Early years and childcare news round-up Issue 51 - October 2019

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Issue 51 - October 2019



National News



 

Scotland ban the smacking of children

Telling-off

MSPs debated the issue and voted overwhelmingly in favour to make the smacking of children illegal in Scotland. The smacking ban – which is the first in any UK nation will give children the same protection from violence as adults, by removing the defence of justifiable assault in Scots law.

The Bill, introduced by Scottish Greens MSP John Finnie, called for cross-party support for the "vital legal protections for Scotland's children". Mr. Finnie argued adding: "Physical punishment has no place in 21st-century Scotland."

Removing a parent's right to hit their child brings Scotland up to international standards; the United Nations, the Council of Europe, and almost every other European country that has already done so, but will also inspire the other parts of the UK to give this protection to their children as well. https://bit.ly/32rKL87

Britain's Naughtiest Nursery?

Naughty Nursery

Channel 5’s recent show 'Britain’s Naughtiest Nursery' aimed to ‘help the UK’s most challenging children’ already excluded from settings near their own homes, and featured child psychologist Laverne Antrobus.

The NDNA’s Stella Ziolkowski took issue with the negative portrayal of pre-schoolers and labelling of children in this way. “Children exhibit behaviours for a number of reasons and labelling this as ‘naughty’ is not appropriate. This is a time for children to learn how to recognise and deal with strong emotions and their physical responses."

When young children’s capacity to contain their emotions is developing, they need safe adults to help them regulate their feelings. If they can’t explain how they feel, frustration can turn to rage.  Establishing an emotional connection with a calm adult helps them to learn to manage their own emotions.

Read more here: https://bit.ly/2oYvUTT

Parenting in the spotlight: positive models needed

biting

Nursery workers claim the use of modern technology has stunted pre-schoolers’ ability to express emotions.

A recent poll of nursery owners, managers and workers found that three in five nursery staff have to deal with children biting. The survey, which received 1,000 responses found 27 per cent of nursery workers say they have seen a rise in the number of children biting in the past five years.

A further study by the Book Trust found parents who do not have enough time to talk and read to their children often use home assistant technology, like Amazon’s Alexa, to give their child a night-time story.

Models such as the Five to Thrive approach (Respond – Engage – Relax – Play – Talk) help parents and practitioners to model and manage their own behaviour, so that children can develop and learn in a healthy and holistic way. 

https://bit.ly/35MTT9e

PM pledges £14 billion for schools

PMBJ

Schools across England learn how they will benefit from the Government's multi-billion pound investment in pupils' education. The new funding allocation includes £780 million in 2020-21 to help children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) to reach their potential.

The extra money, available from April, will: 

  • Ensure that per-pupil funding for all schools can rise at least in line with inflation
  • Progress the implementation of our National Funding Formula, delivering promised gains in full for historically under-funded areas
  • Give schools the certainty they need to plan their budgets

https://bit.ly/33lq5yv

SEND support is it working?

H Pinnington

Identifying the new children with SEND and knowing the specialist support that they will need is one thing, providing enough staff however can be difficult.

And while the Chancellor's recent Spending Review announcement was welcomed, this is a fraction of what is needed.

Helen Pinnington (Early Years Lead at St Thomas More’s school in Hampshire) talks to Tes about of the biggest headaches in planning for quality in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) https://bit.ly/2IWDGon

New T Level courses

T level

The Department of Education (DfE) announced, the early years sector, alongside construction and digital, will be one of the first new technical qualifications to be taught at selected schools, colleges and other further education providers across England.

The new T Level courses, which are to be introduced in September 2020, will follow GCSEs and will be equivalent to 3 A Levels. The DfE said that T Level students will need to complete a high-quality industry placement of at least 315 hours (or around 45 days) to build the knowledge and skills they need to thrive in a workplace environment. https://bit.ly/2BC1UTI

Ofsted Inspections review

Ofsted good

The new education inspection framework represents an evolution in Ofsted’s approach to inspecting the early years; shorter, clearer and more to the point than before. Relinquishing the need to create reams of paperwork, and in turn, allowing practitioners to spend more time with young children.

Since the new framework came into effect on September 2019, Ofsted inspectors have found that they were able to effectively gather enough evidence about how providers organise their early years provisions without having to focus on written documentation. Particularly in regards to the provisions intended for the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) curriculum.

Gill Jones, Ofsted Early Education Deputy Director, shares what they’ve learned from seeing the first new-style inspection reports. https://bit.ly/2npADNR

Getting it right in the EYFS: launch event

EarlyEd coalition logos

The coalition of early years organisations, which has been convening to respond to the government's proposed changes to the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), has recently launched "Getting it right in the EYFS: a review of the evidence" and discussed the implications of the findings. 

The event also included interim findings from the Early Education’s survey of practitioners' views on the effectiveness of the EYFS. 

As part of Early Education’s ongoing engagement with the government about the proposed changes to the EYFS. A formal consultation is expected to be issued later in the autumn. https://bit.ly/2mcx8cL

GenderEYE Staff Survey

Gender survey flyer

Lancaster University partners with the Fatherhood Institute to investigate, how men are recruited, supported and retained in the early years and childcare workforce, as teachers and carers for preschool children.

Two surveys have been created for early years setting managers and practitioners/staff to help gain a better understanding of the early years workforce in terms of age, qualifications, training, challenges, and support.

The survey for practitioners will cover the above areas and ask about roles undertaken. Whereas the survey for managers will have specific questions on development and recruitment strategies for attracting men to early years education.

Both surveys are completely anonymous and available to complete up until 20th December 2019, here https://bit.ly/2pgpmji 



Local News



 

Let’s Just Play Conference

Let's Just Play Conf

Calling all practitioners working with school-age children (4yrs+) This year’s fun and interactive ‘Just Play Conference’ promises to challenge your approaches to play whilst embedding good practice and developing personal knowledge.

The conference which takes place on Saturday 2nd November 2019 will be presented by keynote speaker Ben Kingston-Hughes (Director of inspiredchildren.org.uk and National Playwork Trainer of the Year 2019) You can watch a short video of what Ben has in store here: https://bit.ly/2P5xi1Z

For more information and to book visit the 'Conference' section on the Learn Together website: cambslearntogether.co.uk

Consider Fostering

Hunstanton

Cambridgeshire County Council (CCC) needs people from all walks of life and want to hear from anyone who has a spare bedroom in their home. Can you open your heart and home to local children and young people who need the love and support?

Fostering is a hugely rewarding, but there are many myths surrounding the role which can stop people from making and inquiry. These include:

  • Depending which type of fostering you choose, working is not a barrier so apply. 
  • You are never too old to foster and we welcome the experience.
  • Even if you have your own children we want to hear from you.
  • Another misconception is that foster carers have to be perfect, we want people who can offer safe, secure and loving home.

Foster carers provide a stable family support network at a time of great uncertainty. People should not rule themselves out because they have children, are single, married or partnered, work, live in rented accommodation, or want to foster past retirement age.

CCC offer generous allowances, start-up package and 24 hour access to advice and support. If you would like to register your interest then please call 0800 052 0078, email fostering@cambridgeshire.gov.uk, or visit cambridgeshire.gov.uk/fostering

The Good Life

goodlife

To coincide with this month’s World Mental Health Day (10th October) a new mental health service has been launched across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough

‘The Good Life Service’ is a fresh approach to community based mental health and wellbeing support developed alongside individuals with real experience of mental health issues.

Delivered by local charity CPSL Mind alongside a range of partners the service will be embedded in local communities and delivered across Cambs and Peterborough City.

Here’s a video from the launch event at a ‘Good Mood Cafe’ in St Neots. https://bit.ly/2Mykyz1

Making SEND Everybody’s Business

comiccon

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough are children invited to show off their artistic abilities through a competition inspired by County Councils SEND Pledge to life, and their ambition to make special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) everybody’s business.

The SEND art competition was launched Councillor Lynne Ayres and Simon Bywater at an inclusive ComicCon event Feel The Force Day.

The world’s only film and TV convention designed for people with disabilities, additional needs, and sensory impairments.

Winning artworks will be used to create a poster to illustrate how the council will work together with children and families to help them to achieve their potential. https://bit.ly/35SRAl9

Healthy Start free family support

Healthy Start

Healthy Start is an important part of the Cambridge Sustainable Food (CSF) poverty work. For many Cambridge children experiencing or at risk of food poverty, Healthy Start vouchers, which are available to young families on benefits to spend on fruit, veg, and milk, help to ensure they receive the best possible start in life.

Only 56% of eligible families are currently claiming their vouchers, therefore many families are missing out on this free support. 

To promote the scheme CSF recently launched a Facebook page. The page provides information about the vouchers as well as fun food tips and family-friendly recipes. Further information can be found on the NHS website: https://bit.ly/1H06ggS

Best Start in Life

BSiL

Best Start in Life Implementation Group would like to all those who attended the recent Workforce Focus Groups. Throughout the sessions over 150 people attended from across a wide range of services. Your feedback and input in these sessions were incredible and have helped the group to shape how to approach the next implementation phase; realising the integrated model of delivery. 

The very clear message to come out of our Focus Group sessions was the appetite for further opportunities to meet as a broader workforce, to continue the conversation, as well as further developing working relationships across the whole network. In response to this, there will be a further run of focus group meetings held in early December 2019.

Dates and venues will be communicated by the end of the month.

In the meantime, if you have any questions or further feedback please contact Transformation.Team@cambridgeshire.gov.uk.

My Cambridgeshire Smile :D

my smile

Selected settings across the county have been invited to join in the 'My Smile' programme.

Specialist Oral Health team members will be coming into settings to work with practitioners to implement a supervised tooth brushing approach for pre-school children.

The project will provide all guidance, equipment, and promotional materials for up to three years.

Oral health plays a huge part in our wonderful smiles, and as World Smile Day took place on 4th October, this campaign comes at an opportune time.

CambsEYC would like to share photos of your nursey’s cheeky grins in the spring edition of Jigsaw magazine if you’d like to take part email: eycinfo@cambridgeshire.gov.uk with ‘MySmile’ in the subject line.

Talking Together

TTiC

Talking Together in Cambridgeshire, Cambridgeshire Skills and Cambridgeshire Libraries are working together to develop a new first-steps adult literacy programme, to help broaden the adult literacy offer to March, Chatteris and Huntingdon.

The programme will be aimed at those who would like to brush up on their reading, writing or spelling, or would like to gain the confidence to take a step towards achieving their goals.

If you would be interested in hosting a first-steps programme from your venue, or know of someone who would be interested in attending a programme like this, please contact community.literacy@cambridgeshire.gov.uk / 01223 699 671

To keep up-to-date with all the latest community literacy projects visit the Learn Together website or the dedicated Talking Together Facebook page.

Jigsaw Magazine

Jigsaw autumn 2019

The 2019 autumn edition of Jigsaw is currently in circulation and all providers should now have received a hard copy of the magazine. The e-edition of the latest Jigsaw, along with previous issues are available to read and download on the Learn Together website: cambslearntogether.co.uk.

Should like to contribute to the next edition of Jigsaw magazine or News Round-up, please feel free to email the CambsEYC Communications Team: eycinfo@cambridgeshire.gov.uk

CambsEYC online

socials

For more sector news, and information focusing on continuous professional development within Cambridgeshire, along with upcoming conferences and events, follow the Early Years and Childcare service on Facebook: facebook.com/cambseyc and Instagram @cambseyc.

Should you like CambsEYC to share a post on your behalf, contact the service directly via Messenger: m.me/cambseyc or at eycinfo@cambridgeshire.gov.uk