About

Creative Learning in the Early Years is a joint initiative between the Arts Council of Wales, Early Years Wales, Mudiad Meithrin and the Welsh Government and is supported by Paul Hamlyn Foundation.

The initiative will bring together Early Years Practitioners and Creative practitioners to explore ways of developing learning environments and experiences that stimulate the development and natural curiosity of children aged 3 – 5, enriching their creativity, engagement and sense of wonder and belonging.

The initiative has three aims:

  • to bring together Early Years Practitioners and Creative Practitioners to explore ways of working in non-maintained early years settings, to create environments and experiences that are rich in language, play, physical development, arts, creativity and will support children as autonomous learners.
  • to understand the central role of creativity and play in a child’s development.
  • to combine the central principles of the Curriculum for funded non-maintained nursery settings with the Creative Habits of Mind pedagogy and learning from the Lead Creative Schools Scheme.

The initiative includes training sessions facilitated by Arts Council of Wales, Early Years Wales and Mudiad Meithrin. The training will be interactive and in person, and sets out to build confidence in exploring the three aims above and providing opportunities for reflection and collaboration.

Each setting will be matched with a Creative Agent (selected and paid by the Arts Council of Wales). The Creative Agent will first get to know the Early Years Practitioners and their settings and will then help them select a suitable Creative Practitioner to come and work alongside them in their settings with their 3 – 5 year olds, co-designing and co-delivering the 10 week project.

The projects will be designed with a focus on one or more of the following principles:

Developing the language and many means of expression of young children - Children have many languages of expression and these should be recognised and valued. These languages, including spoken language, originate and develop through experience.

Play and playful learning - Play and playful learning are an integral part of being human. Through play children relate their inner worlds of ideas, feelings and experience, taking them to new levels of thinking, feeling, imagining and expression.

Engaging with nature and outdoor learning – The natural world provides an environment rich in potential to nurture a child’s physical, emotional, and cognitive growth and wellbeing. The natural curiosity and sensory stimulation provided by engagement with nature and the outdoor world enables a growing connection and relationship with our natural surroundings.

Physical development and confidence in exploration – Exploration stimulates physical development and encourages children to use their senses. It also helps a child to become more active naturally.

Creativity, art and symbolic representation – Creativity and the arts provide children with the opportunity to explore and communicate their ideas, thoughts, and experiences in their own way. Young children use multiple forms of symbolic representation before literal forms take a more dominant role.

Noticing and supporting children as autonomous learners – Each child is unique in their developing experience of the world, their interests, curiosities, abilities and potential. Children learn best by doing things for themselves. In this way they become problem solvers, decision-makers and confident, exploring learners.

Creative Learning in the Early Years builds on the well-established Lead Creative Schools Scheme delivered by Arts Council of Wales, which has brought individually designed projects to over 700 primary, secondary and special schools. The scheme has supported schools to nurture the creativity of learners and has prepared them to get ready for the new Curriculum for Wales.

If you would like your early years setting to be considered, please submit your Expression of Interest (a short form asking a short series of questions which will be used to contact you and understand your main interests) using the Google Form link.

All Expressions of Interest should be submitted by 5pm 4 October 2023.

Deadline for Expressions of Interest

5pm 4 October 2023

Training sessions – attendance essential

Week of 20 November - half day online

Week of 5  February 2024 -  1 day face-to-face training

Project planning phase.

Includes recruitment of Creative Practitioners and submission of a planning form

28 November until 8 March 2024

Delivery phase

8 April - 14 June 2024 (some overlap with evaluation phase)

Reflections and celebrations

Includes the submission of an evaluation form

Week 24 June 2024 - sharing/evaluation event

 

It is essential that the nominated Early Years Practitioner comes to the training.

Each setting will receive £125 plus travel costs to cover the cost of one member of staff, to attend face to face training during the week of 5 February 2024.

Help

Eligibility Information

Creative learning in the early years is open to non-maintained settings working with children aged 3 – 5 years.

To be eligible to apply your setting must be:

  • a registered charity with a voluntary managed committee and CIW registration for childcare
  • a member of Early Years Wales and / or Mudiad Meithrin
  • offer Early Years Entitlement

Each setting will receive a grant of £2,500 towards the cost of employing a Creative Practitioner for an equivalent of 7 days and the resources needed for the project. To receive this grant all settings must have a business bank account.

Further Information

Creative Learning in the Early Years is a three-year initiative with the aim of engaging with 70 childcare settings in total. We envisage working with 25 settings over this next period.

If you have any further queries, please contact:

Creative Learning Team – creative.learning@arts.wales  

Moya Williams, Early Years Wales - moyaw@earlyyears.wales

Helen Williams, Mudiad Meithrin - helen.williams@meithrin.cymru