This project, working in partnership with Arts Councils of Wales, and Mudiad Meithrin with support from the Welsh Government and Paul Hamlyn Foundation, allows early years providers from the charity sector a great opportunity to work with professionals from the creative industries in Wales.
The project, inspired by Art Council of Wales' successful schools programmes aims to share practice between practitioners and creative professionals to enhance the use of creativity in early education.
"Once again, we have been pleased to see the success of linking the creative professionals and practitioners in early years in settings around Wales. In the project, the evidence demonstrates that early years practitioners are highly creative and flexible thinkers. Working with professionals in creative industries, we have been able to extend the opportunities that practitioners can offer children, grow professional confidence, and have seen children benefit immensely from this pedagogical approach.
In addition to this powerful report, we know settings from year one have continued with their own practice based on their learning experiences. We have seen practitioners from settings use their wider skills, developed or enhanced through this project, step into the role of supporting other settings, and we have so many beautiful vignettes of the children's experiences across Wales.
As the quotes below demonstrate, this has been most impactful through learning together as professionals with both practitioners and creative professionals working collaboratively to create engaging experiences for the children. At the outset nearly four years ago, I had confidence that this would be true because the early years practitioners are demonstrating through this project, and the delivery of the Curriculum for the non-maintained nursery settings in Wales as a whole, that play-based pedagogy, creativity and exploration are exactly the types of experiences children need at the start of their education journey."
- David Goodger, CEO, Early Years Wales
Some of the comments received included:
- "The people that work in settings are amazing – fantastic."
- "The skills sharing went both ways."
- "It was an honour and a privilege to be involved."
- "We shared this creative journey together"
Our year two evaluation is available below and year three of three is underway with settings across Wales planning for their projects in summer 2025.
Download
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
 Creative Learning in the Early Years Project | 5.77 MB |
Year Two