What's this week about?

It has been said that if what you’re offering is not inclusive then it is not playwork, but a lot of us are not really clear that inclusion is so much more than working with children who are labelled with a disability. When we talk about ‘all children’, just who are all these children? How do we reach out and ensure that every child in our environment is able to access and take part in the offer that we make? The final three presenters in 8 weeks of conference will make sure that we leave this event ready to be inclusive.

How does the Conference work?

Conference doors open at 11am to give you the opportunity to sit around the ‘small table’ with people you know and people you have yet to know, to make friends and have conversations before the core part of conference starts. You will have the opportunity to move from one table to another as you mingle with other participants in our ‘lounge’.

The formal conference commences at 12 o’clock with an introduction from Meynell as conference chair, to each of our three presenters. Each of our presenters will then make a 15-20-minute presentation which we have nicknamed their ‘first piece’. You will be able to make comments on these presentations in a number of ways, as will have been explained to you in your pre-conference zoom registration. Once all three presenters have finished, we will take three questions from the floor, hopefully one for each presenter, before breaking out into the workshop sessions.

Each participant will be able to choose which workshop session they wish to attend, or you can choose to stay in the ‘lounge’ and network with other participants. The workshop sessions provide the participants an opportunity to go deeper into the subject matter presented in the first half of the conference. Each presenter will structure their workshop differently, but all will provide you the opportunity for engagement.