Herefordshire's youngest artists put on exhibition

Pre-school children from across the county will be showing off some of their creative arts projects at the Courtyard Theatre Hereford on Wednesday 19th March. The exhibition of work undertaken by three and four year olds is the culmination of a countywide project aimed at promoting inclusion of children with special needs through the creative arts.

The project, which began in November, was set up and funded by Herefordshire Council's early years team. The council provides support for pre-school settings in the private, voluntary and statutory sector on a number of daily issues including managing the inclusion of children with additional and special needs. A team of four artists were employed for a series of training and practical sessions in five pre-school groups, where children, staff and artists worked together on a collaborative project.

At the exhibition, plasma screens, slide shows, photographs and display boards will illustrate some of the projects the children have been working on.

At Merry-Go-Round Pre-School in Hereford, the children arrived at their nursery on one of their project days to discover that all the colour had gone from the nursery - everything was covered in white. The children had great fun looking for colour through pinholes in boxes. Using fabric, paint and lights, they worked together and brought the colour back into the nursery. Ofsted have been so impressed with this project that they have included it in their report as an example of good practice.

The results of this and other projects can be seen at the Courtyard Theatre from 11am to 5pm on Wednesday 19th March. Members of the public are invited to visit the exhibition and meet the artists involved in the project.

The response to the project has been very positive and staff and parents have been amazed at the children's enthusiasm:

"The artists were great, we all really enjoyed the session and have gained so much from it already," said Emily Bevan, supervisor at Hopscotch Nursery. She continued, " We made some fantastic observations of a child with speech and language difficulties who was quite literally jumping with joy when playing with the artists."

Councillor Jenny Hyde, cabinet member for children and young people, said: "Including children with additional needs is so important for all the children, but funding specialist support can be difficult. The council provides early years inclusion co-ordinators to offer help to all groups.

"Projects like this one are a great way of promoting inclusion and providing pre-school staff with some ideas to help children with different needs get the most out of their pre-school education."

"I hope that other childcare workers and pre-school employees will be able to visit the exhibition and share ideas on how to develop inclusive environments for all children."

The exhibition will be interactive, so parents are encouraged to visit with their children.