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Issue 47 - June 2019
National News
Early Education National Conferences
The role of early years providers in supporting children and families has never been more vital in these challenging times of austerity. This was central to the University of Bath’s Professor Tess Ridge’s lecture at this year’s Early Education Annual National Conference earlier in May. The presentation focused around understanding the impact of poverty on children growing up in low-income families. Handouts and resources from the conference can be downloaded here and you use the hashtag #EEANC19 to recap the discussions on Twitter. The 2020 Annual National Conference, will take place in Aberdeen between 8 and 9 May, 2020.
Campaigns update: Men in the Early Years (MITEY)
Whether you’re a man working in the early years or just want to encourage more diversity in the sector's workforce, you’ll be interested to know that the Men in the Early Years campaign has launched a new website. As a part of this new campaign, MITEY are looking for male early years practitioners who would be happy to act as case studies and share their stories. If you would like to tell your story of how you decided to work in early years, what your route was into this work and what you enjoy about it, then please get in touch with MITEY, join their mailing and sign up list as a supporter.
Fawcett Gender Stereotypes project
Although, society might teach children life-limiting stereotypes from the moment they are born; the Fawcett Society are seeking to make a real change, in a move to end gender stereotypes. With the launch of their new expert commission on Gender Stereotypes in Early Childhood, they will be exploring the impact gender stereotypes have and how gender stereotypes interact with other norms including race and class. The Commission, which runs until 2020, will gather evidence and promote practical solutions to change childhood and change lives. The Fawcett Society is calling for evidence, so you can feed into the consultation and donate towards the project or by simply, support the work by sharing their research. To get involved and to find out about current projects, please visit the Fawcett website.
Ofsted Education inspection framework (EIF)
Ofsted's new education inspection framework: ‘inspecting the substance of education’, proposed changes to the EIF in a consultation which ran from 16 January to 5 April. The changes, which will come into effect in September 2019, apply to the inspection of registered maintained schools and academies, non-association independent schools, further education and skills providers and Early Years settings.
The Ofsted EIF consultation report on the outcomes and responses to the consultation, along with summary of the changes they have made, have now been published and can now be viewed here: gov.uk
A briefing note containing case studies from pilot inspections in day nurseries and schools, will be included within the next ‘News Round-up’.
Local News
Jigsaw Magazine
The 2019 summer edition of Jigsaw is now in circulation and available to view online at cambslearntogether.co.uk
Summer’s edition profiles some of our training centre learners, and showcases the 2019 Early Years Conference, along with some great pictures from World Book Day, and seriously useful articles around finance and funding. Fantastic stories from practice include working with forces’ children and bereaved families, and our renamed “Family Focus” section rounds up activities from our Child and Family Centres around the county.
All providers receive a hard copy of Jigsaw. In addition, we have also included the new Early Years SEND Toolkit, a guide to support providers in working with Early Years children with emerging needs, special educational needs and or disabilities.
Happy reading :)
Parent information re: free entitlements
As part of a joint project with Peterborough City Council, Cambridgeshire Early Years Service has developed a number of leaflets explaining the range of free early childcare entitlements for parents.
You can view the parent leaflet on the County Council website. We have copies of the leaflet available, along with a companion leaflet about Early Years Pupil Premium and other welfare benefits. There will be an email with information on how you can order a supplies for your setting. Most settings will also have received a copy of the “professionals” leaflet in the current Jigsaw mailing.
eycJobs – service unavailable
Due to recent changes in the County Education Directorate web services, our eycJobs website is unavailable. We apologise to providers for the loss of this service. We are actively exploring alternative arrangements to support providers with their recruitment needs, and we will be seeking to implement an improved alternative to the site as soon as we can.
Talking Together in Cambridgeshire
The Cambridgeshire Talking Together team have recently been working with Active Fenland’s Heidi Lemmon on the latest version of Talking Tennis on the Wildgoose Mobile Adventures app. An interactive, virtual treasure hunt game which includes fun tasks and challenges for families to complete together in local parks. The app currently covers three Fenland parks: Wisbech Park, West End Park in March and the Wenny Road Rec in Chatteris. The aim of the app is to create opportunities for family interactions called ‘Talking Tennis’ between parents and their children to aid the development of children’s communication and language skills. You can download the free app here: yourmobileadventure.com Families with no access to a smart phone, can download Talking Walk resources from the Learn Together website.
Opportunity Area early years improvement fund update
The Fenland and East Cambridgeshire Opportunity Area are extending the deadline for applications to the Early Years Improvement Fund (EYIF). If you are an Early Years provider in this area and are keen to deliver a Communication, Language and Literacy project, working in collaboration with three or more settings, which can include your local feeder school and or other services, we want to hear from you.
Successful applicants can access up to £10,000 to support workforce development and supplementary resources to assist delivery of a small CLL research project. If you are interested and want to be considered for funding you can download an application form from the Opportunity Area website.
You can also get in touch with Paula Durrant, Opportunity Area Early Years Specialist paula.durrant@cambridgeshire.gov.uk / 07776 679 597
Wonderful Words in the Early Years
A new training package developed by Cambridge & Peterborough Speech and Language Therapy. The training covers the importance of vocabulary knowledge, supporting children’s word learning, developing vocabulary along with practical ideas and advice for use within the Early Years setting.
Early Years SENCO’s and setting practitioners are invited to attend free 1.5 hour training sessions taking place at different locations across the county later this term and into the autumn. To book your free place, please select your local session below:
The places are limited so please book early to avoid disappointment.
If you’d like more updates on Talking Together initiatives, please visit the Talking Together Facebook page.
Request a councillor visit to your setting
Cambridgeshire County Councillors have expressed a keen interest to visit providers across the county to gain valuable insight into the great work settings and schools are delivering. If you would like to take advantage of this opportunity and have a councillor to attend your setting or school, please don’t hesitate to contact the Early Years Service with your details at: eycinfo@cambridgshire.gov.uk
Pre-school immunisations 3 years and 4 months of age
Pre-school inoculations such as the second dose MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) and the 4-in-1 pre-school booster (diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough and polio) are essential to ensure children have the best protection before they start at their new school. As children can be at risk of catching preventable diseases, if they haven’t had all their childhood jabs, the NHS have produced a poster to help get the message out to parents. The poster is available for you to download on the Learn Together website.
For further information about vaccines and the ages at which children should ideally be given them, please visit the NHS website.
CambsEYC on Instagram
Come and follow us @cambseyc. Our Instagram account shares photographs focusing on continuous professional development in early years and childcare. Thank you for those who are already following us!
To share your photographs, please send to eycinfo@cambridgeshire.gov.uk where we will upload onto our Instagram account. Please ensure you have permission to share your photographs with us stating this in your email. We are looking forward to receiving your photographs.
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