This grant allows us to build on our previous work supporting the development and implementation of the Curriculum for the non-maintained nursery settings in Wales and the assessment arrangements. The announcement of three-years of funding is extremely helpful, allowing Early Years Wales as a charity to plan across a longer timeline promoting continuity and maximising the impact of the funding and opportunities. We are excited to play our part in ensuring that all children in their early years have excellent early education, play, and care experiences that establish the foundations for their future academic learning and success.
We are proud to say that the early years settings working to the Curriculum for the non-maintained nursery settings have made incredible progress and demonstrating through their Estyn inspections the high-quality of work that the practitioners are undertaking with children in their settings every day. Over the next three years, Early Years Wales will build on this, helping to share practice and pedagogy across Wales that is having a positive impact on our youngest learners. We welcome engagement with any early education practitioner and teacher on our opportunities, the first of which takes place tomorrow in the Village Hotel with a focus on early literacy and recognise the importance of the childcare sector working strongly and collaboratively with schools to help learners transition from early years into school provision.
We are also delighted to read that the Creative Learning funding is included in the grants. Early Years Wales and Mudiad Meithrin have collaborated with Arts Council for Wales to demonstrate the impact of beginning this creative learning journey in the early years over the last three years and the opportunities to include childcare settings alongside schools.
We look forward to working with the Welsh Government, the sector, and wider partners to help support the learning journey for all learners in Wales and to supporting the practitioners and educators working with children in their early years.
Kelcie Stacey, Early Years Education Officer for Early Years Wales
"I'm delighted to be leading the delivery of this project on behalf of Early Years Wales. This funding enables us to build meaningful, long-term support for practitioners working in non-maintained nursery settings, sharing the excellent practice already happening across the sector. Over the next three years, I look forward to working closely with educators, settings, and partners across Wales to ensure that every child has access to rich, creative, and high-quality early learning experiences".
Early Years Wales