News
This page provides information on Sherborne Developmental Movement News and Events.
Published Article from an SDM Practitioner – Zillah Harford
We are delighted to share with our SA UK membership an article published in 2022 by Zillah. It was published on 9th November 2022 in Body, Movement and Dance in Psychotherapy.
Zillah has been using SDM for 30 years. She incorporated SDM into creative dance and movement workshops in preschools, mainstream and special schools for 20 years. She then used SDM in her work as a play therapist for 10 years. Zillah has also been awarded several grants to fund SDM-based work in mainstream primary schools, in particular with foster and adopted children and parents/carers and teaching assistants.
You can access the published article from the link in the original manuscript in the members’ area. Thank you Zillah and Body, Movement and Dance in Psychotherapy for sharing and publishing Veronica Sherborne’s work.
SDM @ The Bright Start Conference London & Abu Dhabi November 2025
We were delighted as an association to join 2 of our colleagues from Norway to present at the International Bright Start Conference in the Park Plaza London and Abu Dhabi 13th – 15th November 2025 – live streamed globally.
The conference presentation and more information about the presentation can be found in the members’ area.
We had a very positive response and a wonderful movement session. In fact participants really valued the opportunity to move after so much conference chair sitting. Although we prefer to work on a slippy floor we still were able to develop some SDM experiences on the conference room carpeted floor.
One attendee took the time to personally feed back – “this was the best session of the conference!”
One participant who had greater movement before her attendance at the event had an assisted jump and said, “I haven’t jumped for so long – that felt amazing!”
In the group feedback from the session the participants said, in answer to the question, “What did that feel like for you?” they stated: relaxing team work, in the moment, joyful opening, creativity, collaboration, connection, relationships and I jumped again!!!
The Caroline Robins Bursary for Sherborne
We are honoured to announce that in Caroline’s name, her family and friends have donated monies to the Sherborne Association UK to be available to participants who want to follow in her path and train as an Internationally Qualified Course Leader (IQCL). If you want to find out more about how you apply for funding to support your training in SDM – please contact SA UK. This bursary is only available for training after session 6 of the 12 session SDM training model.
Caroline first encountered Sherborne Developmental Movement (SDM) on a course run by Cyndi and George Hill at Sunfield School. What she discovered that day led her to train as an Internationally Qualified Course Leader. Caroline was secretary of the Sherborne Association for 5 years. Caroline embodied SDM in her excitement, enthusiasm and determination to share her love of moving in the Sherborne way to help others. Caroline appreciated the breadth of SDM, working with adults and children alike. Part of the legacy she has left is to help others access this training by giving financial support through a bursary in her name. This is a wish expressed by her husband Dave and her two daughters, Isobel and Briony.
“Children have two basic needs; they need to feel at home in their own body, and they need to be able to build relationships.”
Veronica Sherborne 1990
Sherborne Developmental Movement is a method of working in which the movement is securely based in normal developmental movement experiences. It was developed by Veronica Sherborne in the later part of the twentieth century. It is an inclusive approach to teaching and working with movement and one that is well grounded in Laban’s Movement Theory, which has been developed over a period of 40 years.
For more information regarding the Caroline Robins Bursary, please see Caroline Robins Bursary.
Sherborne Association UK Annual General Meeting 2025
What an AGM it was this year – after having not met in person since Covid!
We had committee members in person and on Zoom present and several Association members including one of the founders of the Sherborne Association UK – Cyndi Hill.
We had a gentle Sherborne movement welcome session – some of which we invited Cyndi to lead. The AGM began at 11.30 am and we voted on 3 new committee members and that was followed by the launch of our new training booklets for Sessions 1-6.
After lunch we had a “Specialist SDM session titled – SDM and the Learning Pyramid – presented by Amy. Amy guided us in seeing how levels on the learning period could be linked to SDM. We explored the sensory systems (vestibular & tactile etc) and the Sensory Motor Development (Bilateral Body Awareness & Body scheme) through Sherborne movement.
Thank you for all you attended and supported SA UK. Cyndi commented at the end of the AGM meeting her husband George (another founder of SA UK) and Veronica Sherborne herself would be so proud to see how we continue to embrace her work and keep it thriving in the UK. It was a good endorsement and a great inspiration for us all to continue growing SDM in the UK.
Practical Application of Sherborne Developmental Movement in Professional Practice: Insights from Practitioners in Latvia, the Netherlands, and the UK
Over the last couple of years Jan Filer has been supporting Diāna Semerova through her Master’s Degree which is focused on the use of SDM in dance movement therapy. Jan has collaborated with Diana and SDM practitioners from The Netherlands in the research. It includes information about Jan’s SDM work with mothers and their young children. This application of SDM focuses on the bonding system between their relationship particularly with mothers experiencing difficulties with the attachment relationship. Apart from training and mainstream education, taking SDM into her therapy practice has been the main focus of Jan’s work as an SDM practitioner for well over 40 years.
Diāna is presenting this SDM research in the Psychiatry section of the conference during the RSU Research Week in Latvia which takes place during 26 – 28 March 2025.
The research title is: Practical Application of Sherborne Developmental Movement in Professional Practice: Insights from Practitioners in Latvia, the Netherlands, and the UK
Sherborne Association UK Annual General Meeting 2025 – Invitation
The Sherborne Association UK AGM is due to take place on Saturday, 7th June 2025 at Solihull Retirement Village Hall in Shirley, West Midlands. All association members are invited to attend. Further details can be found in the AGM poster below.
Updated Training Structure
November, 2022
We are delighted to announce that the International Course Leaders (ICLs) in the UK were retrained alongside their International colleagues in Bristol in August 2022 to become Internationally Qualified Course Leaders (IQCLs).
This retraining event was designed to bring together all the experiences of the training that has been delivered across our community and future proof the training so that Veronica Sherborne’s intentions, understanding and ethos remain at its heart.
The new Internally Qualified Course Leaders in the UK are now ready to deliver the new training which is described further on the Training page.