The ACSI Early Childhood conference of 2023 was truly exceptional, both for its content and for the quality of speakers who contributed so much. Its theme of ‘Communication Building Blocks’ examined practical strategies for improving communication between teachers and parents – which as we all know can enrich a school incredibly.
The conference took a very different approach to those in the past, as it catered for both online as well as in-person delegates. This meant that the speakers could engage with a live audience, as well as receive questions from online delegates. Fortunately, technical glitches stayed away, and the conference ran really smoothly throughout the day.
The day was broken into three segments, with the following focus areas:
- Communicating with difficult parents
- Communicating your school’s Christian culture
- Communicating for success
Each slot consisted of three 20-minute presentations by top quality speakers, who addressed different aspects of the topic. They provided wonderfully practical suggestions of how their recommendations could be implemented. Following this, the speakers came up onto the stage for a follow-up discussion and Q&A session based on what had just been presented.
Questions arrived from all corners of the country via WhatsApp, as well as from the audience, which made for a fascinating time of digging deeper into the topics. Once again, the result was a rich harvest of practical ways of implementing communication strategies into individual classes and schools.
What became apparent during the conference was that the strategies and advice were definitely not only for ECD practitioners but are applicable in all schools. We encourage you to go onto the ACSI website to purchase access to the conference for only R150 (or R200 for non-partner schools). You will not regret it, as there is a wealth of experience and advice in each of the sessions, which will benefit your school enormously.
The following few photos give a brief insight into the conference:
