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Bulletin 276

19 June 2023

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

Business Support

Owners and Managers briefing

22nd June 23 9.15am-12pm Oakenclough Children Centre or 30th June 23 12.45-3.30pm Canalside Conference Centre, Middlewich

As some of you may know the early years team have had some changes recently as we transform our services to operate within the family hubs model. Our new Head of Service for Early Year Family help & prevention Danielle Holdcroft and the rest of our newly structured leadership team would like to meet with you as owners and managers to share some of these changes and consult with you on how we work in collaboration in the future to improve outcomes for our early years children and families as part of the family hubs model. We hope to see as many of you as possible.

Reserve your place by logging onto the Early Years Hub now : Chess Early Years Training Hub (sla-portals.co.uk)

Free Early Education Entitlement – Autumn Term Data

The portal will open on 26 June 2023 for you to add your autumn term data. It will remain open until Friday, 28 July. Any data entered later than 28 July may result in the delay of your interim payment.

Please continue to email any additions/adjustments for the summer term to the FEEE Team at FEEE@cheshireeast.gov.uk

Transferring from 2-year-old funding to Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP)

A child in receipt of 2-year-old funding will not automatically receive Early Years Pupil Premium when they start claiming early years funding for 3- and 4-year-olds, this is because an EYPP eligibility check must be undertaken.  

Before claiming early years funding, parents are required to complete a parental declaration form which has the option to provide their personal data and consent for an EYPP eligibility check.

When submitting child data via the Provider Portal, settings must ensure that, where appropriate, parent details are entered, and the consent box is ticked confirming that parents have provided consent for their data to be used for an EYPP eligibility check. Please note, the consent box cannot be ticked on the Provider Portal if the parental declaration form consent box has not also been ticked.

Please share the EYPP parent leaflet with families EYPP-parent-leaflet.pdf.

Safeguarding and Welfare Requirements

Safeguarding and Welfare Requirements: Focus on...

The provider must ensure there is a named deputy who, in their judgement, is capable and qualified to take charge in the manager’s absence.

Department for Education

Department for Education Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) Consultation

The Department for Education has launched a consultation on the EYFS to offer providers increased flexibility and alleviate known burdens, exploring giving providers more choice over how they operate and making it easier for them to deliver the EYFS. It is their intention that these changes will support settings to deliver the new entitlements announced at the Spring Budget.  

They hope to hear from many people and organisations before the deadline on 26 July, so they can gather a broad range of views to help them reach well-informed decisions. The Department for Education and Foundation Years are also planning some engagement events for stakeholders, so please look out for this.  

To note, this consultation builds on the measures consulted on in Summer 2022. The changes to 2 year old staff to child ratios and supervision whilst eating are due to come into force in September 2023, subject to parliamentary procedure.

Have you heard about the DFE Covid Recovery Programme?

The DFE Covid recovery programme offers Early Years providers face to face support from an Early years Expert and online support for your team from an Early years Mentor. The programme is free to join.

Providers who have already been on the programme found it valuable support in developing areas of practice and provision, such as curriculum, environments, routines, quality interactions and child development knowledge.

More information can be found on the following link:

Applying for support from the Early Years Experts and Mentors programme | Pen Green Children's Centre

Any provider can self- refer onto the programme by following the link below (priority may be given to eligible settings)

Early Years Experts and Mentors programme - Request for support Autumn 2023 (office.com)

Applications are now open for Autumn term 2023 and will close on Friday 23^rdJune. To discuss the programme further with a member of our team please contact Earlyyearsandchildcareteam@cheshireeast.gov.uk

Great News for Childminders- the DFE Childminder Mentor Programme is now available

By joining this programme, you will receive support from experienced early years practitioners. You can apply for support as an individual, or with other childminders as part of a small group (of up to 4 people) . Best of all the support is free

You will also have the opportunity to network with other childminders in your area who are part of the programme 

For more information and to apply please follow the link below

COVID-19 Recovery Childminders | Hempsalls

If you would like to discuss the programme further with a member of our team please contact earlyyearsandchildcareteam@cheshireeast.gov.uk . Application deadline is 31^st July 2023

Opportunity to register for the Early Years Professional Development Programme (EYPDP)

The Early Years Professional Development Programme is funded by the Department for Education and offers a comprehensive package of professional development that is based on current early years pedagogy. It will help to build upon practitioners’ skills and knowledge to improve the quality of adult-child interactions. It offers the opportunity to:

• Improve skills to identify children at risk of speech, language and communication needs
• Provide an understanding of the theory of child development in early mathematics
• Develop skills to support children’s self-confidence, relationships, and self-awareness through expertly developed Personal, Social and Emotional Development training 
• Improve engagement with parents and carers to support the home learning environment

Registration is open for the September 2023 cohort and so if you are interested in participating in the Early Years Professional Development Programme then you can apply here: 

Apply – Early Years Professional Development Programme (earlyyearspdp.com)

EYFS Learning and Development

Bookstart Refugee Week

SEND

Early Years: DBV/DSG Engagement Events for sharing

As you may be aware, Cheshire East Council were invited to be part of the Delivering Better Value programme that was announced by the Department for Education (DfE) in February 2022.  The programme was designed to provide dedicated support to help 55 local authorities where substantial deficit issues have been identified.

There has been various phases of the Delivering Better Value programme. As part of the diagnostic phase, we had the opportunity to apply for a one-off transformational grant of approximately £1 million. The Delivering Better Value programme will support Cheshire East to identify local and national opportunities to improve the outcomes for children and young people with SEND.

We are now moving into the implementation phase of the programme, where we will be looking to plan and shape the changes required, to enable us to become more sustainable. As part of this, we will be hosting a number of launch events to bring colleagues up to speed with the programme and proposed changes over the next two years.

There will be two SEND partnership events for early years stakeholders. The event will look at the SEND inspection framework, share the outcomes from the Delivering Better Value programme and how this will be aligned to the SEND Strategy. If you would like to book on to one of these sessions, please use one of the booking links below.

DSG/SEND Strategy Engagement Event - Early Years Stakeholders Tickets, Fri 29 Sep 2023 at 10:00 | Eventbrite

DSG/SEND Strategy Engagement Event - Early Years Stakeholders Tickets, Fri 29 Sep 2023 at 13:00 | Eventbrite

Please note: there is a maximum of two spaces per setting.

Cheshire East Chatters

Cheshire East Chatters key message - Together outdoors we can talk and explore!

We know that children learn language best through involving their whole bodies and multi-sensory experiences.  Outdoors learning is inevitably hands-on; children want to touch natural objects and feel the textures around them.  There are also lots of opportunities for listening (e.g. listening walks, birds singing, leaves rustling, aeroplanes flying) and smelling (flowers, herbs, and perhaps less pleasant traffic or agricultural smells!)  These multi-sensory experiences enable children to map new vocabulary onto their real-life experiences – all of this happens naturally in the outdoors.  Think about your outdoor space: Are there natural materials available for children to explore?. Make sure children have access to sticks, stones, pebbles, water and mud for hands-on experiences. Opportunities for finding living creatures? This is a great way to teach children about important values such as care, empathy and respect, supporting the development of social skills. Spaces for children to run, jump, climb, balance and be physically active? This will support children to learn action words (verbs) and learn about taking risks.  Breaks for physical activity also support attention skills. Are adults engaging in effective interactions with children and modelling language in your outdoor space as well as indoors? Adults are a vital part of the child’s language learning environment. Find out more about developing your environment at our upcoming Early Language Lead Networks!

Parenting Journey

Continuous Professional Development

Upcoming CPD Opportunities

Find out about the upcoming development opportunities available and book your place by logging onto the new Early Years Training Hub via the Provider Login Button on our Training web page: 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.

Lets Talk 2's... specifically 2, 20th June 2023 1.30-3pm or 21^st June 6.30-8pm - Online

You said.... “We always focus on prime areas. I’m worried about the specific areas. Should I be doing the specific areas with 2-year-olds and how do I get that right for their age group?” (feedback from training 2023)

Join us at one of our termly networks where we will look at the specific areas for 2 years olds. Find out how our youngest children learn about maths, literacy, understanding the world and expressive arts and design. How we can deliver these in an age-appropriate way for 2-year-olds.

What is my behaviour trying to tell you? 22nd & 29th June 2023 1pm-3pm or 6.30-8.30pm – Online

A training course for all early years practitioners which will provide the skills and knowledge to develop an understanding of children’s social and emotional needs and develop a whole setting approach to supporting children’s behaviour. Explore how we can be curious about behaviours and what might be affecting the child, how to build a supportive, appropriate curriculum, consider approaches to ensure they meet the needs of all children and embed behaviour conversations in your practice.

Attachment and Communication 23rd June 2023 9.30am-3.30pm - Congleton Library

Join us to learn about the importance of early attachment and the links to speech and 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.

Early Language Leads Network

28th June 2023 10am-12pm Congleton Library

30^th June 10am-12pm Online

6^th July 1-3pm Online

Join us for one of our termly networks. In this session we investigate the importance of songs and rhymes and look at how they can be embedded in daily practice and provision and the importance of developing quality partnerships with parents. We also explain how you can use the ‘Are you Ready for Rhymetime?’ document to develop and deliver an effective curriculum.

Effective Interactions 29th June 23 9.30am-3pm Congleton Library

Join us to discuss and define terms relating to communication and why interaction is so important. Look at 'Top Tips for Talking' and ways you can adapt your interactions to promote communication and support children’s needs. Discuss how language levels and interaction styles differ between children and how you can differentiate to support individual children's communication development and then focus on the practicalities of how to integrate high quality adult-interaction into your daily routine.J

Role of the SENCo 30th June 23 9.30-3pm Oakenclough Children Centre

This course has been written for those new to the role of the SENCO and those wishing to refresh their knowledge. Hear about Cheshire East’s graduated approach, Cheshire East’s SEND Toolkit, including relevant paperwork and where you can signpost your families to for support. You will hear about useful ideas and strategies, the roles and responsibilities of the Early Years SENCO and there will be time to discuss any questions with other professionals.

Early Years Training Hub – reminder to sign up

Thank you to everyone who has already signed up to the new Early Years Training Hub. If you haven’t yet signed up, please do so now.  You can sign up by accessing this link:

Chess Early Years Training Hub (sla-portals.co.uk)

Then click on the SIGN UP link on the top right hand side of the login page.

The Provider Login button on our Early Years and Childcare Training Resources (cheshireeast.gov.uk) webpage will also give you access to the new Early Years training 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:  however you will need to request personal login details by signing up to the Hub.

Please note: 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.

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