Early Years 

A variety of sessions linked to the Early Years Foundation Stage are available (Unique Child, Positive Relationships, Enabling Environments, Learning and Development) - please ask for more information depending on your interests as all training sessions and workshops can easily be adapted to meet your needs.

Examples of other topics include: click here

How do Children Learn?

Promoting Choices in the Early Years

Supporting Boys to be Confident, Creative and Capable

Communication Matters

What is 'Readiness to Learn'?

Basic Child Development (a choice of themes including language, social and emotional development, physical and creative)

The Magic of Imagination!

This is a new workshop which aims to enthuse in the art of storytelling with and for children at home, in the early years setting or at school. Using simple props to stimulate and inspire, we explore the range of benefits and opportunities alongside the key elements of storytelling and a range of creative approaches. This training can be delivered as part of continual professional development along with project design and support for extracurricular activities.

Introducing Family Learning

Making the links with home and family learning are critical in order to ensure successful outcomes for children. This workshop will look at a variety of ways in which settings can help build positive relationships as well as imaginative ideas for continuation of childrens learning in the home. This training can be delivered as part of continual professional development along with project design and support for family learning and parental engagement.

Making the Most of Circle Time

The wider scope of this training package includes: developing key theoretical understandings; enhancing the application of circle time on a practical level; and stimulating a reflective and dynamic approach to practice. Making the Most of Circle Time compliments and links to existing key initiatives and vital areas of children’s learning. Specifically, the training makes explicit links to the Early Years Foundation Stage four key themes across the spectrum of the EYFS curriculum and early learning goals. In addition, practitioners are able to make links with initiatives such as Every Child a Talker and Letters and Sounds.

The focus of learning during the training is essentially through the notion of ‘enquiry’ including a high level of participation and the opportunity for practitioners’ to draw on their own knowledge and understanding. In a bid to improve the implementation and delivery of Circle Time across various settings, the training is facilitated to allow practitioners to energetically challenge their own perceptions of the existing status quo in terms of thinking and understanding around the scope of delivery and the opportunities represented when working with groups of children.

Coaching and Mentoring

This short course of two x 3-hour sessions ensures theoretical understanding is firmly linked to practice and is of particular interest to those practitioners who have leadership and mentoring responsibilities. The course will explore the nature and potential for coaching and mentoring (based on the GROW model and a selection of simple tools) with opportunities to practice and develop key skills.

So How do we Know we're Making a Difference?

A short course focusing on how to ensure projects and services have a clear framework for evaluation from planning through to delivery and review. Using a simple set of headings, small groups or teams can work together to form a clearer understanding of the rationale and purpose of projects and specific areas of work. The training provides opportunities to work with real projects or services followed with an optional session that looks at how to prepare reports and findings.