{"id":18976,"date":"2025-11-13T13:46:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T13:46:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/eycs\/?p=18976"},"modified":"2025-11-13T13:46:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T13:46:12","slug":"devons-first-out-of-school-play-and-childcare-conference-a-huge-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/eycs\/devons-first-out-of-school-play-and-childcare-conference-a-huge-success\/","title":{"rendered":"Devon\u2019s first out of school play and childcare conference \u2013 a huge success!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We\u2019re excited to share the success of Devon\u2019s very first Out of School Play and Childcare Conference, held in September 2025. Thanks to funding from the Wraparound Childcare budget, this landmark event was offered free of charge to schools and settings across Devon.<\/p>\n<p>The conference brought together 95 passionate professionals from across the sector, creating a vibrant space for sharing ideas, networking, and sparking innovation.<\/p>\n<h2>Feedback<\/h2>\n<p>Feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with attendees describing the event as \u201cengaging,\u201d \u201cinformative,\u201d and \u201ca real celebration of play.\u201d The organisation, venue, food, and networking opportunities were widely praised for making the day both productive and enjoyable.<\/p>\n<p>The day featured a mix of keynote presentations and hands-on workshops, which participants called \u201cfantastic and inspirational.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Highlights included:<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Wendy Russell \u2013 Co-producing a Space Where Children Can Play<\/li>\n<li>Ben Kingston-Hughes \u2013 Playful Brains: The Neuroscience of Play<\/li>\n<li>Dan Reece-Jones \u2013 Risk-Benefit Approach to Children\u2019s Play<\/li>\n<li>Play on a Shoestring \u2013 Creative, low-cost ideas for engaging children<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Practical sessions such as Food is Fun! and Marketing Skills for Childcare Providers gave attendees actionable tips to take back to their settings.<\/p>\n<h2>Impact and future plans<\/h2>\n<p>Over 80% of respondents said the conference will positively influence their practice\u2014from introducing more risky play and open-ended activities to refining food offers and marketing strategies. As one participant put it: \u201cA massive impact \u2013 so inspirational.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Attendees are already asking for more! Suggested future topics include SEND inclusion, working in shared spaces, \u00a0constructive use and storage of play resources and further CPD on neuroscience and playwork professionalism.<\/p>\n<h2>Thank you!<\/h2>\n<p>A huge thank you to our speakers, workshop leaders, and everyone who contributed to making this event such a success. Your enthusiasm and commitment to improving out-of-school provision are what make these conferences so impactful.<\/p>\n<p>We can\u2019t wait to welcome you to the next event\u2014and continue championing play for every child!<\/p>\n<h2>Save the date!<\/h2>\n<p>We\u2019re already planning the next Out of School Play and Childcare workshop style event for Spring 2026. Keep an eye on your inbox for more details coming soon\u2014this is an event you won\u2019t want to miss!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We\u2019re excited to share the success of Devon\u2019s very first Out of School Play and Childcare Conference, held in September 2025. Thanks to funding from the Wraparound Childcare budget, this landmark event was offered free of charge to schools and settings across Devon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":649,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-updates"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-17 06:14:08","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/eycs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18976","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/eycs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/eycs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/eycs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/649"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/eycs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18976"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/eycs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18976\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18978,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/eycs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18976\/revisions\/18978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/eycs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/eycs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/eycs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}