To support myself through my undergraduate degree I got a job delivering music and movement workshops to early years. This involved both visits to private nurseries across Edinburgh and leading parent/guardian and child classes. I loved watching the growth and development of the children through the classes, which is why in my honours year I focused on early years child development and how this can be supported through the arts.
Upon graduation I began work with Sparkle Arts, a company which specialises in early years performing arts, delivering professional classes in performing arts to children aged 6 months to 5 years, working in nurseries using the Scottish curriculum for excellence and also delivering classes with children and their caregivers.
Whilst at Razzamataz Theatre School in Edinburgh, I developed their age 3-5 class and led this for 5 years. I then went on to develop the Perthformance academini’s class for this age range which ran for a further 5 years.
My work with early years still continues to this day, most recently I led a term of the age 0-2 and age 2-3 classes at Dundee Rep and led 3 terms of nursery classes for Horsecross Arts (Perth Theatre). During one of these terms I was given the privilege of mentoring their creative learning trainee in delivering creative sessions in nurseries.
Recently I have delivered a programme of CPD sessions across local nurseries with early years staff encouraging creativity within the nursery setting. I have also continued my own professional development in this area by attending training with Starcatchers including: Intergenerational training, exploring movement, using music and voice in an early years setting and creating a trauma informed arts sector.
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