Lauren Child Illustration of children drawing with crayons. One has drawn hands, another two rainbows, a tree and animals.

Keeping Your Curriculum Broad and Balanced:
Celebrating the Arts and Humanities in Primary Schools

Presented by Helen Hamlyn Centre for Pedagogy (0 to 11 Years)


Join us for an inspiring in-person conference exploring the important place of the arts and humanities in primary schools. Subjects such as art, music, drama, history and geography play a vital role in children’s education, yet many schools find it increasingly challenging to protect time and resources for them alongside the pressures of maths and English.

This conference creates a space to reflect on why these subjects matter and how they enrich children’s learning and wellbeing. From nurturing creativity and curiosity to developing empathy, cultural understanding and critical thinking, the arts and humanities help children make sense of the world around them.

Through classroom examples and research insights, speakers will share practical approaches and real experiences that help sustain a broad and balanced curriculum in practice.

Whether you are a teacher, school leader, researcher or arts practitioner, this conference offers a valuable opportunity to reflect, connect and reimagine what a truly broad and balanced primary curriculum can look like in practice.


Event Schedule

The morning session, from 10am to 1pm, will feature keynote presentations. 

In the afternoon, from 2pm until 4pm, delegates will take part in five 45-minute workshops. Each workshop which will be repeated to ensure that all attendees have the opportunity to attend two sessions. 

Registered participants will receive an email in due course inviting them to sign up for their preferred workshops.


Keynote Talks 

You can view summaries of the keynote talks and workshops by clicking here to visit the UCL Discovery website, followed by the list of speakers and workshop leaders below.

The Story of Visual Communication: A Graphic History of Graphics  Chris Haughton, Children's Author, Illustrator, and Designer; Laureate na nÓg - Ireland's Children's Literature Laureate
Beyond the ‘Extra’: Arts and Humanities as Living Curriculum Tara Page, Artist, Researcher, and Professor of Pedagogy and Praxis at Goldsmiths, University of London
Poems, Singing, Rhythm and Language: A Neural Approach to Understanding Individual Differences in Children’s Language and Reading  Usha Goswami, Winner of the Yidan Prize for Education Research and Professor of Cognitive Developmental Neuroscience at the University of Cambridge
The Art of Childhood: Why Creativity Matters More Than Ever Lauren Child, Children's Author and Illustrator; Winner of the Kate Greenaway Medal and Former UK Children's Laureate
Nurturing Creativity through Work with Materials  Pete Moorhouse, Educational Creative Consultant and Artist

Workshops
Creating Visual Timelines Chris Haughton
The Language and Dialogue of Photography Pete Moorhouse
Bringing the Curriculum to Life: Using Drama to Deepen Children's Learning in History and Geography

Cragside Primary School

Marie Doyle, Teacher
Lisa Hall, Deputy Headteacher
Becky Jackson, Headteacher
Lyndsey Ward, Teacher

Song-Based Pedagogy for English as an Additional Language and Second-Language Acquisition Across the Primary Curriculum Zeinab El-Khateeb, Lecturer in Education (Initial Teacher Education), UCL Institute of Education
Centring Student and Teacher Agency through Cross-Curricular Learning and Co-Curation Laura Chesover, Lead Producer for School Programmes, British Library


This event forms part of UCL200, celebrating 200 years of pioneering research, education and impact.


Contact

For any more information regarding the conference contents, please feel free to email [email protected]. 

For any support with making your booking, please contact [email protected]

Thursday, 19 November 2026, 9:30am

Details

Venue

The British Library

96 Euston Road, London, NW1 2DB

Click here to view accessibility information about the venue.

We want to make this event as inclusive as possible. Please let us know when booking your ticket if you have any additional requirements you would like us to be made aware of, so that we can try to make reasonable adjustments.

Tickets
£100 (General Admission)
£50 (Students)
£50 (HHCP Affiliate Members*)
£50 (Higher Education Professionals)
£50 (UCL IOE PGCE partner schools**)
£50 (UCL neighbouring borough schools**)
Tickets include lunch, refreshments, and wine reception.
Offers
  • Up to two complimentary tickets for primary schools where more than 20% of the pupils are eligible for Free School Meals (FSM)
  • Complimentary tickets for UCL IOE Department of Learning and Leadership (DLL) staff and students

Claiming your discount

Discounts for students and education professionals will be applied automatically at the checkout when booked with a valid higher educational email address.

If your organisation does not provide a standard email address, or you are unable to make your booking online, please contact [email protected] for support. 

*HHCP Affiliate Members will have been given a promotion code to book their discounted tickets. 

**For UCL IOE PGCE partner schools and schools located in UCL’s neighbouring boroughs, please send your request to [email protected] to receive a booking code and complete your registration. UCL’s neighbouring boroughs are: 

Barking and Dagenham
Barnet
Brent
City of London
Greenwich
Hackney
Haringey
Islington
Newham
Redbridge
Southwark
Tower Hamlets
Waltham Forest

Other information

Photographs and video recordings will be taken during the event. 

If you do not wish to be photographed or filmed, please inform an event organiser in advance by emailing ([email protected]) or when you check in on the day.