On 22nd March, Early Years Wales held a celebration event to share the work done in the Welsh Active Early Years project. Jane Dorrian undertook the evaluation of the project and in this blog she outlines that work.
The Welsh Active Early Years project was launched in 2020 as a 4-week facilitator led programme which aimed to increase the physical activity levels of young children and their parents/carers in order to develop and embed lifelong physical literacy. Each session was based on a story, with participants receiving a resource pack containing cards outlining the activities and also giving ideas about how to create homemade resources linked to that week’s focus. The evaluation of the project showed that, despite the fact that the COVID 19 pandemic hit just as the project was starting, the work had made a real impact on the children and their families. 71% of the parents who completed the programme recorded an improvement in average well-being scores, this was still apparent 12 months after completing the programme and 75% of the parents who completed the programme had increased physical activity levels.
The COVID 19 lockdowns meant that the delivery of the sessions had to be quickly changed form face to face to online, and whilst there were some initial concerns about the impact the change might have there were some unexpected benefits. Feedback from facilitators showed that ‘surprisingly Zoom worked really well. Parents felt less self-conscious and being in a familiar environment seemed to encourage better communication’ ( Facilitator 5), and ‘some parents commented positively about Zoom as it removed the stress of getting everyone prepared and out to get to a venue in time to attend a session’ (Facilitator 1). Parent responses also showed how the sessions had helped to provide a focus ‘with lockdown and nowhere to go it’s easy to slip into PJ days so it has been great having this to look forward to’ (Participant 17).
As the project team look to develop the legacy of the work one of the key focus areas is to increase the diversity of participants. In the original projects 93% of participants were female and 96% were white and Early Years Wales are working with partner organisations such as Dads Can Cymru and Women Connect First to expand and promote delivery of the programme to under-represented groups. The findings from the evaluation gave some indication that improvements in parent/carer’s well-being and physical activity were greater in areas affected by deprivation, but the impact of COVID-19 restrictions on data collection meant it was not possible to prove a correlation so this is another area for future focus.
The evidence showed that the parents/carers who had been involved in the project wanted to carry on engaging in physical activity sessions with their children after completing the programme. One of the important findings showed that involvement in the project had helped them to become ‘more aware [of] physical activity everyday, not just when we do sports’ (Participant 4), but this also presented a challenge as there is no clear pathway or information point in place at present to help them take the next step. The Welsh Active Early Years project is uniquely placed to act as a ‘Physical Literacy Librarian’, providing information and guidance to participants based on their interests, skills and abilities to enable them to develop lifelong physical literacy. This is due to the project’s pan-Wales remit and its focus on physical literacy rather a specific sport or skill. Hopefully the legacy work emerging from the initial project will help to create this and children and their families will be able to enjoy their lifelong physical literacy journeys.
For more information about the project follow this link: Welsh Active Early Years | Early Years Wales