District Administrator visits holiday care at Villa R primary school in Volkmarsen

The nationwide pact for all-day schooling aims to continuously expand and improve all-day care at schools. An important part of this is holiday care, which many parents take advantage of for their children during the school holidays - including at the Villa R primary school in Volkmarsen, where up to 40 children are looked after each week during the summer holidays.

From Ottifants to the football stadium
District Administrator Jürgen van der Horst recently visited the primary school to get to know the pupils, childcare staff and the local programme in Volkmarsen - and was able to get creative with the children themselves. The programme included designing a canvas, where the pupils aged between six and ten were allowed to let off steam artistically under the guidance of the experienced childcare staff. From colourful works of art to landscapes, a football stadium and an ottifant, everything was included.

"High praise for the great organisation"
The primary school offers three weeks of holiday care during the summer holidays and comes up with different exciting programme items every day - such as a mini Olympics, arts and crafts, painting, walks and excursions, cooking together, water games or a children's disco. "The ingenuity of the carers is truly remarkable," praises District Administrator Jürgen van der Horst. "After all, it's certainly not easy to put together an entertaining holiday programme for the children - from 7.30 a.m. to 3.30 p.m. every day. A big compliment for the great organisation."

This is also the case in over 20 other schools: The Schule am Goldberg (Allendorf), Ortenbergschule (Frankenberg), Wigand-Gerstenbergschule (Frankenberg), Cornelia-Funke-Schule (Gemünden), Grundschule Sachsenberg, Henkelschule Vöhl, Ederseeschule Herzhausen, Humboldt-Schule (Korbach), Schulzentrum an der Warte (Sachsenhausen), Grundschule Edertal, Grundschule Helenental (Bad Wildungen), Grundschule Breiter Hagen (Bad Wildungen), MPS Adorf, Grundschule Villa R (Volkmarsen), Schlossbergschule Rhoden, Westwallschule Korbach, Valentin-Grundschule (Helsen), Grundschule Geismar and now also Marker Breite Schule Korbach, Regenbogen Schule in Frankenberg and Friedrich-Trost-Schule in Frankenberg are taking part in the all-day pact.

They offer such care during the summer holidays, one school offers care during the autumn and Easter holidays and one school offers care during the Easter holidays in addition to the summer holidays. The schools decide individually when and to what extent holiday childcare is provided, depending on local demand. While the state of Hesse and the district of Waldeck-Frankenberg share the costs of the education and childcare services during school term time, the district of Waldeck-Frankenberg bears the costs during the holiday care alone.

Background: "Pakt für den Ganztag"
The aim of the state-wide "Pakt für den Ganztag" programme is, on the one hand, to provide even better support for children through additional educational opportunities in the afternoon and, on the other hand, to contribute to a better work-life balance by guaranteeing childcare until 5 pm. In addition, the so-called Pact schools offer childcare during the Hessian holidays.

Keywords:

Schools and Education Department All-day programmes Pact for all-day programmes