National Conference 2008
The second National Conference of Personal Support in Schools on the 29 May 2008 at the Edinburgh Conference Centre – Heriot-Watt University, was very well supported with approximately 200 attending. The content of the day was split between workshops and keynote speakers. The workshops allowed delegates to learn about some of the interesting practice that is presently happening in schools, discuss the strengths and challenges for Personal Support and provide an update on current educational initiatives. The speakers spoke about the importance of personal support and how it enabled young people to maximise their potential in school, improve their capacity to learn, achieve and support the development of the four capacities from Curriculum for Excellence.
The delegates were given the opportunity at break and lunch to meet and share thoughts with others, browse the exhibitions, view the excellent work of the conference artist. They also experienced a presentation from young Polish and Scottish children who had worked with Artlink Central, making puppets, writing scripts and designing sets for their show.
The evaluations confirmed that the day was successful and delegates gained a considerable amount through attending. As in the previous Conference, it was felt that the workshop choices were difficult to make as the range was so interesting that many delegates would have welcomed the opportunity to attend more that two workshops. The keynote speakers were highly commended for their delivery and the relevance of their presentations.
The venue was excellent as was the content and organisation undertaken by the Conference planning group. The general feeling was that more events of this type should be planned for the future.