National Teacher Conference

We know that there is nothing quite like coming together in person to transform our practice, to connect with each other and develop new ways of working between our schools. We hope that many of you will be able to attend this event and find the strength and resilience that is needed in these challenging times if we are going to support the children coming towards us. This conference will enable us to explore our own imagination and inspiration to support the creativity of the children in our schools and settings. All staff are welcome – early childhood practitioners, including parent and child group leaders, class teachers, upper schoolteachers and guardians and those working in school leadership teams.

It will start at 10.30 am on Saturday 2 May and finish at lunchtime on Sunday 3 May.

Keynote presentation 'Every Teacher is an Artist of the Future'

Professor Shelley Sacks, Oxford Brookes University

Who is Shelley Sacks?

Why do we teach? What motivates us to do this demanding and complex activity? Why are teachers so important on our planet and in our world today? What can we do to energise us in our work as artists of the future? How can we help pupils develop imaginative capacities that support life instead of individualistic and disconnected fantasies? What is the special contribution to Waldorf education, and to education in general, that Rudolf Steiner’s and Goethe’s insights about ‘education as an art’ and schooling the imagination can make today? How can imagination connect thinking, heart and will? How can individual imagination and insight be explored and understood as the basis for social thinking-together to shape a living future? These are some of the questions that inspire this keynote talk that introduces inspirations for Shelley’s ‘connective practice’ approach and work in the field of ‘social sculpture’ – a term coined by the artist, Joseph Beuys, that expands our understanding of art.

Following the interactive keynote session, there will be a series of workshops (scroll down for more details) which will enable an experience of capacities that might energise us in our work and can be brought into the classroom to enhance human potential, differentiate human beings from machines, and develop vital capacities for shaping a living eco-social future.

Ceilidh with 'Paddy's Dog' on Saturday evening - 7.30-9pm

Food and sustenance: we are pleased that Louise Tiley, from Ringwood, will provide catering at the conference. The following meals (all vegan) are included in the price of your ticket:

Saturday: cooked breakfast, lunch and supper.

Sunday: light breakfast (for those staying away from home on Saturday night)

Tea, coffee and cake/biscuits at break times. 

Sunday lunch is available for a charge, and is a separate ticket from your conference ticket.

Accommodation: various options are available close by.

There are a limited number of camping spaces available for a nominal amount at Ringwood - please book directly with the school by emailing liz@ringwoodwaldorfschool.org.uk

Travel Bursaries are kindly supported by the Godparents Anthroposophical Training Fund. For more details, please email Valerie as soon as possible at businessops@waldorfeducation.uk 

Cancellations and Refunds:  We understand that plans can sometimes change. In the event of you needing to cancel your booking, refunds may not be possible. Where a refund can be offered, any costs already incurred in relation to the event will be deducted from the refund amount.

Ticket transfers may be permitted depending on the situation.

All refund and transfers requests should be submitted to Valerie at businessops@waldorfeducation.uk, who will be happy to assist.

Workshops on Saturday

1 Danyah Miller Storyteller

Danyah is an internationally renowned storyteller, author and performer with decades of experience working with schools, festivals and teacher education programmes. Bringing warmth, joy and humour to her workshops, she is known for her clear, engaging style and her practical approach to helping participants develop confidence, presence and narrative skill in storytelling.

Oral storytelling lies at the heart of literacy and learning. In this playful, interactive workshop, we’ll consider a range of storytelling genres, whilst focusing on the power and playfulness of Spontaneous Storytelling. Through simple, fun techniques and games, we’ll make up some tales together, on the spot, sparking creativity in order to connect with any audience. Check her YouTube channel for inspiration.

2 Crafting Puppets for the Young Child’s Inner World with Syenna Lister and the Ringwood Waldorf School Early Childhood Team

Syenna is the Early Years Lead and Deputy School Lead at Ringwood Waldorf School, with over 20 years of experience as an early childhood practitioner. As a tutor for the Holistic Baby & Child Care course, she focuses on child development and mindful care that fosters strong, supportive relationships with families. Her work as an Upper School Science teacher provides a practical balance to her early years expertise, offering a holistic perspective on the child’s journey from early childhood through to the autonomy of adolescence.

In the early years, the line between dreaming and waking is a gentle veil. Puppets serve as the perfect bridge, bringing stories to life with a quiet magic that nourishes the child's imagination. Join Syenna and the Ringwood Waldorf School Early Childhood team for a hands-on workshop focused on creating simple, soulful storytelling puppets and animals.

3 Honouring the Elemental Beings - not just a Forest School with Jill Taplin, NESWEC

Jill was born and brought up in the UK and in her 20s joined a group of parents founding a Steiner Waldorf school in the northeast of Scotland, near a spiritual community. Soon she found herself working in the kindergarten and discovered that was where she really wanted to be. She worked as a kindergarten teacher in Scotland and Devon until 2008. Since then, she has expanded her interest in working with adults - students, teachers and parents. She now has commitments to support Steiner Waldorf early childhood training in various countries around the world and is co-author of Understanding the Steiner Waldorf Approach, published by David Fulton.

It is very common now for schools and early childhood settings to flag up their ecological and sustainable credentials, and for parents to include 'forest school' in the mix for their children's after-school activities. Waldorf education has included the concept of actively working with nature for 100 years. What distinguishes the Waldorf approach from all the others and what does this mean in practice?

Rudolf Steiner spoke with love and delight about the nature forces which bring life to the natural world, and about how we can and must work with them. Children are born connected to this invisible world. How can we find this connection for ourselves, sustain it in the children and support them in carrying it into adulthood so that they become the eco-warriors we need for the future? This workshop will explore these ideas, in theory and practice, and, hopefully, send you away with a new enthusiasm for working with these invisible nature forces.

4 Social Experience of Eurythmy with Martina Gayer, Ringwood Waldorf School

Martina Gayer trained at the London College of Eurythmy and graduated in 2010. For the last 15 years she has been teaching in different Waldorf Schools in the UK. She is also a mother of four girls, and was first a parent at the Ringwood Waldorf School before becoming a member of staff, where she currently teaches from Kindergarten up to Class 12. In these sessions we will focus on the social experience of eurythmy and experience the harmonising and healing aspects of moving together in a group.

5 The Golden Bridge: Guiding the older Kindergarten Child into School Life with Anna Podesta, Cardiff Steiner School

Anna is an experienced Steiner Waldorf Kindergarten Teacher who has worked at Cardiff School since 1999 where she also was one of the pioneering parents that started the kindergarten in 1997. She is the Early Years Education Coordinator with a deep understanding of the needs and nature of young children. Originally from Sweden, Anna attended a Steiner school from kindergarten up to the age of fifteen, where her mother was a founding Kindergarten Teacher. Anna previously trained as an occupational therapist before starting on the London Steiner Waldorf Early Years Training.

Focusing on the needs of the older kindergarten child, this session shares games, skipping, rhyming, a movement journey, check in circle and the establishment of habits that will support a smooth transition, strengthening the will, building coordination and resilience, and supporting a confident move into Class One. The session will offer ideas to use or adapt in your own practice.

6 Are Waldorf Art lessons Creative? Part 1 (a 2-part workshop so it is necessary to book for Saturday and Sunday) with Jenny Drake, Ringwood Waldorf School

Jenny Drake has been involved in Education for over 40 years, as a Primary School teacher and Deputy Head, a Maths Consultant for Wiltshire, a Lecture on B.Ed. courses and as a Waldorf Class teacher; a role she has particularly valued as she has been allowed to teach according to her deepest principles.

Many parents ask about why the art is all the same and why aren’t children allowed to ‘be creative’. Just telling them they are ‘experiencing colour’ and they all turn out different really answers the question. We will explore some simple guided colour experience and a bit a bit of technique teaching in the first session and then progressing to how we can use those techniques and what we know about colour to creating something more individual, in the second session.

This also offers the opportunity to talk a bit about the progression through the classes: classes 1 and 2, experiencing and creating colours, classes 4/5 learning techniques like lifting paint, allowing a wash to dry then adding detail, classes 6 - 8 using techniques for more individual expression.

7 Behold the Treasures Without by Summoning the Gardener Within -The Teacher’s Inner Development with Trevor Mepham

Trevor lives on the edge of Dartmoor. He works for the Hague Circle – the International Council for Steiner Waldorf Education. Currently, he is active with teacher education programmes in the UK, Europe and Southeast Asia.  During this workshop we will explore openings & opportunities for the light to get through.

Workshops on Sunday

8 How We Share Oral Stories Really Matters with Danyah Miller

A playful and interactive workshop exploring the way we show up when we tell stories to children of all ages. It’s not just the story that matters - it’s our voice, our pace, our presence and our pleasure in telling it. Together we’ll explore how children at different ages and stages meet stories, and what they need from us as tellers, from early childhood through to adolescence. We’ll examine how to feel more at ease and more confident telling stories that land, linger and do their quiet, powerful work.

9 Crafting Puppets for the Young Child’s Inner World with Syenna Lister and the Ringwood Waldorf School Early Childhood Team

see description under Saturday's list - item 2

10  Honouring the Elemental Beings - not just a Forest School, with Jill Taplin, NESWEC

see description under Saturday's list - item 3

11 Social Experience of Eurythmy, with Martina Gayer, Ringwood Waldorf School

see description under Saturday's list - item 4

12 The Golden Bridge: Guiding the older Kindergarten Child into School Life, with Anna Podesta, Cardiff Steiner School

see description under Saturday's list - item 5

13 Are Waldorf Art lessons Creative? Part 2

see description under Saturday's list - item 6

14 Female archetypes in Wolfram's legend of the Grail, with William Forward, Forest Row

William Forward taught the Parzival main lesson at Michael Hall for over 30 years and has written articles, given talks, lectures and workshops drawing on this material. Mainly active in Upper School humanities, he is now retired and leading anthroposophical studies in groups in Forest Row

The workshop will take its inspiration from the female figures in the soul landscape of Wolfram's Parzival, ranging from: Condwiramur, who as her name suggests leads Parzival to true love, to Repanse de Schoye, the only human worthy to be the bearer of the Grail, and then to Cundrie, the witch-like embodiment of Parzival's lower self and ultimate guide to his higher destiny. It will include recitation, narrative and small group work.