Category Archives: Early Years

Aberdeen, CfE, Early Years, Edinburgh, Fife, Inverclyde, Opportunities, South Lanarkshire

Starcatchers Creative Skills Training

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Starcatchers is currently offering a free training programme for Early Years workers in Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Fife, South Lanarkshire and Inverclyde as part of a pilot project to develop creative skills for early years workers in Scotland which is being supported by the Scottish Government and Creative Scotland.

The programme will allow early years workers from a range of sectors to build their understanding of the importances of creativity in early years and through a series of artist-led practical sessions, will offer skills and techniques that practitioners can use when they are working with children and families directly.

Starcatchers is currently recruiting participants for the project, all the information is on their website:  http://www.starcatchers.org.uk/creative-skills/creative-skills-early-years-practitioners

Download further information here: Creative Skills National Info

Drama, Early Years, Glow, Literacy

Glow Meet with Julia Donaldson – Running on the Cracks

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29th January at 1.45pm

The Tron Theatre will stage an exciting new show Running on the Cracks , an adaptation by Andy Arnold of the Julia Donaldson book of the same name. This new show will be staged in February 2013 and is a co-production with Pilot Theatre Company, York. Running on the Cracks is a fast moving new play about runaways, identity, survival and how friendships can develop in the strangest situations.

http://bit.ly/runningonthecracks

Join Julia Donaldson, children’s laureate for a Glow Meet live from the Tron for this exciting event. Julia will discuss her inspiration for the book and will answer your questions. Don’t miss this opportunity to speak with one of the UK’s leading children’s authors.

Aberdeen, Artists, CLN News, CPD, Creative Practitioners, Early Years, Learning Exchange, Teachers

Serious Play: The interface between creativity, play and learning

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Tuesday 4 December 2012

Beach Ballroom, Beach Promenade, Aberdeen, AB24 5NR

Registration 9.30am; Conference 10.15am‐4.00pm

This interdisciplinary conference will bring together professionals from Education, Early Years, Family and Community Learning, Arts and Culture and Outdoor Learning to explore the interface between creativity, play and learning in a range of contexts.

The conference will enable participants to share theory and practice with a view to developing new ideas and further collaborations.

There will be a range of participatory activities as well as presentations to encourage interaction, learn from each other and stimulate new possibilities.

The keynote presenter is María de los Angéles González, better known in her country as `Chiqui ́Gonzalez, Minister of Innovation and Culture of the State Government of Santa Fe, Argentina.

Chiqui has combined her skills and experiences as a lawyer, teacher, artistic practitioner and Minister to champion shared family learning through cultural activity. This is most keenly realised in ‘El Tríptico de la Infancia,’ in Rosario and ‘El Tríptico de la Imaginacíon’ in Santa Fe; six cultural centres developed from abandoned and subsequently regenerated industrial and public spaces. Each centre has a different emphasis on family learning, invention, collective construction, sharing and creating stories and play.

For further information contact: CLN@aberdeencity.gov.uk or telephone 01224 814530. To book your free place please complete the attached booking form:

Booking Form -Serious Play

and email it to:

CPD@aberdeencity.gov.uk.


CfE, CPD, Dance, Early Years, Literacy, Maths, Science, Teachers

Dance CPD for teachers

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YDance is running an extensive programme of CPD training opportunities from December 2012 through 2013 for early years, primary and secondary teachers. Sessions include: the basic components of dance; teaching science, numeracy and literacy through dance; support for Higher Dance and National Progression Awards.

Visit the YDance website to access pdfs of both the early years/primary and secondary leaflets: ­ http://www.ydance.org/Education.html

Early Years, Events

Early Years Creative Network for Scotland

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Starcatchers is carrying out some research into the potential of an Early Years Creative Network for Scotland.

Director of Starcatchers, Rhona Matheson, has kindly provided some contextual information for the Creative Learning Networks:

“How do organisations working with early years connect with creativity?  As Starcatchers has evolved over the last 6 years I have been aware that there are a wide range of creative and arts experiences available to parents, families and child care settings in Scotland, however there seems to be a gap in how people communicate about this work – for example we have been working in East Glasgow for more than 2 years with a fairly high profile through our work with Platform, however there are still settings and organisations who don’t know what we do and vice versa.

When Starcatchers was part of Imaginate, we created a ‘Starcatchers Network’ to try and give people opportunities to come together and share practice – this wasn’t just about sharing the Starcatchers experience but also about sharing the practice that other organisations or nurseries were delivering and there seemed to be demand from the people engaging with us for access these kinds of activities. I always felt that there was a way that an early years creative network could be more cohesive and respond to the policy and funding context in Scotland and with the needs of those engaging with it.

The consultation and research we are undertaking at the moment is a means of exploring this.  Through individual conversations, consultation events and an online questionnaire, we are trying to engage with a wide group of people in Scotland to understand what potential there might be for this kind of network.  We want to engage with arts and education sectors as well as play, health and social work and get a really good understanding of the landscape and need.”

There are clear links between the NCLN, CLNs and an Early Years Creative Network for Scotland. If you are interested in contributing to this discussion, please sign up for one of the consultation events – you can download the invitation here:  Consultation Invitation.