About Edinburgh and the Lothians Branch
The branch supports those working in early education in Edinburgh, East, Mid and West Lothian. The work of the branch is supported by a committee of eight.
The committee meets on a monthly basis and we organize seven events throughout the year. Most of the events are held in nurseries where people meet informally, view the playrooms and discuss current issues. This is then followed by a presentation from a speaker. All employed people attending are credited with a CPD certificate. We hold one special winter event in Edinburgh City Chambers dedicated to a well respected member who died some years ago.
Our upcoming events include:
30th May 2019 - A Visit to The City of Edinburgh Council Forest Kindergarten in the grounds of Clifton Hall School - Tracey Shaw
Further details of upcoming branch events to be released in due course.
Our previous events include:
7th October 2015 - Nurturing a Love for Reading - with Mary Hollowell
18th November 2015 - Excellence in the early years - with Linda McNair OBE
3rd February 2016 - Autism Awareness in the early years - with Hatty Chick
2nd March 2016 - Update on new Self Evaluation tool: How Good Is Our Early Learning and Childcare? - with Lisa McCabe
27th April 2016 - WATER PEEP with Parents and Children - with Amy Young
1st June 2016 - History of Edinburgh Nurseries with the University Archivist, Hannah Milne
7th September 2016 - Revised Care Inspections - with Henry Mathias
16th November 2016 - Opening Playworlds for Early Years Children through Theatre and Drama-led Play - with Virginia Radcliffe
8th February 2017 - Supporting Children in Block Play - with Catriona Gill
1st March 2017 - Final Course Projects from Froebel Students: Opportunity to learn about innovative and creative children’s learning from three experienced practitioners
8th June 2017 - Excellent Outdoor Learning Experiences with Learning through Play - at Fenton Barns Nursery
13th September 2017 - Forest Kindergartens - with Rosemary Welensky
3rd October 2017 - Care Standards - with Henry Mathias
22nd November 2017 - Bringing more Play into the School Day - with Marguerite Hunter Blair
7th February 2018 - Play in Primary 2- Closing the Continuity Gap - with Martine Leitch, followed by Branch AGM
7th March 2018 - Speech and Language – Closing the Vocabulary Gap - with Fiona Horbatowska and Lynne Cram from the ICAN Team
2nd May 2018 - Loose Parts Play: Are you ready for the challenge? & Innerwick’s Loose Parts Journey: Developing practice based on creative free play with open-ended resources - with Kelly Clarke & Sarah Laing
7th June 2018 - Summer Outing - Under 5s at the National Galleries of Scotland - with Anna Murray & Liz Conacher
3rd October 2018 - A visit to the One-ery - with Karen Richmond
14th November 2018 - French - English puppet shows & workshops - with Tania Czajka
7th March 2019 - Promoting outdoor play and gender equality - with Henry Mathias
9th May 2019 - Why Music? - with David Trouton
Edinburgh and the Lothians Branch Team
Chair: Lisa Barnes
Secretary: Ann Burton
Treasurer: Kathryn Harper