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Bulletin 267

27 March 2023

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

Business Support

Provider Portal – Summer Data Entry

The Provider Portal has now closed to enable summer term interim payments to be calculated. It will re-open again around 6 April for any additional data/new data.  Please note that any data entered late will result in a delayed interim payment.

Please email any adjustments for the spring term to the FEEE Team: FEEE@cheshireeast.gov.uk

Reconfirm 30 hours Free Childcare Code

Please ensure that you remind parents and carers to apply or reconfirm their details before Friday 31^st March 2023. They will need to do this soon to avoid missing out on the 30 hours funding for the Summer term 2023 (commencing April 2023).

They can apply or reconfirm their details before 31st March 2023 at the following link - 30 hours free childcare - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Should they have any problems with applying online they can contact Childcare Choices on - 0300 123 4097

Safeguarding and Welfare Requirements

Safeguarding and Welfare Requirements: Focus on...

Your certificate of registration must be displayed at the setting and shown to parents and/or carers on request.

Cheshire East Safeguarding Policy

The Cheshire East early years model safeguarding policy has been updated and is now available on our website.

Household Support Fund

Household Support Fund voucher rollout dates

The next Household Support Fund supermarket voucher rollout to all education settings is planned for the 27 and 28 April 2023.  Please communicate this to the families at your setting who are eligible to receive Household Support Fund vouchers. 

For further information about the Household Support Fund please see Household Support Fund (cheshireeast.gov.uk). This webpage will be updated in early April 2023 with information about the timeframe for future voucher distributions. Please also direct families to this site for information about support that is available.

Please be aware that:

• When you submit your summer term free early education entitlement data, please remember to obtain parent’s consent for checking their eligibility for early years pupil premium.
• The parent’s National Insurance number and their date of birth is correctly submitted. Incorrectly submitted information can lead to an eligible child not being approved.

It is hoped that by following this process it will mean that settings will receive vouchers for all of their eligible children and will thereby reduce the need for additional voucher requests during this time.

Thank you for your support, it is much appreciated. 

EYFS Learning and Development

BookTrust Easter Sunday Story

SEND

Request for Consultations (SEND, PSED, SLCN)

Do you have concerns about the development of a child in your setting or would you like advice and support on how you can address the individual needs of a child? Have you have implemented some of the strategies with in the SEN toolkit but are still concerned?  Have you spoken to the parent to share your thoughts and are working together to help? 

 We are offering:

• SEND consultations with an Early Years Consultant for SEND
• PSED consultations with members of the Early Start Team, a Family Service Worker and a Mental Health Worker
• Speech and Language consultations with a specialist Speech and Language Therapist

These virtual appointments are an opportunity for you to discuss your concerns and receive advice on how best to support the child including suggestions on how to adapt your practice or your environment, strategies you can implement that may help the child learn and progress or what additional support may be available for the child.

To request a SEND, PSED or SLCN consultation please email earlyyearsandchildcareteam@cheshireeast.gov.uk where you will be advised of the dates and time of the upcoming consultations that are available.

You will be required to obtain parent’s permission and complete some paperwork prior to the consultation.

SEN funding applications

Issues with the SEN funding application portal are now resolved. Thank you for your patience. If you continue to experience problems logging on to the portal or uploading documents, please email a screenshot so that support can be requested from the Business Intelligence team.

BookTrust World Autism Awareness Day - 2 April 2023

Cheshire East Chatters

Cheshire East Chatters Easter Dummy Campaign

It’s that time of year again… Cheshire East Chatters is running the ‘Give your dummy to the Easter Bunny’ campaign over the next few weeks, and we’d love you to get involved! This is a great opportunity to raise awareness about the impact prolonged use of dummies can have on children’s speech and language development, and to encourage children and families to drop the dummy in a positive way.

Dummies can: Make it difficult for children to babble or practise sounds Stop the full range of mouth movements that are needed to make different speech sounds Make the muscles at the back of the mouth dominant, leading to an overuse of the ‘k’ and ‘g’ sounds Weaken the muscles at the front of the mouth, leading to increased dribbling Increase the risk of ear infections Cause a gap between the top and bottom teeth, which can lead to a lisp Affect the physical structure of the mouth – this is long-term, even when adult teeth come through! Research also shows that children with dummies in their mouths are communicated with less frequently.  This means they hear less language and have fewer turns in interactions, which has a negative impact on language development. You can help by: Displaying key message posters in your settings Sharing key message leaflets with your families Sharing Cheshire East Chatters Facebook posts to spread the message Sharing our YouTube video about the impact of prolonged dummy use: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JX_DsbgZV04 Setting up a ‘dummy drop’ in your nursery Make dropping the dummy a positive experience - lots of ideas coming up on Facebook eg wrap the dummy up / plant it / put it in a plastic egg Replacing the dummy with a thank you letter from the Easter Bunny, and maybe a little treat! Resources are downloadable from our website: https://www.cheshireeast.gov.uk/cheshireeastchatters We’d love to see your dummy campaigns in action – please send any photos to cechatters@mcht.nhs.uk or message us on Facebook

Parenting Journey

Parenting Journey Toilet Training Guide

The Parenting Journey is very pleased to share with you the first in a series of guidance documents.  This one is all about toilet training it has been written by Health and Early Start and contains – Advice and leaflets that are give out to parents. Website links that they use and signpost to. Lots of ideas how you can help with this milestone. Book recommendations by Francis from Bookstart which can be a great conversation starter and help children become familiar with this new routine. A video by our Health Visitor Lisa and Family Service Worker Heather talking through a lot of the anxiety’s parents have and providing some top tips from their experience. The document can be found on our Parenting Journey Guidance website We hope you find this useful, we are currently working on a similar guidance document on dental health.  If there are any topics that you would like us to cover please let us know and we will be happy to look at including this in our series. Email parentingjourney@cheshireeast.gov.uk

Continuous Professional Development

Early Years Training Hub

Thank you to everyone who has already signed up to the new Early Years Training Hub.  We now have almost 200 settings registered and accessing the Hub. 

Through our Training and Events page you can find information about the training and CPD offer available to Early Years practitioners in Cheshire East. You can access the Hub via the link on our training web page:  Early Years and Childcare Training Resources (cheshireeast.gov.uk) however you will need to request personal login details by signing up to the Hub.

You can sign up to the Early Years Training Hub by clicking on the SIGN UP link on the top right hand side of the login page.

If you already have access to the Schools Chess Hub you do not need to sign up again however please email us to request additional access user rights to the Early Years Hub.

Upcoming CPD Opportunities

You can now book places on any of the following training courses by logging onto the new Early Years Training Hub using this link: Early Years and Childcare Training Resources (cheshireeast.gov.uk). Please login in or sign up by clicking on the link at the top right of the page.

Let's Talk Twos - 2's in action *Golden Buzzer* winner – 2’s in action 28th March 23 6.30-8pm - online

Our 'Golden Buzzer' winning session is....2's in action. Don't miss your chance to hear how to support 2 year old learning and development when they are on the move!

Difficult Safeguarding Conversations, 29-March-23 9.30-11.30am – online

This course aims to provide practical advice to enable practitioners to feel more confident in starting conversations about safeguarding concerns. The course will look at parent partnerships, professional curiosity and the practicalities of having difficult safeguarding conversations.

Safer Recruitment 24^th April 23, 9.30am-4pm Oakenclough Children Centre

Childcare settings share with others a duty to safeguard the children in their care. Implementing safer recruitment practices is one way of discharging this safeguarding obligation. This course gives childcare providers information and understanding they need to recruit safely and comply with relevant statutory guidance. 

Understanding the EIF and the Learning Walk 25^th April 23 9.30-11.30am – online

This two hour online session will give providers an opportunity to consider Ofsted’s Education Inspection Framework in the light of the new Early Years Foundation Stage framework. The curriculum is discussed and consideration is given to how to integrate Intent, Implementation and Impact in to your setting. The Learning Walk is unpicked and Ofsted’s ‘Golden Thread’ is looked at in more detail and is made relatable to you and your provision. 

Wellcomm 25^th April 23 9.30am-3pm - Congleton Library

Would you like to receive practical support on how to integrate WellComm activities into daily best practice within your setting or try out WellComm screening and activities from the Big Book of Ideas? Come along and examine the rationale behind using WellComm to screen, how to track and monitor individual children and learn about the practicalities of setting up targeted groups.

Me, myself and I: Supporting children to develop their social skills – 27^th April 23 1-3pm – Online

The revised EYFS framework references the importance of self regulation, but how many of us know what it is, how it impacts on learning and how we support children to develop it? Ruth Swailes will reflect on audit tools and provide a range of strategies to try so that staff can support children to become successful, independent learners who are able to manage and identify their own feelings and behaviour, so that they can enjoy positive relationships and focus on learning.

What is my behaviour trying to tell you? 2^nd and 9^th May 23 9.30-11.30am  - Online

This 2 session course is suitable for all practitioners who work in early years and will provide the skills and knowledge to develop your understanding of children’s social and emotional needs. Explore how we can be curious about behaviours and what might be affecting the child at that given time, build a supportive, appropriate curriculum using the EYFS and development matters as a guide and develop a whole setting approach to supporting children’s behaviour.

Don't Forget!

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