisions will be made in March.