MORE funds will be given to support education and early years settings in Wales.

The Welsh Government announced an extra £19 million will go to ensure children continue their learning progress following the disruption caused by the pandemic – with a focus on the wellbeing of children and staff.

Of this, £13 million will go towards early years learners in schools and non-maintained settings. It will allow for increased practitioner-to-learner ratios in schools and support for non-maintained settings to help deliver supported, active play and experimental learning.

The remaining £6 million will be allocated to schools to support teaching staff, promote wellbeing and progression, and expand on the positive changes already made to ways of working.

The new funds take the Welsh Government's total spend on learning for under 18s to more than £150 million since the start of the pandemic.

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Funding has also been provided for an extra 1,800 full-time teaching staff through the Recruit, Recover and Raise Standards programme.

Welsh Government minister for education and Welsh language, Jeremy Miles, said: “The last year has brought into sharp focus just how important our schools, settings, colleges and universities are for our children and young people. Education practitioners have risen heroically to meet the challenge, while learners have been brilliant in adapting to learning in different ways.

“Having opportunities for meaningful, quality interactions is essential for our early years learners. Today I’m announcing a further £13 million for early years settings to provide extra support for the unique needs of our younger children.

“We must recover and reform. I am determined that the emphasis on wellbeing and flexibility shown over the last year is built upon and closely aligned with the introduction of our new curriculum. Our education system has shown remarkable resilience and flexibility and we must learn from that.”