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Bulletin 234

10th May 2022

Welcome to our new style Early Years and Childcare bulletin. Previous bulletins are still available at: Cheshire East Early years and Childcare Bulletin

Look out for...

Cheshire East Libraries – Stories and Songs

Look out for information about 'Stories and Songs' sessions in Cheshire East Libraries.

Covid-19

Latest Cheshire East Covid figures

Using data from 30 April 2022, there have been:

• 656 cases in the previous 7 days
• 1051 cases in the prior 7 days (up to 23 April)
• 170 cases per 100,000 population in the previous 7 days
• 124 cases in England per 100,000 in the previous 7 days 

Business Support

Childcare Sufficiency Assessment Parent Survey

We are currently doing a Childcare Sufficiency Assessment. Please encourage your parents to respond to the survey and let Cheshire East know what works well or what could change when it comes to choosing and using childcare in Cheshire East. As part of this, someone will win tickets for Aladdin, the new Pantomime at Crewe Lyceum Theatre. You could win a family ticket to the opening night - the Pantomime is running from Friday 16 December 2022 to Sunday 8 January 2023. For a chance to win simply complete the parents childcare survey.

FEEE – Afghan and Ukrainian children

Afghan and Ukrainian children aged 2, 3 and 4 years old living in Cheshire East are entitled to 15 hours early education irrespective of the immigration status of the child or their parent(s). To claim FEEE funding for children from Afghanistan or Ukraine, please add their details to the Provider Portal in the usual way. Should the Provider Portal be closed, please email the FEEE Team (FEEE@cheshireeast.gov.uk) who will update your funding claim.

In addition, please also complete the short form (link below), enabling the authority to monitor take-up of the free entitlement.  Please complete this form each time an Afghan or Ukrainian child starts or leaves your setting. If any Afghan or Ukrainian children currently attend your setting, please retrospectively complete this form and continue to use the form as you have any new starters or leavers.

https://forms.office.com/r/RN5KbkKrzL

Safeguarding and Welfare Requirements

Operation Encompass

Last week we ran provider briefings about the launch of Operation Encompass in early years settings. If you weren't able to attend these sessions we will be running them again later in the year. Keep a look out on the online shop for further dates. Information and training will be available soon to help you support children who may have been affected by domestic abuse.

Ofsted

Inadequate judgement

If you receive an Inadequate judgement at your inspection, Ofsted will tell the local authority about your inspection judgement. Ofsted advise you to contact your local authority adviser/development worker and they will provide support or training to help you make the necessary improvement.

Email: earlyyearsandchildcareteam@cheshireeast.gov.uk 

Cheshire East Ofsted update

Cheshire East had 5 Ofsted reports published for early years settings in April. 4 settings received a good judgement and 1 received an outstanding judgement.

Ofsted have seen good practice with promoting food allergy awareness in settings; staff who have been supporting children to celebrate what makes them unique; clear risk assessments, including emergency evacuation procedures; and asking perceptive questions, which help to establish a joint understanding of their thinking.

Some areas of practice to focus on has been to give clear and purposeful feedback to staff on their practice to raise the quality of teaching to an even higher level; group time to meet the individual needs of all children; and ensuring staff suitability and recruitment procedures are up to date.

EYFS Learning and Development

Cheshire East Libraries – Stories and Songs

Cheshire East Libraries have relaunched their Storytime sessions as ‘Stories and Songs’. This is to better reflect the content of the sessions, which have been designed to be interactive and encourage children and parents/carers to join in with a mix of stories, rhymes, activities, and crafts. Stories and Songs is suitable for preschool children and their parents/carers. The sessions last half an hour, are free, and there is no need to book. Please share this information with your parents by following the link below to find out more about Stories and Songs and our other activities for Under 5s. We look forward to welcoming you soon.

SEND

The National Deaf Children's Society Early Years Networking Groups

The National Deaf Children’s Society are establishing UK-wide networking groups of practitioners who work with children in the early years. The groups will meet four times a year to share knowledge, experience and best practice so you can broaden your expertise to better support deaf children. If you don’t currently have a deaf child in your setting but would like to know more about how to be ready for deaf children in the future, please feel free to come along! Our next networking group is: Supporting Transition for Deaf Children in the Early Years 17 May 2022 4pm – 5:15pm on Zoom Or 19 May 2022 6:30pm – 7:45pm on Zoom See the link below for further information or to sign up.

Continuous Professional Development

Training Evaluations

To enable us to evaluate the effectiveness of our training offer, we will now be asking all delegates to complete a questionnaire at the start and the end of each training course to establish their knowledge, understanding and confidence before and after as a result of the training. In addition to giving a rating you will be asked questions such as:

What have you found most useful about today?

What will you implement as a result of this training/network?

What key messages will you share with colleagues?

During online training delivered over Teams the questionnaires will be conducted via Survey Monkey and during face to face training you will be asked to complete a paper questionnaire.

We will also be conducting a Post Training survey; approximately 2 months after the course a random selection of delegates from each course will be telephoned to establish the impact of the training and identify how the training could be enhanced. Delegates could be then be signposted to additional training if required.

Your cooperation and input will be gratefully received.

Recognition Awards

We will also shortly be launching our Recognition Award Schemes whereby settings will have the opportunity to work towards gaining a Recognition Award in the areas of:

• SEND
• Safeguarding
• Communication and Language
• Wellbeing
• Two Year Olds

The Award will be valid for 1 year and in order to qualify for the Award, settings must have shown commitment to the ongoing continuous professional development of their staff by having a named Lead (and Deputy if required) in the designated area. At least 1 member of staff must have attended each of the specified training courses and networks and completed the relevant audit if requested to. They may also show further commitment to their staff CPD by accessing additional training. In return the setting will receive a Recognition Award which they will be able to display in the setting and promote to parents and visitors.

Training coming up this term.

Our upcoming online training courses include:

Understanding the Education Inspection Framework – 11^th May 9.30-11.30am

Delivering Small Groups – 18^th May 9.30am-12.30pm

We are also now very pleased to offer some face to face training including:

Effective Interactions – 12^th May 9.30am-3.30pm at Oakenclough Children’s Centre

New to the role of the SENCO – 16^th May 9.30am-3.30pm at Holmes Chapel Comprehensive School

Attachment and Communication – 20^th May 9.30-3.30pm at Holmes Chapel Comprehensive School

Safer Recruitment – 23^rd May 9.30-3.30pm at Oakenclough Children’s Centre

We are also hosting a number of networks this term:

Let’s Talk Twos network ‘The rhythm is gonna get you!’ – 24^th May 9.30-11.00am or 25^th May 1.30-3.00pm – via Teams

DSL network – 15^th June 10.00am-12.00pm or 16^th June 6.30-8.30pm – via Teams

SENCO network – 26^th June 9.30am-12.30pm at Oakenclough Children’s Centre or 22^nd June 1.30-3.30pm via Teams

Early Language Lead network – 23^rd June 2.00-4.00pm at YMCA, Crewe,  24^th June 10.00am-12.00pm via Teams or 28^th June 10.00am-12.00pm at Oakenclough Children’s Centre

To book your place, please log onto the Early Years Online Shop below.

Don't Forget!

Quality Improvement and the Early Years Reforms – part 5