Young people enjoy a summer of friendship and fun at this year’s SHINE programme
Published 18 September 2025
Young people across West Dunbartonshire benefited from free summer holiday camps offering fun and friendship over the school holidays.
The Council invested £100k this year along with £19,993 from the Scottish Government to support new and existing groups to provide a range of activity sessions during the school holidays. The popular events were very well attended, including places for children with additional support needs.
This year’s programme, with the support from 22 community partners, provided a range of sessions to families, with targeted support for those who needed it most.
West Dunbartonshire Community Foodshare supported 700 children by provided 350 brunch bags consisting of five days worth of breakfast, lunches, snacks and packed lunches across every week of the summer break supported by their combined SHINE and Cash for Kids funding.
More than 1,500 families attended events at the Golden Friendship Halls and Y-Sort-it supported Young Carers with a range of day trips including a fishing trip and a walk on the West Highland Way. Their programme was designed to support over 2000 places.
Vale of Leven Football Club ran a very popular football camp with 52 children attending their fun training and coaching sessions. Children took part in football drills and games that promoted confidence, skill building and inclusion with the club serving 260 meals as part of the programme.
Young people enjoyed the STEM and Virtual Reality activities at Bellsmyre Digital Club with the club providing 192 lunches. Ben View treated children to a range of day trips to the cinema, Flip Out, Heads of Ayr and Blair Drummond Safari Park.
Tullochan delivered a four-day activity programme to 79 young people consisting of eight structured sessions. Each day included both indoor and outdoor activities, along with the provision of breakfast and lunch to all. The young people took part in outdoor activities including beach combing sessions with metal detectors in Levengrove Park, creative arts and craft sessions, bushcraft and fire-pit sessions. The indoor activities included team building games, movies and playing board games.
Along with local providers, the Council also supported individual families with young people with anadditional support need. Fun and engaging activities were offered to 133 children with 383 day sessions provided by specialist settings. This extensive support ensured continuity of care and social opportunities for pupils with complex additional support needs.
Pupils benefited from the consistent support of familiar staff members who have built a deep understanding of the children’s individual needs and fostered a safe and trusting environment, allowing for meaningful engagement in all activities. Children and young people were treated to a range of activities to meet their diverse interests and developmental needs with Active Schools, Bikeability sessions, creative arts with Clifftop Projects and creative dance sessions led by our partners at Indepen-dance.
The ASN SHINE programme made excellent use of the facilities at Kilpatrick School, including the adventure playground, soft play area, and the newly created sensory garden. These sessions provided unique and stimulating environments tailored to the pupils’ needs and provided 189 lunches.
The Council received very positive feedback from parents and carers of children who attended the summer programme. Feedback from young people, parents and carers included ‘This is the third time my 7-year-old has attended. He loved it every day. The coaches go out of their way to make all the children feel safe and welcome.’; ‘Children formed new friendships, even among those who were unfamiliar with each other at the start of the week. Coaches reflected on a smooth, positive experience, thanks to their increasing experience in running the programme’; ‘I am really grateful for the chance to have good, fun activities to go to with my children. With money being tighter this year, it has been really hard to budget for nice extras’; ‘The sessions ran as planned and were well received by the young people who took part in them. The range of activities ensured that the young people participating had an enjoyable time. We provided the young people breakfasts and lunches ensuring they were well nourished whilst attending the sessions.’
Councillor Clare Steel, Convener of Educational Services said: “I can’t underestimate how much families rely on the SHINE programme over the holiday to keep the children busy and get much needed lunches and snacks at the events. I was delighted to visit some of the organisers over the summer holidays and personally thank them for their commitment to supporting local children and families. I would like to thank everyone involved in arranging this very successful programme which offered increased learning opportunities and fun activities at no cost to parents. We have built a great partnership with local organisations and through working together we offered a very successful summer of fun activities and forming friendships.
“I am particularly pleased to see places offered to support families with children who need additional support. It is also very encouraging to see the very positive feedback from parents and carers which shows how popular these activities are to the children and their families.”
Councillor John Millar, Vice Convener of Educational Services, said: “It’s very encouraging to hear how popular these activities have been and great to read the positive feedback from families and children who benefited. I would like to thank the partner organisations who worked with the Council in offering fun and engaging programmes and meals over the holidays. During my visits over the holidays I was able to see firsthand how important this support is to families which is evident in the feedback we have received from parents and carers.”