09.30:  Registration and tea and coffee.

10.00:  Welcome and opening remarks. David Dineen, Regional Manager, Tusla.

10.10:  Practitioner briefing on family literacy research. Róisín Doherty, Director, SOLAS Active Inclusion.

10.20:  NALA update. Elaine Cohalan, Innovation Manager, NALA.

10.30:  Engaging with your child and building vocabulary through dialogic story reading. Joan Kiely, Dean of Education: Curriculum and childhood, Marino Institute of Education, Dublin.

10.50:  ArgiKids: Engage, educate and empower. Alma Jordan, Founder, AgriKids.

11.05:  Big ideas in literacy, critical literacy and oral literacy. Susan Nic Reamoinn, Education Officer, National Council for Curriculum and Assessment.

11.20:  Go to workshops. Workshops will run from 11.30 am to 1.00 pm and from 2.00 pm to 3.30 pm. You can attend one morning and one afternoon workshop:

11.30 – 1.00 Morning workshops:

A. Developing reading relationships: Empowering parents and children in their reading lives. Dr Rebecca Long, Children’s Books Ireland Book Doctor and Trinity Access Programme Facilitator.

B. Setting-up and running a ‘Fighting Words’ workshop. Nicola McGrath, Senior executive librarian and Shane Gibbons, Senior library assistant, Wexford County Council Public Library Service.

C. The museum of made-up stuff. Paul Timoney, Creative activity facilitator and storyteller.
Note: This workshop will finish at 12.45 pm.

D. Family literacy: Bringing the guidelines home. Ann Hegarty, Training Coordinator, NALA and Maggie Feeley, Research and teaching fellow, School of Social Policy, Social Work and Social Justice, UCD.

E. ArgiKids – Engage, educate and empower; Breaking down the message of farm safety. Alma Jordan, Founder, AgriKids.

1.00 – 2.00 Lunch

2.00 – 3.30 Afternoon workshops:

F. Developing reading relationships; empowering parents and children in their reading lives. Dr Rebecca Long, Children’s Books Ireland Book Doctor and Trinity Access Programme Facilitator.

G. Back to basics: Creating meaningful partnerships with parents to help initiate change. Home School Community Liaison (HSCL) and parent in the context of the ‘meitheal process’. Miriam Geaney, HSCL, Scoil Phadraig Naofa, Mountmellick, Co. Laois and Tracey Storey, Participating parent, Scoil Phadraig Naofa, Mountmellick, Co. Laois.

H. Aistear through ‘storytime’ and ‘storybags’: Helping parents understand Aistear. Mary Flanagan, Adult Literacy Organiser, Limerick and Clare ETB and Sinead Collopy, Children and Young People’s Service Committee Coordinator, Co. Clare.

I. Engaging with your child and building vocabulary through dialogic story reading. Joan
Kiely, Dean of Education: Curriculum and Childhood, Marino Institute of Education, Dublin.

J. Memory Dads and Story Dads: Creating positive connections between parents and children. Orla Calt, Jane Whelan and Melinda Niland, Family Learning Programme Coordinators, Portlaoise Prison.

Registration fee:

• €30 if you or your organisation is a paid member of NALA.
• €60 if you not a member (or you are a ‘free member’ of NALA)

If the conference fee is difficult for you or your organisation to pay, please contact Fergus Dolan in NALA at fdolan@nala.ie.