“A wonderful, inspirational and playful day!”

What a wonderful day we had for our third ‘Power of Play’ Conference this April.

Following the success of our previous two events, both held in the Autumn, feedback was that delegates wanted a longer day, held in the Spring with the opportunity to get outside, and we were keen to oblige!

We decided to hold this year’s event at the beautiful setting of Milton Hill House on the outskirts of Oxford, and were thrilled to have the usual keen uptake of early-bird bookings when we launched tickets, ahead of Christmas last year. Our programme was carefully designed with a focus this year on Early-Years development, and we could think of no better keynote speaker than our friend, Sarah Lloyd of The BUSS Model, and her co-presenter, Vicky Holland.

Around 60 delegates gathered for Sarah’s inspirational and uplifting morning talk on ‘Building Underused Sensorimotor Systems’ and the effect that early movement has on later development. Sarah described scenarios which many of our audience were very familiar with, and utilised some inspiring movement activities within the room to demonstrate how the simplest of movement can be a challenge for many children.

Sarah and Vicky presented a range of sensorimotor games and activities which allowed delegates to experience and consider different approaches to help support those developmental steps which may otherwise be mistaken for behavioural issues, and Vicky provided us with a personal insight into her lived experience with using The BUSS Model, to transform her own child’s life experience.

After lunch, with a chance for delegates to visit our exhibition area and participate in our Conference poem, we were treated to a complementary plenary session with Dr Dan Wuori; streaming for us from California at a very early hour! We’d like to thank Dan and all of our delegates for their patience whilst we navigated a frustrating sound problem at the venue at the start of Dan’s session.

The remainder of the afternoon was spent by delegates having chosen 2 from 4 experiential, 75 minute hands-on workshops. Thanks go to Ray Watters for his incredible drumming workshop (I’ve never seen quite so many happy faces in one room), to Honorata Chorazy-Przybysz for her Somatic Drawing workshop, to Sarah Lawfull for helping our delegates to get their boots muddy with ‘Risky Outdoor Play’ and to Joe Jardim-Hinds for guiding his workshop participants through ‘The Healing Stage – exploring performance and vulnerability’ . We know that our delegates greatly appreciate the hands-on nature of our workshops, and this year was no exception.

Finally, to wrap up the day, we were very excited to draw our Conference raffle, with three great prizes handed out, including an amazing outdoor wooden balance board which was kindly provided to us by sponsors Muddy Faces, along with lovely prizes from our exhibition stand holders Gina at Little Magic Train and Yasmin at Watoto Play. We also gave delegates the chance to take home our Conference Mascot – a lovely bear, generously donated to us by Asquiths of Henley. He was won, fittingly on the occasion, by Sarah Lloyd, who had invited our bear to help her deliver her keynote earlier in the day.

The feedback from the day has been simply wonderful. 

Here’s some of the feedback we’ve received already:

A fantastic conference that definitely built on last years experience! I am excited for the next one! 😃

Thank you for such a great three years worth of conferences.

Thank you for hosting such a brilliant day. I learned lots and really appreciate the inspiration and affirmation it provided.

Today has been invigorating. Ive a long drive home but its been worth. Everyone has been so friendly. I didn’t know anyone else but that hasn’t mattered as everyone was so welcoming

Absolutely brilliant. Great speakers,delegates and clear sky team. Fab,thanks

A great opportunity to connect with like minded professionals. Friendly and approachable.

Another fabulous Power of Play conference – thank you Clear Sky! I ALWAYS come away feeling so uplifted and empowered!!!

A breath of fresh air ~ professional, encouraging and supportive. There was a sense of welcome and safety. Elements of fun and plenty of food for thought. Thank you.

This has been a really excellent conference, with just the right mix of high quality presentations and workshops, as well as chances to speak to other delegates and stallholders. The themes were very relevant to my practice, and I am extremely grateful that ClearSky put it all together- huge thanks!

Didn’t know what to expect, one of the best conferences I have been to. Everyone was warm and welcoming

Best conference I’ve been to

Friendly, warm, inspirational speakers who were very knowledgeable and gave me lots of food for thought. Opportunities to meet and participate with like-minded people and discuss ideas. A lovely venue and a well organised event.

Excellent. Informative, warm and welcoming, inspiring. Plenty of things to apply in work straight away.