From Insight to Impact: Turning Research into Early Years Practice
£120.00 ex. VAT
Training Day – Thursday 21st May 2026
9.30-3.30am
Immaculate Conception Church Hall
2049 Maryhill Road, Glasgow, G20 0AA
After the success of our Training Day in January, exploring attention, neuroscience, and professional curiosity, we are delighted to invite you to a special follow-up event that takes the conversation further.
This inspiring day will reconnect us with two of the sector’s most thoughtful voices Professor Sam Wass and Dr June O’Sullivan MBE, as we move from understanding the science to shaping everyday practice.
Together we will explore what happens when research meets the real world of early years settings. How do we create environments where children’s attention can flourish? How can professional curiosity turn everyday observations into meaningful change? And how do we build teams confident enough to question, reflect and evolve their practice?
This follow-on training day is designed for leaders and educators who want to deepen their thinking, strengthen their environments, and continue the journey toward truly reflective early years practice.
Expect a day filled with fresh insight, practical thinking, and the kind of conversations that stay with you long after the event has finished.
Professor Sam Wass
Attention in the Real World: What the Latest Neuroscience Means for Early Years Practice
Building on his keynote on the science of attention, Professor Sam Wass returns to explore what happens when we take neuroscience out of the lab and place it inside the busy, noisy reality of early childhood settings. Drawing on his research into how babies and young children process information in everyday environments, Sam will examine how attention develops moment-by-moment through interactions with people, spaces, and experiences.
This session will look more closely at the relationship between distraction, curiosity, and deep engagement. Sam will challenge the idea that children simply “have” short attention spans, instead showing how attention is shaped by context, stress levels, emotional security, and the design of the learning environment.
Practitioners will be invited to reflect on how small changes in adult behaviour, pacing, and environmental conditions can dramatically influence children’s ability to sustain attention and regulate themselves. With a blend of cutting-edge neuroscience and practical insight, this session will help early years educators translate research into thoughtful everyday practice that supports focus, resilience, and joyful learning.
Dr June O’Sullivan MBE
Leading with Curiosity: Embedding a Culture of Inquiry in Early Years Settings
Following her inspiring session on action research, June O’Sullivan returns to explore how curiosity can become the driving force behind leadership, professional development, and innovation in early childhood education. Drawing on her extensive work championing reflective practice across the sector, June will show how small questions asked by practitioners can grow into powerful catalysts for change.
This session will look at how settings can move beyond one-off projects and instead build a sustained culture where staff feel confident to test ideas, gather insight, and learn together. June will share examples from practice that demonstrate how everyday observations, from children’s play patterns to practitioner interactions, can become the starting point for meaningful enquiry.
Participants will consider how action research strengthens professional voice, builds team confidence, and keeps practice rooted firmly in the lived experiences of children. By combining professional curiosity with simple structures for reflection, this session will show how early years teams can continue evolving their practice, ensuring that improvement is driven not by compliance, but by a genuine desire to understand children more deeply.