Events

CHICHESTER FESTIVAL THEATRE

Earlyarts Professional Development Day

for the South East Hub area

run by West Sussex Partnership Group

Friday 11th February 2011

Chichester Festival Theatre

Oaklands Park, Chichester, West Sussex PO19 6AP (Directions Here)

9.30 am – 4.00 pm (Coffee available from 9.00am)

PRINT PROGRAMME HERE

Theme: Making Spaces and Places Inclusive

For: Artists, early years practitioners, heads of centres, cultural managers, local authority advisors, early years professionals, arts or cultural organisations

9.00 Arrival and coffee

9.30   Earlyarts welcome and networking

9.45 There will be four one hour practical sessions, each repeated once during the day:

1 From There to Here! - How often do families arrive at cultural venues but, for a thousand unintended reasons, never really get to be there? ‘Making Spaces and Places Inclusive’ involves the subtle art of transforming ‘Are we nearly there yet?’ into ‘we really are here!’ *

2 Creative Thinking Lab - Julie Anne Verbeelen - founder of Turtlewings in Brussels, Belgium will present her experience of setting up a Creative Thinking Lab at the European School in Brussels. The session will include an opportunity to try out activities from the lab for yourself!*

3 Making Spaces and Places Inclusive at St Anthony’s School, Chichester - Ruth Aspden will be sharing her recent research into how to approach a variety of spaces – from outdoor spaces to table tops – to make them inclusive for children with autistic spectrum disorders

4 Children's creative explorations - Visual Artist and Consultant James Aldridge, www.creative-ecology.co.uk draws on his experience of working within Early Years and Primary settings, to explore the value of creative, child-led explorations of places and materials, for the learning of children with a range of needs. This session will look at the value of documenting and reflecting on children's creative explorations, and offer a chance to get 'hands-on' with a variety of 'intelligent' materials.

12.00 – 12.45 Earlyarts Knowledge Session – connecting you with the wider world of creativity in early years – other projects, information and resources plus a guide to using the Earlyarts website

12.45 – 1.45 Lunch – please bring sandwiches or money for the cafe, PLUS optional tour of the theatre

1.45 – 4.00 Practical Sessions Continued...

Tickets are free to Earlyarts members or £50 for non-members

Book your place online at www.earlyarts.co.uk

* Further Information on Sessions

1  From There to Here!

How often do families arrive at cultural venues but, for a thousand unintended reasons, never really get to be there? ‘Making Spaces and Places Inclusive’ involves the subtle art of transforming ‘Are we nearly there yet?’ into ‘we really are here!’

Rupert Rowbotham, Director of the Learning, Engagement & Participation Programme at Chichester Festival Theatre, will seek in the live setting of a Family Welcome of an Early Years production to practically think, apply, and refresh principles of early years Best Practice to discover ‘What further might be reasonable adjustment for Cultural Institutions to make?’

Rupert has been working for 15 years in Creative Learning positions for a variety of cultural organizations: The National Museums & Galleries of Wales, Chipping Norton Theatre, Oxford Playhouse and Chichester Festival Theatre. Common to these positions has been the question of ensuring families, who’d taken the trouble of getting there, can and do connect with the Museum or Play or Workshop.

2  Creative Thinking Lab

Julie Anne Verbeelen - founder of Turtlewings in Brussels, Belgium will present her experience of setting up a Creative Thinking Lab at the European School in Brussels. She and co-presenter Cathy Burckett-St. Laurent will discuss how the lab helped children of all abilities and backgrounds express their ideas and knowledge. The year long project with primary age children included children with special needs (such as Down Syndrome, Oppositional Defiant Disorder and ADHD etc) as well as children from several language and cultural backgrounds.

3  St Anthony’s School Chichester

The world can be very confusing for a child with Autism. Professionals can support their development by carefully considering the environments the children are in. Ruth Aspden Assistant Head teacher from St Anthony’s school in Chichester will explore the classroom and playground environments in light of her experience and research of special needs and Autism.

Dr Nicola Yuill (Sussex University) and Ruth Aspden have worked in partnership for a number of years will also have a display about mobile technology for you to have hands on experience and be able to discuss the uses of these resources. They will be available throughout the day.