We’re thrilled to announce that bookings for this year’s SCMA Conference are
NOW OPEN! With a fantastic programme again this year, you are warmly invited to join our childminder members from all across Scotland as we bring Childminding Week 2025 to a close with a BANG!
What?
Growing Together: Smiles and Milestones |
Getting it right for all-age childcare
When?
Saturday 17 May 2025 (9am – 1pm)
Where?
Online via Zoom
Cost?
FREE and exclusive to SCMA members!
The Minister for Children, Young People and The Promise, Ms Natalie Don-Innes has kindly agreed to open the conference again this year and SCMA’s Chief Executive, Graeme McAlister will follow with an exploration into Getting it Right for Childminding.
PLUS… In an exciting new development to the programme this year, we then have two wonderful guest speakers followed by your choice of breakout session! In addition, there will be regular opportunities for you to ask questions throughout the event using the online Q&A and chat functions.
The Rhythms in Relationships: Recognising them makes life more relaxed: Dr Suzanne Zeedyk, Developmental Psychologist, Connected Baby
It is surprisingly easy to overlook the rhythms within relationships. That’s because they are so ordinary. Developmental psychologist Dr Suzanne Zeedyk believes that when we get better at spotting them, life becomes more relaxed. In this talk, she will explore the rhythms underpinning moments of connection and conflict. These occur professionally, with children and parents and colleagues, as well as within our personal lives with friends and loved ones. Suzanne will show how recognising these rhythms can help in practical ways, such as holding boundaries, responding to distressed behaviour and talking about worries. It promises to be a session full of insight!
Compassion and Joy – Supporting Children to Thrive: Ben Kingston-Hughes, Inspired Children
This session explores simple ways to understand our children to support them to thrive. Using straightforward neuroscience, the session makes sense of our children’s behaviour and helps us to provide positive and nurturing environments full of compassion and joy to support even our most vulnerable children. He will present a compelling argument that Joy is crucial for supporting all children to thrive and underpins every aspect of their development and wellbeing. Practical strategies for using the concept of joy will be explored, to give our children a childhood full of awe and wonder helping all of our wonderfully diverse children to flourish. Based on research from Ben’s game changing book, “Why Children Need Joy,” it will be humorous, insightful and full to the brim with joy.
NEW! Breakout Sessions
When you book your place, you will be asked to select your first-choice preference* out of the following two options:
Make Every Interaction Count: Louise Steel and Louise Illingworth, Education Scotland
This interactive session from the National Early Language Leads will build on your understanding of why support for early speech, language and communication (SLC) is important. Within the session we will discuss the adult’s role in developing SLC and explore some exciting new resources that can be shared with families. You will leave the session feeling more confident in your role supporting SLC in the early years, with some practical strategies to apply in practice.
OR
Development Plans and Observations for Children of Every Age: Claire Shepherd and Susannah Knox, SCMA
One of the subjects SCMA is regularly asked for more information on is observations and development plans. In this session, Claire and Susannah will discuss the different types of plans children have and how they fit together as well as what those plans should include. They will also discuss observations, their purpose and what should be included and how the paperwork all fits together to ensure that you have a process that is manageable and thorough.
*We will try to accommodate your first choice as far as possible but if one session reaches capacity you will be allocated to the other session
How to Book
SCMA members will have received an invitation by email on Monday 17 March with your unique booking link. Alternatively, you can login to your
Membership Dashboard to book your place.
Don't forget! Attending (or catching-up and watching) our SCMA Conference will provide you with at least four hours of CPL to add to your Learning Log. This can be boosted even further if you watch the recording of the breakout session that you didn’t attend on the day...
Don’t miss out! If you do not receive a response after booking your place, please check your spam/junk folder. If it isn’t there, please email
conference@childminding.org. Your zoom event link will be sent to you one week prior to the conference.
For further information including the agenda and our guest speakers, please visit our SCMA Conference webpage
HERE.
We’re looking forward to seeing you there!