The Purposeful Provision Conference (Pudsey)
The Purposeful Provision Conference is coming back to Pudsey on 27th February 2027. Building off the success of the 2026 Spring conference we're bringing you a STEM focussed event with 4 fabulous workshops. This year you'll attend all 4 workshops (they're a little shorter) so you get a broad taste of all things STEM!
Check out the speakers below:
Angharad's Workshop
Join Angharad Pass for her workshop all bout science. What if the richest science learning in your setting is already there, just waiting to be supported? This workshop invites practitioners to reframe everyday continuous provision as a space for deep scientific thinking, with a particular focus on the science of 'movement'.
Through familiar areas such as the water tray, block play, and the outdoor environment, we will explore how children encounter complex ideas like flow, force, and resistance.
Rather than adding new resources, this session will demonstrate how small shifts in adult interactions, questioning and provision set-up can transform everyday play into rich scientific enquiry. Grounded in current Early Years research, the workshop will support you to recognise, extend, and value the powerful science already unfolding in your provision.
Come and rethink what science looks like in the Early Years, and leave with practical, immediately usable ideas that deepen children’s understanding of how the world moves.
Fiona's Workshop
Join Fiona Joines, author of Embracing Technology in the Early Years: A Practitioner’s Guide for a hands-on workshop exploring the power of unplugged "tech". Discover practical, experiential learning through hands-on activities using a range of tools and materials. This session prioritises playfulness, curiosity, and the joy of hands-on discovery.
James' Workshop
Join James Tunnell for his workshop all about Engineering. Engineering isn’t just a fancy word for playing with blocks; it’s about solving problems, failing, and trying again. In this session, we’re going to get stuck in and look at how engineering skills actually grow—moving from that first messy bit of sticky tape to complex, thoughtful structures.
Expect to get your hands dirty. We’ll be working with cardboard and a range of tools, showing you how to give children the actual skills they need to turn a delivery box into something incredible. It’s practical, it’s down to earth, and you’ll leave with ideas you can actually use in your setting on Monday morning.
Mel's Workshop
Join Melanie Shepherd for her workshop all about Maths.Maths isn’t just about reciting numbers to ten while an adult records it on an iPad. Mel is here to strip away the fluff and look at the real building blocks of mathematical brains. If the foundations aren't solid, the rest of the house won't stay up.
She’ll be diving into the 'hidden' maths that starts at birth: the sorting, matching, ordering, and patterns that make everything else click. This is about going deep into the concepts instead of just rushing through to the next level. It’s a practical session that will help you spot the high-level maths in what children are already doing from birth right through to the end of Reception.
We're kick starting the conference talking about Creativity
We’ve all been there: spending hours prepping 'curated' activities only for the children to be 'bored' in thirty seconds. But honestly? That’s great news. We’ve fallen into a trap of constantly feeding children ideas, and it’s actually killing their ability to think for themselves. If we provide every spark, they never learn how to light their own fire.
In this keynote, I want to talk about why we need to stop being 'Activities Directors' and start letting children itch for something to do. We’ll look at how we can still teach the important stuff and deliver new learning without being the constant source of entertainment. Let’s get back to basics and reclaim the brilliance of a bored child.
Drop us an email to admin@nurserynook.co.uk telling us how many and who will be attending and we can invoice you.
Or if you're booking just one you can book directly below.