Events Archive

Dear colleague,
this is a warm invitation to join with us to participate in a West Midlands network of people inspired by the values and principles of inquiry based learning promoted by Sightlines Initiative. We are a national organisation promoting creative and reflective practice in early childhood education, referencing the work of the preschools and infant /toddler centres in Reggio Emilia in northern Italy.

4 pm Tuesday 21st June UK time

Join Robin LIVE as he introduces you to his thoughts and learnings from The Mouse House.

'The Mouse House' tracks the development of one of the many ideas that the children conceived during a 1998 Sightlines Initiative project.

Lots of theories and stories emerged through the inspiration the natural environment had on the Children's creative and curious minds. It is available here in our bookstore. 

This will be a FREE live presentation (our first one). AND there’ll be a Q&A session at the end to ask Robin your questions.

You do need to register to be part of the presentation, so please do this now. 

Then on the day before the event, we will send you an email which includes a link.  This link will take you to a page where we will be screening the presentation at 4pm on Tuesday 21 June.  So all you need is access to your email, a pen, a notebook and a cuppa!

We’ll also send all registrants a recording after the event, just in case you can't make it live. But please do try to make it live. Speak to you then!

We know that young children are creative, strong, powerful learners; that children (and educators and parents) thrive in creative enabling environments; that early years and primary educators can be creative, critical and reflective.

However, it is not easy to turn beliefs, values and aspirations into practice. External pressures can push educators towards 'delivering' instruction rather than facilitating engaged learning; even when we encounter engaged learning, we often don't know where to start in building an appropriate pedagogy and feel disheartened.

Our Developing Environments of Enquiry framework and the related Learning to Learn in Nature context is designed for everybody who wants to resolve these dilemmas. These days are designed for educators, schools, centres, and lecturers who want to begin!

THE FIRST DAY will focus on essential principles and practice; THE SECOND DAY continues for those who also wish to build their pedagogy from deep experiences in the natural environment.

ReFocus London, as part of the Sightlines-Initiative Network, invites early educators, artists and others in developing a creative and reflective approach to early years’ education and inspired in their practice by the pre-schools of Reggio Emilia, Italy. N.B: we have now reached room capacity - do please register though, and we will place you on  a waiting list and keep in touch with you.

ReFocus London: Open Meeting

5 pm start   6.30 pm  end

‘Keeping hold of our roots as we move forward’

Dear colleague,
this is a warm invitation to join with us to participate in a West Midlands network of people inspired by the values and principles of inquiry based learning promoted by Sightlines Initiative. We are a national organisation promoting creative and reflective practice in early childhood education, referencing the work of the preschools and infant /toddler centres in Reggio Emilia in northern Italy.

This day provides a unique opportunity to explore the ideas and practices of Malaguzzi and the schools of Reggio Emilia; and to think critically about the current condition and future directions for early childhood education in the UK - and what we want for our children and society. The day is organised and led by leading experts on Reggio Emilian pedagogy, from Italy, Sweden and the UK.

“There are rich children and poor children. We [in Reggio] say all children are rich, there are no poor children. All children whatever their culture, whatever their lives are rich, better equipped, more talented, stronger, and more intelligent than we can suppose.”

A day hosted by Sightlines Initiative and the Thomas Coram Research Unit, including Sightlines seminar with Gunilla Dahlberg

A one-week study visit to learn about and be inspired by the world-renowned educational approach of the preschools and infant-toddler centres of Reggio Emilia. This course will explore the key principles underpinning the Reggio approach to early childhood education. It will involve lectures, presentations, discussion groups, exhibitions, visits to preschools and infant-toddler centres.

Sightlines Initiative Network members present experiences of early years centres and educators being inspired, finding new enthusiasms and abilities in supporting children’s deep learning; illustrations of children's sociable, imaginative and deep learning

An introduction to the network, for educators interested in change and listening to children