Holiday care in Bad Wildungen is well received

Summer holidays! No homework for six weeks and not having to go to school - what could be better? The girls and boys, some of whom have already been meeting for a fortnight at the holiday care centre at Breiten Hagen in Bad Wildungen, would have a clear answer to this question. It is much nicer for them to get together with their peers at school, do handicrafts together, go on excursions and even rehearse a little play. Attending school is not an obligation for the primary school pupils, but a joyful privilege... even during the much anticipated summer holidays.

District Administrator Dr Reinhard Kubat was able to see for himself during a visit to the holiday care programme at the Breiter Hagen primary school how much fun the children have with their two caregivers Anja Blüchel and Andrea Daude while attending school in what is actually free time. From the first day of the holiday on 19 July until the end of the third week of the holiday on 6 August, a colourful programme is on offer for them from 7:30 am to 3:30 pm. Whether it's volcano building or a fashion show, making a drum with real fur or Wing-Tsun with an expert from the Bad Wildung studio of the same name, excursions by bus to the wildlife park at Lake Edersee or on foot to the Helenenquelle spring - there's no chance of boredom at the holiday care centre. The girls and boys even built rafts that could be driven and successfully launched them in the Helenental valley.

"Holiday care is a mandatory part of the Pact for the Afternoon, in which 16 of our 38 primary schools in the district now participate," said District Administrator Kubat, using his visit to explain the offer, which has been available in Waldeck-Frankenberg since the 2016/2017 school year. During half of the holiday period, according to the Pakt agreement, children who regularly attend afternoon care can come to school for games, fun and excitement. When this holiday care is offered, whether over the entire summer holidays and therefore neither in the autumn nor in the winter holidays, or half of each school holiday, is decided by the school on its own responsibility.

"The number of participants clearly shows how right we are with our offer of holiday care in the Pact for the Afternoon," said the district administrator. "While there were 1,289 childcare children at the beginning in the second school semester 2016/2017, this number has already far more than doubled to 2,807 children by the second school semester 2020/2021." The need is clearly there and many parents are grateful that they know their children are in the best hands here when they themselves have to work during the school holidays and there are no childcare options through grandparents or other trusted persons. This is also the case with the primary school children of the Breiten Hagen - here 28 children were registered in each of the first two holiday weeks; in the third week there are still 17 who have breakfast together, receive a hot lunch, do handicrafts, gymnastics or water games.

The Corona pandemic also posed a special challenge for the holiday care: "Due to the distance and hygiene rules, the girls and boys at the schools were mostly divided into small groups within the year group, which of course were not supposed to mix," emphasised District Administrator Dr. Kubat and thanked the care workers for their commitment. "Without particularly careful personnel planning and the commendably high flexibility of our proven staff, the care would hardly have been possible." Since the parents had been asked to let their children participate in the childcare services only in case of absolute need and there were many cancellations as a result, this obstacle had been mastered quite well in the end.

At the end, the holiday children of the Breiten Hagen actually had a special surprise in store for their visit: they presented their little play "The Enchanted Knife" before the premiere. The performance had actually been planned for the afternoon and should have been rehearsed again in the morning, when the District Administrator was visiting. Dr Kubat, however, followed this spontaneous preview very attentively, was enthusiastic about the children's enthusiasm and did not spare any tangible praise: for each child in the holiday care there was a gym bag as a gift, on which you can read what you can do in the district, namely "Live well!