To coincide with the launch of our new website in early May, we want to tell you about our new Early Years Hub.
The Early Years Hub, which includes the Family Information Service, is the main contact point for any professional, parent, or family member who needs information, advice, and support. Our Early Years Hub Officers are on hand to listen to a family's situation, and help them access the services that will best support them.
The Hub can offer support on a wide range of areas including:
- Childcare
- Activities and community provision 0-25 years
- Child behaviour
- Parental support
- Support services
- Information and signposting to other services
- Childcare setting support and training
Anyone who needs advice and support can contact the Early Years Hub.
In our March bulletin we told you about our new website which is now planned to go live on 4th May after the bank holiday.
This website will feature a dedicated section for training and professional development for those who work in the early years and childcare sector. It will include details of our full course programme, our latest training timetable and an online training request form.
As the site won't be available until 4th May, we will be sending out a special bulletin in early April that will give details of the forthcoming training opportunities for May, June and July. Please keep a look out for this!
From April, the hourly rate paid for childcare under the Offer will increase to £5.00 per hour.
As part of this, the amount that settings can charge for food will also increase from £7.50 to £9.00 per day. The breakdown of this new daily amount is as follows:
- Full day care session – maximum charge £9 per day (three meals at £2.50 per meal and two snacks at 75p per snack).
- Half-day session - maximum charge £5.75 per session (two meals at £2.50 per meal and one snack at 75p).
- Sessional care where a meal is not provided – maximum charge of 75p for one snack.
Later this year the Childcare Offer is going Digital. This means that if you are a childcare provider who currently provides Childcare Offer hours, or wishes to provide Childcare Offer hours, you will need to register and manage this through a new web portal that is currently being developed.
If you are worried about your own digital skills and confidence using technology and need extra support, Digital Communities Wales have created a set of video guides to help boost your confidence, from creating a government gateway account, to savings and uploading documents!
Click here to register for these resources.
 At least 1 in 100 people in Wales are autistic. The #CanYouSeeMeEarlyYears campaign which launched on 28th March aims to inform the Early Years sector of the resources available to support them in becoming autism aware settings.
The National Autism Team’s Early Years certification scheme can help early years settings become more autism aware. Increasing their understanding and awareness of neurodiversity and that we are all different and think differently.
Some key messages of the campaign are that:
- Autistic children and their families should feel understood and supported from the beginning of their education journey.
- Raising awareness about autism has the power to change lives of autistic children and their families.
- Completing the Early Years certification scheme will give organisation and their staff the tools to better understand and support autistic people from the start of their education journey.
Help us raise awareness about autism and enhance the lives of autistic children and their families. Become an Autism Aware Early Years setting at https://autismwales.org/en/education/i-work-in-an-early-years-setting/ #CanYouSeeMeEarlyYears #AutismAcceptanceWeek
The BBC Tiny Happy People initiative aims to reduce the ‘word gap’ by supporting parents to help develop their little ones’ vocabulary in the home learning environment. BBC Tiny Happy People are offering all nursery settings a small package via Royal mail which will include four A3 posters, two in English and two in Welsh, designed to brighten any nursery wall, containing easy to understand information.
The pack will include:
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Tiny Happy People ‘Information’ poster with links for parents and carers to access our website.
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Tiny Happy People ‘Tools for Talking’ poster showing ‘easy to do’ techniques to help parents and carers develop their little ones’ language skills.
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Information explaining the BBC Tiny Happy People initiative and how it helps support nursery teams with early years learning.
- Details about how to access their free champion training, a free, virtual, one hour training session that explains their approach, a tour of their website and key language techniques and resources that you can share with parents and carers.
If you are interested in receiving this pack, please email the Early Years Hub and we will pass your details onto them.
Over the next months we will be opening up the Framework for additional providers to come on board with us to deliver Flying Start and/or early Years Education places to meet increased demand. We have a small expansion of Flying Start in September and have identified some gaps in provision for Early Years Education places. If you are interested in this exciting opportunity to join our excellent Framework then please make sure you are registered on Sell4Wales website to receive the notification when it goes live.
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Following the introduction of the ALNET Act last year and our new processes to support children with emerging developmental delays, we now need to expand the number of childcare providers where we can offer funded placements in the term before they start Foundation Phase nursery. Keep your eyes open for an advert where we will be inviting providers to sign up to deliver this scheme and the requirements you will need to have in place to support these children. This will be a different (hopefully simpler!) process to the previous full procurement process. We look forward to welcoming you on board! 😊
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It is important that we are not giving the children in our care mixed messages. We need to make sure that if we want them to have a healthy lifestyle, we don’t suddenly overload them with vast amounts of chocolate eggs.
Instead of giving Easter eggs, why not try frozen yogurt eggs made with 500g of yogurt, a handful of granola, a handful of blueberries, and a handful raspberries. Mix, place in egg shaped moulds and freeze for 2 hours.
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