Shelly Newstead is the founder of Common Threads, a social enterprise which supports practitioners across the UK and abroad who use playwork practice in their work with children. She has managed and developed a wide range of playwork and childcare settings and written a series of management skills training courses specifically for this field.
Emma Isles-Buck has worked as a trainer and manager in childcare and playwork for various local authorities, charities and in private training companies. She has been an assessor and external verifier for playwork NVQs,helped develop playwork qualifications for CACHE and developed several management courses and workshops for different client groups. Emma now works as a freelance project manager and writer.