REAL Creative is a fun early years’ programme designed to Raise Early Achievement in Literacy (REAL). The project is delivered in partnership with the Federation of St Nicholas and East Sussex County Council in Hastings and Bexhill.

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Built on a pilot in 2017-2018 and developed with the National Children’s Bureau (NCB)'s REAL tools and training, Real Creative has taken the evidence based learning from these projects and extended the experience for children, families and early years settings through partnerships with independent creative practitioners and cultural venues. 

 

Eight early years settings in Hastings have taken part, each of whom selected 6 children to participate. Early years practitioners visited family homes to share good ideas about supporting literacy in the home environment.  

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Each setting worked with a creative practitioner to deliver a series of creative literacy events for families, taking place in the setting, at local cultural venues and a library. These events introduced creative strategies to support literacy and opened up cultural spaces for children, families, and early years settings. 

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To find out more, check out the full evaluation written by early years academic Dr. Rory McDowall Clark.