When the first lockdown started, our team contacted the families we work with to find out their needs and how we could help. While speaking to the families, it became evident that children and young people were getting bored at home, not knowing what to do many were becoming very anxious about staying at home and not seeing their friends.  We ask the children and young people if there was anything that we could do about the situation, the response we got back was that they would like to meet with their friends but that can’t happen face to face. Some of the young people suggested maybe meeting online to chat with others could be fun. With that initial idea of meeting online it developed into meeting online to do an activity. Further conversations lead to the choice of fitness and exercise online. As a result, we delivered seven weeks exercise and fitness classes via Zoom and created a YouTube channel where children and young people can access free online fitness lessons. Through online and face to face engagement, the project is now tackling some of the health inequalities in relation to physical inactivity, among ethnic minorities and disadvantaged young people in Derby. The aim is to increase access and participation in fitness and exercise for young people particularly those from socially deprived backgrounds. 

High Commission for Human Rights recognises play as a right of every child, but this birth-right is being challenged by the coronavirus crisis as access to play is limited. Therefore, the project aims to provide 12 weeks early years support to children 0 – 5 from BAME backgrounds. This will ensure young children continue to enjoy the right to play.   COVID-19 Early Years Support includes a virtual nursery and a learning resources scheme that will stimulate learning through play at home. This will enable children to develop communication and motor skills, problem-solving abilities that enhances school readiness. The virtual nursery delivers arts and crafts, physical activities, and cookery sessions to increase children’s learning. Parents and careers will be given a specific log in detail to access the virtual nursery three times a week. The learning resource scheme supports creative learning at home by supplying arts and crafts and play equipment to hard-pressed families who cannot afford and those self-isolating.