The Physical Activity & Play team deliver inclusive programmes to young people in Ceredigion. There are initiatives for pre-school aged children in nurseries and family centres, at all key stages in schools and after school clubs and programmes in partnership with leisure centres and community clubs. Play is a recent addition to the initiative that we develop.
The aim is to get young people in Ceredigion active, to develop key fundamental movement skills at a young age and to encourage a lifelong positive attitude to health & wellbeing.
To encourage young people to develop key skills and deliver physical opportunities, the AYP coordinate a Young Ambassador (YA) programme across all schools in Ceredigion. This has started to be introduced into community sports clubs. Young Ambassadors set up and deliver sporting opportunities, games and informal play opportunities for other young people in Ceredigion.
The YA programme is a progressive scheme for age and experience where children in Primary Schools are termed Bronze YAs, upper secondary are termed Silver and Gold YAs. We also have young people representing Ceredigion at a National Level – these are termed Platinum YAs. The programme is open and fully inclusive with YAs with disabilities represented at primary and secondary level. There is also a specific leadership programme named Play Unified for young people with learning disabilities. This programme is coordinated through specific resource bases in primary and secondary schools.
A young ambassador helps to:
If you would like more information about Young Ambassadors, you can contact the Active Young People Officer in your area.
To allow parents and carers with toddlers the opportunity to develop fundamental movement skills, the AYP team have worked with Families First and Flying Start to give key equipment such as balls, spots, hula hoops and bean bags to help support families. There are many videos available on the Ceredigion Actif YouTube Channel to give ideas to parents and carers regarding different skills.
Education Nurseries and Mudiad Meithrin establishments have benefitted from a well-stocked resource bag which includes key equipment including balance bikes. This allows children the opportunity to be active every day.
This programme started out when the Foundation Phase at Ysgol Llwyn Yr Eos started getting their children active for a short burst every day. Ceredigion Actif adopted this approach and developed it as an alternative to the national initiative, The Daily Mile. This programme is appropriate for people of all ages and is now an integral part of our ‘Through Age Offer’. The AYP team encourage 5 different activities to be undertaken during each session, with each activity lasting a minute. There are many sessions available on the Ceredigion Actif YouTube Channel.
Sharing information has become paramount to running successful community projects and this is no different in Ceredigion where we have active Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts. These are used for daily updates, news of new events, live broadcasts and general sharing of good stories. The Ceredigion Actif YouTube page also stores nearly 300 videos. Please check out our extensive ‘Playlist’ to see what is available: Ceredigion Actif YouTube Channel.
Play is one of the ways that children learn about themselves, the people around them their environment and the community in which they live.
Play is essential for:
Ceredigion County Council and partners have a responsibility to create the right conditions in which children can access good quality opportunities for playing.
If you are part of a group or committee that looks after a park or playarea in Ceredigion and are looking for funding and support to make improvements, open the Support and Funding for Playgrounds booklet that will provide you support and guidance.
Children have a fundamental right to be able to play; it is central to their enjoyment of life and can contribute to their well-being. Play is essential for the growth in children’s cognitive, physical, social and emotional development.
There is much evidence to support this belief and an increasing understanding of play’s contribution not only to children’s lives, but also to the well-being of their families and the wider community.
Section 11, Children and Families (Wales) Measure 2010 places a duty on Local Authorities to assess the play opportunities for children in their areas every 3 years and to create an action plan to address areas of weakness found by the assessment.
It is essential that we consult with children, young people and families to find out what they think of play and recreation opportunities in Ceredigion and this forms an important part of the assessment.
The Ceredigion Play Sufficiency Assessment for 2022 can be viewed on the Council's Ceredigion Play Sufficiency Assessment page.