We are delighted to bring you information about this year’s summer holiday activity offer for children and young people through Dumfries and Galloway Council’s Summer of Play funding scheme. Third Sector organisations and Council Services have been allocated funding to run fun and free activities and programmes the length and breadth of the region for the duration of the school holiday period. Activities and programmes are taking place in each of the 12 Ward areas across Dumfries and Galloway, and there is something for everyone.

The programme of activities will run from Tuesday 2nd July – Tuesday 20th August and are specifically aimed at children and young people aged 5-16 years old who sit within the priority groups that the fund is aimed at (lone parent families; families which include a disabled adult or child; larger families with 3 or more children; minority ethnic families; families with a child under 1 in the household; families where the mother is under 25 years of age).

There is a huge variety of activities on offer across the region such as summer camps, jewellery workshops, cooking workshops, issue-based group work opportunities, carriage driving, family fun days, workshops exploring local history and culture, day trips, performing arts sessions and more. An “Amazing Summer” membership lets young people access swimming,  skating and court hire for free, and young people aged 14 or above can also use the gym.

The extensive programmes and activities that are available throughout the duration of the school summer holidays aim to provide support to children and young people who may struggle to access experiences during holiday periods, giving them the opportunity to play, socialise and get to know organisations and support services local to them.

To view the Summer of Play 2024 offer, you can visit our website www.youthenquiryservice.org/whats-on where you can search activities by postcode or town, and/or key word such as “sports” or “arts and crafts”.

Free School Meals and School Clothing Grants – 2024–25 Academic Year

Assessments for Free School Meals and School Clothing Grants (FSM-SCG) begin this week.

We are assessing applications for FSM-SCG and parents/guardians whose household meets all of the following criteria should begin receiving their SCG payment for their child or children from Monday 10 June:

• You are in receipt of means tested Council Tax Reduction.
• You meet the eligibility criteria (available here).
• Your child was assessed as entitled to Free School Meals and School Clothing Grants for the 2023–24 academic year as of 3 June.
• Your child’s will be attending P1 through S5, but only where their date of birth is after 30 September 2008.

Please note, we cannot make payments of School Clothing Grants for children moving into S5 or S6 who are born before 1 October 2008 until their school has confirmed their attendance to us after the summer holidays.

If you meet the criteria, we will send you notification of the awards that have been made for your child/children. If you do not receive a notification or payment by 14 June, it is likely that you will have to reapply.

If you received Free School Meals-School Clothing Grant in the 2023–24 academic year and do not have an active claim for means-tested Council Tax Reduction, you will need to reapply.

Applying for FSM-SCGs is quick and easy and can be done in around five minutes online here: www.dumgal.gov.uk/schoolmeals.

If you have questions about an application, please email us with your full name, full address and the names and dates of birth for the child or children you are querying: EducationBenefits@dumgal.gov.uk.

HM Inspectors from Education Scotland will be visiting us to conduct an inspection during the week commencing Monday 3rd June.  You can find out more about inspection, from the Inspection and review documentation pages of Education Scotland’s website.

The parental survey is now closed: thank you for your support.

If you wish to meet with a member of the inspection team, please let Mrs Gamble know and we will liaise with the team for you.