THOUSANDS of children took part in holiday activities and a food programme in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole area during the summer.

Across the area during summer 3,189 children took part with 28,359 meals delivered over the six-week summer holiday.

The programme reached 39 per cent of the children eligible for free school meals out of 8,700 registered – up from 16per cent in the Easter break.

Of almost £1m allocated to the local scheme by the Government, a total of £619,338 was spent on the activities and food programme for the summer period leaving £312,035 remaining for Christmas.

Nine secondary schools, from more than 30 in the area, offered courses or activities during the summer – much of the work focusing on helping pupils making the transition into Year 7.

A council committee heard on Tuesday that the schools programme had been hampered by a shortage of staff able or willing to give up some of their holidays to help with the programme although some schools had hired external staff to help run their programmes.

Other work carried out included pre-holiday talks in local schools by a former County Lines gang member and work from a seasonal response team to reduce anti-social behaviour in key areas, including the Lower Gardens and Sandbanks.

Interim corporate director for children’s services Elaine Redding said the area was fortunate to have providers which had stepped in “time after time again” to deliver the services, although she said consideration might need to be given for other ways to deliver the schools programme in the future, given the pressure on teaching staff.