The Little People, Big Dreams Conference brought delegates throughout Australia’s ECEC Sector to Darwin on Saturday, 22 October. The sold-out conference inspired over 400 attendees with a variety of exceptional speakers.
The conference kicked off with Dr. Red Ruby Scarlet and Louise Dorrat in NQF The Musical sponsored by Territory Child Care Group, setting the tone with their uplifting and humorous performance.
“The NQF Musical presented by Red and her fellow was so amazing and informative. No dull moments during play.” – conference delegate
Angus Gorrie then took to the stage to present ‘Why Play’ sponsored by Charles Darwin University, which did a deep dive into the importance of play, exploring popular topics like ‘risky play’ and ‘loose part play’ and their emotional and physical benefits.
“Why Play? With Angus Gorrie [started us] on a journey towards facilitating more authentic play experiences for our children. Our entire team left the conference reinvigorated and eager to share our new knowledge and ideas with our community.” – conference delegate
Concurrent session presenters brought practical ideas that delegates could put into practice in their own workplaces during the course of the day. In depth discussions meant that a wealth of new ideas and information was exchanged and voices of united connection were found.
“Thank you for organising. It was a fantastic opportunity to be around like-minded professionals and it motivated me to change some current practices in my classroom.” – conference delegate
“I have been really impressed with the range of topics to choose from. There was a range of areas of interest and I was finding it hard to choose which topic I wanted to visit.” – conference delegate
“You knew you were going to be in a great session when Nicole Talarico’s presentation “Emotionally literate classrooms” was moved to a larger room to be able to cater for everyone that had arrived to see her! She was able to capture excitement, intrigue and a genuine interest and kept you wanting more.” – conference delegate
“The energy and organisation was wonderful – especially your ease with moving me to the ballroom to accommodate numbers (that was also another reason I had a happy dance!)” – Nicole Talarico
LPBD was proud to present passionate speakers:
- Rhean Bates – GROW Therapy, The Translation of the Therapeutic Relationship into Workplace Practice
- Connie Borg – Child Australia, Trauma Sensitive ECEC
- Sarah Rheinberger – Goodstart, Mapping for Inclusion in ECEC
- Kyle Ratcliffe – BeYou, Let’s Talk Inclusion
- Sasha & Yas – Child Australia, Developing Professional Wellbeing
- Wendy Harmon – ECU, Belonging, Agency and the Environment
- Zoe Haack, Rewild Early Childhood
- Kari Sutton, Building Resilient Kids
- Sam Jockel – Parent TV, Supporting Parent, Child and Educator Wellbeing post Pandemic
- Rachel Marriott – Goodstart, Intensive Inclusion Support for our Little People most at Need – 3 Case Studies
- Nicole Talarico, Emotionally Literate Classrooms
- AEDC, Measuring progress in the early years – what the Australian Early Development Census 2021 results tell us
There was a common theme throughout the sessions reminding us of the whole child and that regardless of the child’s story, they have the right to be included and have a voice.
The Market Place provided an opportunity to meet industry leaders and network with other Education & Care professionals.
“Networking with like-minded professionals, affirming my knowledge base in key areas, but also learning about and researching other potential areas to further development myself professionally.” – conference delegate
The conference was closed with a sundowner event where delegates enjoyed the opportunity to network with colleagues in a relaxed environment with the added excitement of door prizes generously donated from The Hilton, Starwin, Zoe Haack and Essential Resources.
“Thank you for a wonderful day of networking and learning and listening to presenters who know their craft. It was great day of learning and fun. Food was delicious and venue was easy to find and convenient” – conference delegate
As Child Australia, the organising committee, a big thank you to our major partner Northern Territory Government and all of our sponsors, exhibitors and organising staff for making this such an incredible day!
You can check out pictures from the conference here. Did you attend and you can’t find your photo? Don’t worry, more will be coming soon!
Did you miss out or are you hungry for more inspiring, interactive, uplifting, sector related and self-related topics for you to attend?
Register for the ECLD Immersion Experience or ECLD Conference! – Enriching Children’s Lives.
Be inspired! “The reminder that our jobs are making a difference and the small things we do each day are actually the big things that make a difference.” – conference delegate