Be Active for Early Years is a training session for local early years practitioners and leaders, as well as childminders, to develop the confidence, skills and knowledge to promote regular, high quality and varied physical activity to all children in their setting and home. Children's natural love of moving needs to be nurtured, enhanced and developed and early years settings, as well as childminders, are well-placed to support this mission. Creating an early years workforce who value physical activity, are knowledgeable and able to inspire children to be active is crucial.
We have developed training to suit early years settings, as well as a course tailored to childminders, locally. An early pilot of the project allowed us to refine the training with input from practitioners. Training includes an overview of physical activity guidelines, information on the Healthy Schools Award and practical ideas for incorporating activity in settings. The Be Active team has also supported the States Early Years team with training sessions to promoted both gross motor skills and fine motor skills.
Settings which successfully complete the training are eligible to apply for a grant of up to £750 to translate the knowledge developed in the training into practice. Childminders can apply for a grant up to £250. Further details and the grant application form can be found in the resources section below.
The training covers:
Physical activity recommendations for under 5s
Creating an active learning environment
The importance of being an active role model
Practical ideas for incorporating daily physical activity
Support to review your setting’s current provision