Earlyarts - your children are amazing

When

Who/What

Where

9.15am

Refreshments, EXPOse Your Work market place - 50 stalls from arts, cultural and early years organisations presenting their work plus UnConference Networking

Square Chapel and Eureka

10.00am

Welcome from Kiran Bir Sethi and the 'I CAN!' children who join us via skype from Ahmedabad and from Ruth Churchill Dower, Director of Earlyarts

Square Chapel Main Hall

10.15am

Earlyarts Patron Sir Ken Robinson joins us via Skype from Los Angeles on Building a Nation of Champions for Creative Learning

10.30am

Interview with former Secretary of State for Education, Estelle Morris on Brilliant Leaders for our Brilliant Children followed by Q&A with delegates.

11.00am

Raise the roof on the singing train with Emma Hutchinson of The Music House for Children

11.15am

Choose from 8 Practice Sharing Workshops and GLOBALise sessions with insights into inspirational and aspirational practice:

Square Chapel and
Eureka

Liz Fitzgerald Taylor of Imaginary Leaps with Rachel Riggs, DNA, live from Australia - A Walk In The Woods – using construction materials, practitioners will be led through a journey to create a magical woods where Hansel and Gretel live. Using puppetry, participants will be invited to take on roles as researchers throughout, finding out how and when children are given “permission” to take ownership of their space by incorporating their ideas into the design. A live link to Australia will bring an interview with DNA Director, Rachel Riggs, currently on a research sabbatical to explore ideas on building confidence in speaking and listening skills with puppets.

Annie Berrington of Get out More – Maybe WE Need to Get Out More? a creative outdoor session to explore how getting outside affects the creativity, engagement and motivation of children and adults working in Early years setting. Annie is a trained Forest Schools practitioner, an artist and children’s gardener. Please bring warm clothing and good footwear.

Chris Elwell of Half Moon Young People’s Theatre - Rip, Fold, Scrunch – an exploration of how free and structured play can inform the development of theatre specifically with the under 5s. Includes a short DVD of the process undertaken by Half Moon in devising their production of Rip, Fold, Scrunch, which was inspired by the imagination and play of children and fuses theatre style, Kathak dance and live music within a paper world.

Steph Brandon and Julia Partington of The Sage Gateshead - Sing to speak - learn innovative ways of utilising young children’s musicality and spontaneous vocal play to encourage speech and language confidence. Inspired by the Kodaly, Orff & Dalcroze Eurhythmics methods, participants will explore ways of using song to support children identified as having speech and language needs. You will learn how to enable children’s language development in a joyful and creative context, and support families in engaging in communicating and building positive relationships with their children through singing.

Sean Creagh of Eightspace and Pip Schofield of Inside Out - Crash Bang Whisper - an emotional and social response to environmental design – introducing participants to certain aspects of environmental design, through an engaging, playful and ultimately creative process, and finding out how better learning is facilitated by an inspiring environment. Delegates will work with music, construction and mark making to design environments for play. They will learn techniques useful for all ages categories of individuals or groups as an introduction to environment assessment.

Tom Hobson of Woodland Park Pre-School, Seattle (US) – Running on Parent Power - exploring a cooperative model for early education (based on the Woodland Park example) and ideas for getting parents involved in their children’s education and confident in their own creativity both in and out of the classroom. Tom will also be joining the afternoon Round Table discussion so you’ll have anot her chance to hear him speak at the UnConference if you can’t make this workshop.

Jo Belloli Small size UK and Polka Theatre with Katariina Metsälampi of Annantolo Arts Centre live from Finland – Bridging the Borders – an insight into the work of several arts, cultural and creative organisations to reach young children and families across Europe, plus a visit to Finland by Skype to interview one of the most innovative children’s arts centres. This workshop will engage those who are interested in collaborations with European colleagues, and invite those already working globally to put their flag on the map and share this work with others.

Michelle Cunningham of Leeds Find Your Talent with Tessa Irwin of Leeds Children’s Services on Parents Arts Awards - a practical exploration of how the accredited Arts Award can be used to engage young parents (particularly those accessing Childrens Centres and teenage parent projects). Participants will discover how to help parents nurture their own creativity in order to build and enhance shared experiences with their own children. At the same time, they will understand how to use the PAA to encourage access to cultural activity and deepen critical thinking skills.

1-2-1 surgeries with advisers from Arts Council England, Youth Music and more to be announced.

Lunch, chill out and UnConference Networking plus EXPOse Your Work market place in the Conservatory and Square Chapel Café / Hall.

Tell Tale Hearts will share their ground breaking international performance of From Here to There, on how children build connections and make sense of their world.

Choose from 8 Practice Sharing Workshops and GLOBALise sessions with insights into inspirational and aspirational practice:

Creative Practitioner Ammie Flexen on Sculpting New Worlds in Clay an exploration of using clay for play with different ages from babies to age 5, including story building with textures and colours, and the exciting science of clay as participants move from mud to fire. Participants will learn different processes for using clay in all its forms to make and tell stories and to excite about science and the weather elements. They will also learn how to use clay as a documentation approach to observing and listening to children, building confidence and gaining knowledge about what children can tell us through this wonderful, open ended material and without need for product.

Anthony Haddon of Theatre Company Blah Blah Blah – MAX - a participatory storytelling session based on Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are. Participants will be taken on an interactive journey through the story using their imaginations to turn a bedroom into a forest and help Max meet the challenges of the wild things. Based on the Blah’s current production, the piece is especially useful for Foundation and Year 1, reflecting many of the SEAL themes such as Good to Be Me, Managing Feelings, Self Awareness and Relationships.

Liz Clark and Oksana Tyminska of Turned on its Head – Co-authors of Dance 4’s outstanding resource for early years dance, ‘Small Steps Big Moves’, Liz and Oksana will help participants explore creative movement for children under four and their families, designing an environment where wriggly, jiggly bodies are welcomed and celebrated. Using Reggio Emilia inspired approaches, participants will share ideas on how to create an immersive piece of theatre where the children become the performance, and parents are engaged in purposeful child-led play alongside their children. Immerse yourselves in multi-sensory stimuli, express who you are without words, and explore the world from a different angle!

Corina Chiran of VISE (Dreams) Creche, Bucharest – Pathways to Expression and Understanding – an original and creative approach to finding out about your strengths, emotions and creative potential, based on Corina’s extensive work with Romanian children and their families. Participants will be able to observe Corina extending and challenging the play of young children, followed by an opportunity to experience the same for themselves. The session will finish with a discussion on the differences between children and adults about self expression through play and finding the child within.

Becky Prestwich (Manchester Royal Exchange Theatre) and Elaine Bates (Manchester Museum) of the Earlyarts Manchester Consortium - Better Together? Becoming a more creative collaborator - a practical, interactive workshop on sharing experiences of collaborative working, inspired by Reggio Emilia approaches. Participants will be asked to think on their feet about the challenges and opportunities posed by collaboration and use creative evaluation methods for improving partnerships. Find out how working with other professionals from very different backgrounds can challenge, nurture and inspire your own creative thinking!

Supriya Nagarajan of Manasamitra – Weaving Stories – A Different Expression – enjoy a soul enriching and life enhancing experience with Manasamitra as they take you through the techniques of Indian music, dance and storytelling as way of engaging, inspiring and challenging young children to develop their early communication skills. Participants will experience the unique feature of Indian dance which uses the body and face to create a story rather than words, and learn about the success of this approach in helping young children from non-English speaking cultures to engage with literacy and build confidence in speaking and listening.

Andrew Shimmin, Maddie Palmer and Clair Spivey of McMillan Children’s Centre and Nursery, Hull - Back to the Woods - one of only 3 Nursery Schools in the country to be awarded the status of being a School of Creativity, McMillan staff will help the delegates grow their own ideas for forest schools projects, inspire them to seek opportunities to use wild and alternative outside spaces, and show them how they can achieve these things without even having access to a forest space! Sharing the enthusiasm from their own children and parents for this work, the session will be a mix of practical activities using natural materials, relevant theory on the freedom gained from pushing the boundaries of risk and discovery, backed up by examples of current McMillan practice, and a photostory. Hot Chocolate will be provided!

Penny Dargan (Eureka Education Manager) on Playing English in Italy Penny will reflect on Eureka’s practice development as a result of their visit to Play English in Monza, Italy. The purpose of this visit was to enhance the learning aspect of the Eureka! Nursery, to help develop Eureka’s ethos of learning through play, and to create a bond between the two through educational events and endeavours. Hear how Eureka! staff gained insights into the Reggio philosophy which brought to light the areas ripe for development at Eureka’s Nursery and Museum.

Christina MacRae, Susy Thomas and Shelagh Whitehead of Calderdale Artists Network – Weaving Threads of Practice into a Virtual Network – join a group of pioneering creative practitioners from the Calder Valley to reflect on the nature of collaborative approaches to creative pedagogical practice. Arts and early years professionals will be invited to connect, share their experiences, learn from each other, and consider how to create a virtual community-of-practice. Delegates will become researchers, questioning the nature of childhood and the role of the artist in relation to engaging with children, staff and parents in an early years setting. Points of connection will be mapped using threads onto which artists will attach information about their practice, forming the basis for a virtual, reflective community-of-practice.

1-2-1 surgeries with advisers from Arts Council England, Youth Music and more to be announced.

Refreshments plus EXPOse Your Work market place and UnConference Networking

Launch of the Earlyarts International Resource Bank by Chair of Earlyarts Board and Director of The Children's House, Nathan Archer

Perspectives from around the world – Round Table debate Chaired by Jo Belloli with Teacher Tom Hobson from Seattle, Cate Fowler ( Founding Director Windmill Performing Arts, Australia and now developing early years programmes in Singapore and Cambodia), Corina Chiran from Bucharest, Barbara O'Meara, Head of Early Years at Cork College, Ireland and Cliodhna Noonan, Director of Acting Up, early years training programme, Cairo followed by Q&A

Sally Russell, Co-Founder and Director of Netmums, gives us her Reflections from a Believer on film

Close with shared feedback - Ruth Churchill Dower, Director of Earlyarts