MPs are warning that childcare in England could become the preserve of the wealthy, unless a £660 million funding gap in a free childcare scheme is plugged.

The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Childcare and Early Education said severe financial strain has been placed on private and independent nurseries offering the Government's flagship free 30 hours scheme, suggesting there is an approximate funding shortfall of 20% an hour for every child.

In its report, Steps to Sustainability, the APPG says that recent policy decisions are increasing financial strain on childcare providers.

Introduced in 2017, the national scheme offers parents of all three- and four-year-olds an additional 570 hours of funded childcare a year.  But early years providers have long said the level at which these hours are funded by government has left them having had to find other ways of making up the difference.

Early years provisions operating in poor areas are likely to struggle, leading to a potential reduction in nursery places, while in affluent areas an increase in places looks more likely. BBC Online

From September 2019, Ofsted will change the way it inspects schools, colleges, further education institutions and early years settings in England when the Common Inspection Framework (CIF) is replaced by the Education Inspection Framework (EIF).

To find out more about what it's like being inspected under the new EIF, visit the PACEY YouTube channel and read our briefing note for schools and settings on Learn Together.

The new Department for Education campaign Hungry Little Minds encourages parents and carers to adopt positive activities and behaviors to boost children’s communication, language and literacy development.

The three-year campaign, which launched with social media and online adverts in July, aims to help parents understand that they have a massive impact on their child’s learning. Reading, playing and chatting with them are simple things they can do to help them develop, even when they are too young to say much back.Parents can access tips and activities from hungrylittleminds.campaign.gov.uk

Change4Life have teamed up with Disney to inspire and motivate children to get active this summer.  Buzz Lightyear and other characters feature in games and other activities in the summer 2019 “10-minute shake-up” campaign.

Full details, including quizzes and downloadable resources can be found at: nhs.uk/change4life. Please encourage families to join up with the campaign to keep children active and healthy this summer.

In a concerted effort to make Glastonbury Festival more sustainable and to help Festival-goers consider their use of single use plastics, plastic drinks bottles were not available at this year’s festival. Festival-goers were encouraged to use a reusable water bottle, which could be refilled for free at water tap and WaterAid kiosks throughout the festival site, resulting in more than a million bottles of water that have not been drunk.

We want to stay up-to-date with what you're doing at your setting to help reduce your carbon footprint and we invite you to share your strategies with us, for our next edition of Jigsaw. Please email: eycinfo@cambridgeshire.gov.uk with your contribution by 3 September 2019.

Understand the fundamental importance of play across every area of physical, emotional and cognitive development at the Play Masterclass on Friday, July 12, 2019. Presented by National Playworker of the year Ben Kingston-Hughes from Inspired Children.

This interactive play session will introduce brand new research into the nature of play and offer a wealth of practical activities to use with children using low cost / free resources. There are only a few places remaining, so to join in the fun visit the 'Masterclasses' section via this link: cambslearntogether.co.uk/early-years-workforce-development-and-training-1/

Start planning your staff Professional Development for the forthcoming academic year. The new Early Years and Childcare programme can now be viewed on Learn Together Cambridgeshire.

Bookings now open at: cambslearntogether.co.uk/early-years/early-years-offer.

A hard copy version will be delivered to your setting shortly.

Evidence is clear that pre-birth to 5 years is a crucial period, in which lays the foundations of a child’s future; shaping their development, educational attainment and life chances. Best Start in Life aims to ensure children in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough are healthy, happy, safe from harm and ready for learning.

The Best Start in Life group, being jointly led by the council’s Public Health Directorate and Transformation Team, brings together a wide range of organisations and professionals representing the wider early years system, including, early year’s education, early help, maternity, heathy child programme and voluntary sector.

The following link provides a quick summary presentation of the Best Start in Life strategy, and which specific areas it will identify: youtube.com/watch?v=5qvuWpnVdiA

A great way to recycle some of your own books and enjoy some new ones has been initiated by the Look for a Book scheme. Set up with the aim to get more children (and adults) reading as well as outdoors.

Taking part is simple; if you find a book, post a picture on the LfaB Facebook page and let people know where the book was found. People want know how far these books have traveled and when their hidden books have been discovered. Once you’ve read the book go back outside and hide it in a suitable hiding place, easy to reach and that are away from any dangers. If you decide to keep the book, then please hide a new book for someone else to enjoy! Currently the books can be found in Burwell, March, St Ives, St Neots and Whittlesey.

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.