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Bulletin 250

31st October 2022

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

Covid-19

Latest Covid Figures for Cheshire East

The Covid figures are now being updated on a less frequent basis - for the latest figures see the link below.

Business Support

Government Help for Households

The government have published a website which shows the various measures available to help households with the cost of living crisis. This covers household costs, energy bills, childcare costs and finding employment.

Early Years Education Recovery Programme

The government is providing a package of workforce training, qualifications and support and guidance for the early years sector to support staff and settings and address the impact of the pandemic on the youngest and most disadvantaged children.

Designed to support all areas of the early years sector, the package offers:

• continuing professional development
• additional funding for qualifications
• support and guidance to early years settings through stronger practice hubs and experts and mentors

See link below for further information.

For the attention of all FEEE Providers and Administrators

We will be holding a FEEE Briefing on 15 November 2022 at either 2pm or 6.30pm. This will be a virtual briefing via Microsoft Teams.

The session is aimed at those new to FEEE and anyone else who would like an update on the Free Early Education Entitlement Funding; the briefing should last for around 1 hour. There will be the opportunity to meet some of the FEEE team and to ask questions.

Please visit the Online Shop to book your place.

Safeguarding and Welfare Requirements

Child Accident Prevention Trust

The Child Accident Prevention Trust has tips and information for Parents on how to keep children safe with fireworks. Their fireworks safety leaflet can be found here: Leaflet - Child Accident Prevention Trust (capt.org.uk)

Household Support Fund – proposed changes to supermarket voucher distribution for children and young people eligible for free school meals

The Department for Work and Pensions have recently notified local authorities that the Household Support Fund (HSF) has been extended to March 2023, meaning that families can continue to get help with their living costs.

Following this news, Cheshire East Council has directly consulted with families who have received supermarket vouchers every holiday period with the help of schools, colleges, early years settings and other family support services across the borough. A survey of eligible families said they would prefer one larger payment, so no vouchers were issued for October half term. If the new arrangements are agreed by elected members in November, vouchers will be distributed in one payment in December 2022, in time for the Christmas school holidays. These vouchers would cover the period from October 2022 to March 2023.

Please share this with your eligible families.

All practitioners and professionals can continue to make referrals for families who they believe need additional support via the Household Support Fund inquiry form.

There is also other advice and support available for you to share with the families that you work with via the cost of living pages on the Cheshire East Council website.

If you have any other enquiries, please contact the Household Support Fund Team via HSFFamily@cheshireeast.gov.uk

Foundation Years Vodcast on Online Safety

Foundation Years has published their latest vodcast taking a look at the topic of online safety in the early years.  In our ever-increasing digital world, young children have access to devices, both at home and in early years settings. This often causes concern over the amount of screen time young children have, the negative impact of this and the risks associated with young children using devices. You can watch the vodcast on the link below.

Ofsted

Recent Ofsted Inspection feedback

One of our Providers has shared some feedback following their recent Ofsted inspection.

They said that one of the key areas the Inspector focussed on was their under 2’s provision – the inspector spent a significant amount of time with the youngest children and was keen to check that staff were suitably qualified.

The Inspector was also interested in children’s independence and self-care skills and questioned why some children were independent with their clothing, but weren’t yet toilet trained.

Safeguarding questions covered county lines, cross county, safer sleep and FGM, with in-depth questions around the country of origin.

Staff demonstrated work they had done with the children on festivals and celebrations with floor books that showed photos of their activities.

EYFS Learning and Development

November Children’s Rights Month

We would like you to dedicate the whole month of November to raising awareness of children’s rights, making it clear to young children that they have a voice in your setting. The awareness month stems from the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). “Catch us if you can, campaign” – we won’t take much of your time but your 30 minutes will matter for children’s rights in your setting Join us and “listen up” at one of our 30 minutes matters sessions to find out more about listening to the voice of young children and receive a free resource to support your staff team Don’t miss out, pick a session to suit you! Wednesday 9th November – 9.30 - 10am or 12.00 - 12.30pm Thursday 17th November - 1.00 – 1.30pm or 4.00- 4.30pm Wednesday 23rd November – 6-6.30pm or 7- 7.30pm Book your place on the shop on the link below

Top tips to support children’s emotional health and well-being - “The things I feel inside”

The pack includes 10 postcards with a top tip on each to use to support children’s personal, social and emotional development and share with parents. Each postcard includes: I like it when you… gives ideas of things to do with children Remember…explains why children will benefit from this experience Did you know?... provides useful information about how children learn and develop Also included in the pack is a poster so you can create a display that your team can use to quickly and easily remind themselves of different ways to support children’s emotional health and wellbeing and to highlight the current ‘top tip’

Top Tip number 6: ‘Help me to bounce back from difficulties’ “Sensitive adults can support resilience by helping children to develop a view that not getting the result they (or others) wanted or were expecting is not a failure, but an opportunity to try again, learn and develop, and that they can keep on trying and persisting even in the face of challenge or difficulties.” [Birth to 5 matters, 2021] Top tip number 6 focuses on how supporting a child through a difficult situation will help them to learn how to manage their feelings and build their resilience. Look out for next week’s bulletin Top Tip number 7 : ‘Support me to be healthy’ To purchase the full set of Top Tip postcards, log onto the Online shop.

SEND

Cheshire East Chatters Talking Walk-in dates for Parents

Please share the information below with parents. The Talking Walk-in's are opportunities for parents to speak with a Speech and Language Therapist to receive advice and guidance to support their child at home.

Continuous Professional Development

Early Years Writing Programme from age 2 Years to 6+

Excalibur Primary School, Alsager are running an Early Years Writing Programme called 'Squiggle me into a writer' and including Dough Disco.

It is on Monday 5 December 4:15 - 6:00pm at Excalibur Primary School and costs £97 per person.

Further information can be found on the leaflet: 

Squiggle me into a writer (cheshireeast.gov.uk)

Support for early years settings from the Experts and Mentors programme

The Experts and Mentors Early Years COVID-19 Recovery Programme from the Department for Education (DfE) is focused on supporting early years practitioners and leaders to address the impact of the pandemic on the youngest children. 

The DfE are currently looking for settings who are interested in receiving support from January 2023, for the spring term (academic year 2022/23). Debbie Gillibrand, an Early Years Manager from Leyland St James Nursery, recently wrote a blog post exploring why she decided to apply to take part in the programme and her experiences of supporting settings in her region. You can read it here.

To receive support, settings must complete the application form by Friday 11 November 2022. You can apply to receive support, and find out further information on eligibility, on Pen Green's website.

Autumn term training

Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) Cluster, 03-Nov-22 6.30-8.30pm – Online **LAST CHANCE TO BOOK**

At this termly network meeting we will give you any updates from Ofsted and also focus on the importance of the role of the Father in early years. These virtual sessions are intended to further develop the DSLs understanding, knowledge and skills and there will be opportunities for discussion with other leads, networking and sharing of effective practice/materials.

New to the Role of the SENCO , 03-Nov-22, 9.30am to 3.30pm at Oakenclough Children Centre

This course is for those new to the role of the SENCO and those wishing to refresh their knowledge. You will be provided with information on Cheshire East’s graduated approach, Cheshire East’s SEND Toolkit, up to date and relevant paperwork, external advice systems and processes as well as useful ideas and strategies and the roles and responsibilities of the Early Years SENCO.

Understanding PSED in the Early Years – Ruth Swailes – 07-Nov-22 1-3pm – online

Delve into ‘What is PSE development and why is it important?. Ruth will suggest some strategies that staff can use to support children’s emotional health and wellbeing enabling them to focus on learning. She will also look at how we can support parents to understand and support their own children’s PSE development.

This session can be booked as an individual session or part of a 3 session package.

SENCO network, 08-Nov-22 9.30-11am or 09-Nov-22 1.30-3pm – online

This is our termly virtual meeting to find out about key updates relating to the delivery of the EYFS. During this session we will hear about the new Family Hubs and the implications for SEND, we will discuss the new ways of working including the SEND conversations and hear about any national updates.

Attachment and Communication, 08-Nov-22, 9.30am - 3.30pm - Holmes Chapel Comprehensive School

During this one day course, you will have the opportunity to develop your knowledge of early attachment and the links to speech & language development, explore the areas of the communication pyramid in greater depth, discuss typical development and how to support children with speech and language needs and hear about the local speech and language therapy pathway and guidance around making referrals into the SLT NHS service.

Explore the EYFS, 10-Nov-22, 9.30am - 11am – online

This training explores section 1 ‘The Learning and Development requirements’ and section 2 ‘Assessment’ of the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage. It looks at the standards that all early years providers must meet to ensure that children learn and develop well and offers useful links and information to take back to the setting when considering curriculum, assessment and Ofsted expectations.

Don’t miss out, book your place on the link below.

Don't Forget!

FEEE – Afghan and Ukrainian children

Afghan and Ukrainian children aged 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). Afghan and Ukrainian 2 year olds may also be eligible to 15 hours early education irrespective of their immigration status. To claim FEEE funding for children from Afghanistan or Ukraine, please add their details to the Provider Portal in the usual way, including the 2YO voucher code for eligible 2 year olds. 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