OFFERING CHILDREN REAL, NOT PASSIVE EXPERIENCES

News release

24th November 2011

Early Years practitioners across the country have been inspired to offer ‘real’ experiences to the children in their care after they attended the Life Beyond Plastic conference at The Totem Pole in Grantham, Lincolnshire in May.

Almost 100 Early Years professionals, nursery managers, teachers and childcare experts contributed to the conference, which took as its focus The Totem Pole’s campaign to persuade settings to swap plastic imitation fruit and vegetables for a basket of real produce.

The broader aim of the conference was to encourage practitioners to offer ‘real’ rather than passive learning experiences, and feedback from those who attended suggests that it was a great success.

“Since we attended Life Beyond Plastic we have been inspired to make storytelling sessions more creative, finding exciting props like treasure and dragon scales and taking the children into our enchanted forest,” said Jane Winter of Kirkby La Thorpe Primary School near Sleaford in Lincolnshire.

Jo Dawson of Granby House Nursery in Wickersley, Rotherham, commented: “Inspired by the Baby’s Joyful Day workshop I fed back to the practitioners within the baby room. We devised personalised treasure baskets for each baby, paying attention to their individual interests.

“The Lycra used in this workshop proved great fun with the babies at our setting and we have developed resources to use with it to support different songs.

“The homely feeling of the rooms at The Totem Pole encouraged me to fill my setting with fresh flowers and scented candles to help recreate the same calm and warm atmosphere.”

Sally Margetts from The Nursery in Aston, Sheffield, said: “Following the conference we sat all the children down and explored our plastic and wooden fruits and vegetables. The results you can hopefully guess! We now have real fruit and vegetables in our roleplay areas and the children are now growing their own salad items to eat.”

Gina Welsh, Nursery Manager at Willowtree Nursery in Lincoln, added: “The children loved making jungle and forest environments for the wild animals using conifer branches in our extended provision, and the fresh fruit and vegetables in the roleplay area smell great!”

Jo Gray of Granby House Nursery in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, said the conference had brought about too many changes to list. “Life Beyond Plastic was the most inspiring practical experience I have had,” she said. “We now have real fruit and vegetables in our home corner and we use props in our storytelling including aliens in underpants, which led on to a superhero headquarters outside!

The event attracted Early Years professionals from all over the country and featured workshops in The Totem Pole, in the Belton Woods Hotel and in the woodlands in the hotel grounds.

The mission of The Totem Pole Conference 2012 will be to bring the ‘awe and wonder’ back into nursery settings and primary schools.

The ‘Creating Awe & Wonder’ Conference will be held on Friday 25th and Saturday 26th May at The Totem Pole and aims to stimulate and inspire practitioners and teachers to think differently through a variety of workshops delivered by experienced professionals.

“Given the breadth of experience from baby room experts to Foundation Stage specialists and everything in between, our 2012 conference really will deliver new ways of working for everyone caring for children,” said Mary Barlow.

“Come and explore some awe and wonder with us!”

To book your place on The Totem Pole’s ‘Creating Awe & Wonder’ conference visit the website www.thetotempole.co.uk or email info@thetotempole.co.uk

Notes to editors

• The Totem Pole was established in the grounds of the Belton Woods Hotel in Lincolnshire in October 2009.

• It is a unique training and resource centre for everybody caring for children which offers individuals a different way of learning.

• Early Years Consultant Mary Barlow has more than 20 years’ experience in child development and develops training programmes underpinned by best practice.

• The Marketplace offers a range of open-ended, sensory and imaginative resources for homes and early years settings.

• To find out more visit www.thetotempole.co.uk

Jez Ashberry
Shooting Star PR
01522 528540
jez@shootingstar-pr.co.uk
www.shootingstar-pr.co.uk
t: @jezashberry

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