The two-day event, sponsored by Nursery World and the Times Educational Supplement, was held at the Ramada Hotel in Shaw's Bridge on 27 and 28 February, and offered more than 50 exhibitors and 28 seminars. Among the most popular seminars were 'Creating a child-centred environment', which looked at examples from Reggio Emilia in northern Italy and was led by education consultants and trainers Linda Thornton and Pat Brunton. Another big attraction was a seminar on Storysacks given by Neil Griffiths of the National Storysacks Project.
Exhibitors included Sensory and Softplay Solutions, a company based in Newry, Co Down, which makes and supplies high-quality softplay and ball pools to any shape or size. The company's founder, Dr Michelle McCormick, said the exhibition had been a great success from her perspective. 'This is an excellent opportunity to meet people face to face and to be able to respond to them in person,' she said.
'We are a Northern Ireland company working with Northern Ireland's schools and we are here to show what we are capable of doing in the areas of soft play and multi-sensory requirements. This exhibition has been very good from that point of view.'
Our Dynamic Earth, an educational exhibition from Scotland with 11 galleries of multi-sensory exhibits to teach children and adults about the planet, has won a reputation in Northern Ireland because of the exhibition.
Liz Dolan of the Edinburgh-based venue said. 'We've had loads of primary schools coming over from Northern Ireland because we have been here at the exhibition.
'Some of the schools come over for a weekend break in Edinburgh and take the children to see the tourist sights too.'
Visitors to the exhibition said how much they enjoyed it. Heather Harrison, a former teacher who now works as a nursery nurse at the McArthur Nursery on Belfast's Newtownards Road, said, 'It's lovely to see so many different stands and very many different things. It's also good to be able to see what you've ordered.'
