Nurturing children's creativity
Children are naturally creative and resourceful, so it’s important to enable them to blossom to their full potential.
As a RIIC Hub, we are passionate about nurturing innovation in everyone, so we were delighted to establish a partnership with Merthyr Tydfil Council that aimed at stimulating creativity in children aged between 9 and 13 (Key Stage Two).
The aim of the project was to inspire children to create ideas of their own, while encouraging them to imagine what the future of their community could look like, in addition to their own well-being and career path.
We also wanted to create sustainable opportunities for schools to access in the future.
Thinking outside the box
As a first step we connected schools in Merthyr Tydfil to innovative organisations including Techniquest, Cardiff University, Pharma Bees and Get Fit Wales, all of which wanted to give children access to exciting activities and technology.
With so many projects to choose from, we wanted to give the children an opportunity to vote on the one they’d like to try.
The projects the children picked include:
- Pharma Bees: providing each school with pollinator friendly wild seeds so they can grow their own meadows
- Get Fit Wales: providing each pupil with a fitness tracker so they can count their steps each day
- Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board’s Arts & Health team: giving each child recycled or reused materials materials to create artwork from
Featuring: Get Fit Wales
Get Fit Wales helps children to increase their fitness and wellbeing by providing pedometers to each child.
Each child has a target of 6000 steps per day, and every time they reach their goal, they accumulate which can then be redeemed against activities such as leisure centre classes, competitive gaming time in Merthyr College or activities at local venues such as Bike Park Wales
Get Fit Wales will run throughout 2021 and with the support of the RIIC Hub and Merthyr Tydfil Council, will be evaluated to determine how successful it is.
We hope to see the initiative continue and roll out across all three local authority areas after 2021.
Get involved with Get Fit Wales!
Are you a local school or organisation?
Get Fit Wales work with schools to encourage children to participate more with physical activity in an enjoyable way!
Five schools have been involved with Get Fit Wales to date, with children being given fitness rewards such as healthy meals at the canteen, a school jump queue pass, and free fruit and veg!
We would like to sustain and further widespread these opportunities.
We are currently looking for support to help with:
- Creating an online digital platform for Get Fit Wales
- Obtaining fitness trackers for the schools
- Helping Get Fit Wales to manage fitness rewards and staff time
If this sounds like an initiative you would like to get involved with, get in touch!
Email us: hello@ctmregionalpartnershipboard.co.uk
Please put your subject line as: RIIC Hub Education
Thanks so much!
Scott Tandy, Community Regeneration Officer at Newydd said:
"The project has allowed us to explore new ways how best to engage with young people to support their physical and mental wellbeing. We hope to build upon the findings of our project to strengthen the work undertaken within the Merthyr Tydfil Borough"
We are proud to be members of
Co-Production Network for Wales.
We are proud to be members of
Co-Production Network for Wales.