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Jobcentre Plus Support for Employers
Jobcentre Plus' network of local Employer Advisers can help you to find the right people for your jobs. They will work with you to fill your vacancies using the most suitable recruitment solution, including:
- help with job descriptions
- speeding up your recruitment process
- promoting your vacancies in local Jobcentres and on their social media
- use of Jobcentre Plus offices for interviews (where available) and local recruitment events
- planning future recruitments
- find a job - a free online jobs site
Contact your local Jobcentre Plus Employer Adviser on crewe.lmra1@dwp.gov.uk to advertise and promote your vacancies.
Wraparound Childcare
Are you a school looking for a wraparound childcare provider?
Are you a wraparound childcare provider looking to work with schools to develop new provision?
The government’s ambition is that all parents and carers of primary school-aged children who need wraparound childcare should be able to access term time provision in their local area from 8am-6pm (or equivalent, if data shows that local demand is for different hours).
The government expects all schools that educate primary school-aged pupils to:
- work with your local authority wraparound lead and others in the sector, to identify how you can support parents to access wraparound childcare.
- have school or PVI provider (including childminder) run wraparound childcare on the school site, unless there is a reasonable justification not to (having considered all support available, in particular from the national wraparound childcare programme).
- work collaboratively with your LA to ensure parents are, at a minimum, signposted to appropriate provision, if you are unable to have wraparound on the school site. Provision must not require parents to pick up or drop off their children between the school day and wraparound.
- promote and support government subsidies such as Tax-Free Childcare (TFC) and Universal Credit (UC) Childcare, which can help parents with the affordability of childcare, and supports schools, trusts, and PVI providers with the sustainability of provision.
In addition, schools are expected to:
- respond to their community’s wraparound needs by adhering to the right to request guidance, which describes your role in:
- considering and responding to parents’ requests for the school to deliver wraparound childcare.
- considering and responding to PVI providers’ requests to use the school site to deliver wraparound childcare.
- support the local authority to understand parental demand and, where relevant, existing wraparound provision in your school.
We would like to facilitate links between schools and prospective wraparound childcare providers. Please register your details here:
https://forms.office.com/e/Bfzspxs9us
Please contact Earlyyearsandchildcareteam@cheshireeast.gov.uk if you require any support.
Expanded entitlements from September 2024 onwards
From 1 April, eligible working parents can apply for:
- 15 hours childcare for their two-year-old
- 30 hours childcare for their three- or four-year-old
The second phase of the childcare support expansion will be rolled out from September. From 12 May, eligible working parents can apply for 15 hours for their child aged 9 months old and over.
To be eligible from 1 September 2024, children must have a date of birth on or before 30 November 2023.
To use their hours during autumn term, parents need to apply for their code by 31 August and must reconfirm their details every three months via their Childcare Choices account. Codes applied for in May will have an end date in August and will therefore need reconfirming before the code can be used for autumn term 2024.
Once codes are provided by parents, please check the end date of the code via the Eligibility Checker on the Provider Portal by adding the code, child date of birth and parent/carer NI number. The data will not be stored at this stage but will highlight to parents the importance of reconfirming their code, especially those whose codes have an end date before 31 August 2024.
From September 2025, eligible working parents with children between 9 months up to school age will have access to 30 hours childcare.
Provider Portal Closure – Summer Term
The Provider Portal has closed for the summer term. Any further additions or adjustments for the summer term should be emailed, with a copy of the completed parental declaration form, to the FEEE Team at FEEE@cheshireeast.gov.uk
Parental Declaration Form
In readiness for autumn term and the second phase of the expanded entitlements, updates have been made to the parental declaration form. This can be used for new children (parents can still sign the older version if in place, for any amendments). From April 2024 2-year-olds qualify for DAF and EYPP, and under 2s will qualify from September 2024, it is vital that the consent boxes on the parental declaration are ticked to enable an eligibility check to be completed.
Grant funding to develop new childcare places
Childcare Expansion Capital Grant
This funding is intended to support expansion of the 30-hours early years entitlement for working families and wraparound provision in primary schools. It must be spent on capital projects, and is being provided to meet the capital costs associated with projects that help ensure sufficient places for:
- Children taking up an early years place through the expanded 30-hours entitlement for qualifying working parents (from the term following the child reaching 9-months to the term in which they turn 3-years-old);
- Increasing the supply of wraparound childcare for primary-school aged children.
Projects may be funded to develop either 30-hours early years entitlement or wraparound childcare, or both.
National Wraparound Childcare Programme
Revenue funding will be available to support the operating costs of new wraparound provision. The funding will be tapered. This reflects the expectation that the funding is used to fund set up and running costs of new and expanded wraparound places and that, as take-up of provision increases, and therefore income from parental payments increases, the level of grant funding needed to contribute to running costs to ensure sustainability reduces.
Details of how to apply for the development grants will be made available via this bulletin during summer term. Applications will be invited from all sectors; day nurseries, pre-schools, schools, childminders, before and after school childcare providers.
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Safeguarding and Welfare Requirements |
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Child Safety Week
For Child Safety Week (Monday 3 to Sunday 9 June), Child Accident Prevention Trust (CAPT) have provided free educational resources to equip families with safety skills and knowledge. |
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Click the button below to visit their resource centre and search by safety topic or type of resource to find the relevant accident prevention resources.
Fortunately, some of the worst accidents are the simplest to stop. Child Accident Prevention Trust have got top tips and resources to help families learn how.
Click the button below to download their parent pack.
Infant Mental Health Awareness Week
For Infant Mental Health Awareness Week, the NSPCC are offering an online session focusing on speaking up for every baby.
- Tuesday 11th June 10:30 - 12:30 on Microsoft Teams.
Click the button below to register your place.
Summer Water Safety
Following a very sad, tragic and preventable incident recently when children had got into difficulty in open water: Northumberland Fire and Rescue Service issued this message to remind the public that:
“The water may look calm on the surface, but there can be strong undercurrents that could pull even a strong swimmer under the water.”
“And even when the weather feels very hot, the water may feel warm on the surface, but just a few feet below the surface it can be icy cold – affecting the stamina and strength of even strong swimmers.”
“If you are with someone who gets into difficulty, call emergency services for help. If you can, use an object to try and reach for them, but don’t put yourself in danger by entering the water.”
Please see the poster below for more water safety tips.
Safer Sleep Notification - A New Safeguarding Partnership
Merseyside Police and the NHS would like to invite you to hear more about the development of an innovative Safer Sleep notification. The work builds on the Safer Sleep programme delivered across the North West region last year and has culminated in an excellent initiative between Merseyside Police Prevention Hub, Cheshire & Merseyside ICB and Provider trusts and The Lullaby Trust.
You are invited to hear more about this excellent initiative at a "lunch & learn" session on Thursday 20 June 12:00 - 1:30pm via Microsoft Teams.
Safeguarding and Welfare Requirements: Focus on...
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Providers must support staff to undertake appropriate training and professional development opportunities to ensure they offer quality learning and development experiences for children that continually improves.
Click the button below to browse our Summer term training offer and book on.
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DfE Early Years and Childcare Expansion Provider Roadshow
The Prime Minister on 22 May called a general election on 4 July, and parliament dissolved on 30 May. We are now in a pre-election period; this will last until the General Election concludes. During this time Civil Servants and Ministers must adhere to published Cabinet Office guidance and are limited to discussions on operational essential matters and can’t comment on future policy government matters.
For this reason, the DfE have postponed the DfE North West region Early Education and Childcare Expansion Provider Roadshow on 20 June 2024 and apologise for the late notice and any inconvenience this may cause.
The DfE are looking to re-arrange the event in September/October time and will send out further details on how to register for this new date shortly and really looking forward to seeing you and providers in your region later this year.
May 2024 Household Support Fund update
On 6 March 2024 the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP, presented his Spring Budget to Parliament. The Chancellor confirmed that the Household Support Fund (HSF) would be extended for a further six months from 1 April 2024 to 30 September 2024. Since this announcement we have been working at pace to develop a new support package, ensuring that it goes to those most in need of financial support.
On 29 April the Children and Families Committee endorsed the new HSF support package.
Trusted professionals/practitioners can now access, through a referral process and a new HSF Decision Panel, a range of support for financially vulnerable adults, children and their families living in Cheshire East. Referrals can be made for –
- Food and Energy support, based on household composition
- Financial support for wider essentials, up to the cost of £500.00
- Financial assistance for exceptional costs, over £500.00
In addition to this, the Household Support Fund are also committed to supporting select third sector organisations to provide financial support to enhance their local offer. Consultation with these organisations is underway.
Further information for trusted professionals/practitioners about the eligibility criteria, the referral process and the HSF Decision Panel is available here - Household Support Fund - Professional Information and Referral. The link to make a HSF referral is on this page. Please note this webpage and the HSF referral link are for trusted professionals/practitioners only and must not be shared with the families and adults you support/work with. This it to prevent the risk of fraud.
There is also further information on the public facing web-page Household Support Fund (cheshireeast.gov.uk) about the new support packages.
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EYFS Learning and Development |
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BookStart National Best Friends Day
 To contact BookTrust, please see the contact details below:
Frances Lennon, BookTrust Coordinator - 07827 954086
Sarah Harrison, BookTrust Administrator - 07827 877966
bookstart@cheshiresharedservices.gov.uk
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Top Tip for Transition
Transition – School Snapshot
As most of you are aware the SEND Transition Team have been working closely alongside local settings, children, and their families. They have listened to feedback, and it has been identified that parent/carers, children/young people and settings don’t always know what other settings offer in terms of their transition. To support this, they have been trialling a ‘School Snapshot’ to give clear and concise information to help families make a well-informed decision.
The team have received positive feedback and lots of schools have already completed their snapshots, thank you. Please send your completed snapshots to the Transition Team (email details below).
In addition to this, the team would like to offer ‘Transition Drop In Sessions’ via Teams for a quick half an hour over lunch. The first session will focus on the School Snapshot and offer to support you in completing these.
The following dates and times have been allocated:
Primary Schools – Wednesday 5th June 12.30 - 1:00pm
Secondary Schools – Thursday 6th June 12.30 - 1:00pm
Early Years Settings – Friday 7th June 12.30 - 1:00pm
The SEND Transition Team have tried to send the video and ‘Snapshot’ form out to as many of you as possible but if you have not received this, please contact the team on one of the email addresses below. They will also send out the Teams Link for the relevant drop in session.
Cheshire East SEND Transition Team contact details:
Rachael Pickles – Transition Team Manager:
rachael.pickles2@cheshireeast.gov.uk 07816 144386
Loren Whiteside – Transition Adviser:
loren.whiteside2@cheshireeast.gov.uk 07557 801258
Tanya Houghton-Heath – Transition Adviser:
tanya.houghtonheath2@cheshireeast.gov.uk 07385 002348
Early Years Forum
Please can we remind everyone that if you are emailing any supporting documentation for children being presented at the Early Years Forum, that you email it to the Early Years forum inbox: Earlyyearsforum@cheshireeast.gov.uk
Please do not email this information to individual staff members.
Early Years Forum – Professional Portal access for uploading information
Where a child is due for review at Early Years Forum, Forum will ask childcare settings to provide an update on the child’s progress since the previous Forum. Requests for information will be sent to you via the professional portal.
If you are not already registered on the professional portal, you will need to create an account. To enable you to do this, the Business Intelligence Team will email you with instructions on how to register.
Please register for an account as soon as you receive an email from Business Intelligence so that you can respond to requests for information and attach any supporting documents via the professional portal, ensuring increased security when sharing sensitive data.
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Cheshire East Chatters Talking Walk-in's
Cheshire East Chatters Summer Term Training
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Continuous Professional Development |
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Stories and Rhymes Roadshow - 2nd July 2024
Summer Term Training now available on the Early Years Training Hub
The ChESS Early Years Training Hub has been updated with lots of training opportunities for the Summer term, please take a look and book on now!
Upcoming training:
DSL Cluster - 11th June 2024 09:30 - 11:30 or 18:30 - 20:30 (Teams)
These virtual sessions are intended to further develop your DSL's understanding, knowledge and skills. Childminders are the DSL for their setting. At these meetings there will be opportunities for discussion with other leads, networking, sharing of effective practice/materials, input from other agencies and updates on new legislation/initiatives. Attendance at each termly cluster is highly recommended to keep your safeguarding knowledge up to date.
Safer Recruitment - 18th June 2024 09:30 - 16:00 (Oakenclough Family Hub)
This one-day course gives childcare providers, including childminders who employ assistants, information and understanding they need to recruit safely and comply with relevant statutory guidance. This course covers safer recruitment and the wider context of safeguarding, the prevalence of abuse and profile of abusers, important features of a safer recruitment process including interview and selection, setting acceptable standards of behaviour and maintaining an ongoing culture of vigilance.
WellComm - 19th June 2024 09:30 - 14:00 (Oakenclough Family Hub)
During this session there will be opportunities to discuss and define terms relating to communication and how these relate to the WellComm screening tool, examine the rationale behind using WellComm to screen, track and monitor individual children and discuss the practicalities of setting up targeted groups.
Owners, Managers and Childminders - 19th June 2024 18:30 - 20:30 (Teams)
Owners, Managers and Childminders briefings are an opportunity to hear the latest updates from our Early Years Team, network with other owners, managers and childminders and ask questions. We hope to see as many of you as possible.
Owners, Managers and Childminders - 20th June 2024 10:00 - 12:00 (Monks Coppenhall Family Hub)
Owners, Managers and Childminders briefings are an opportunity to hear the latest updates from our Early Years Team, network with other owners, managers and childminders and ask questions. We hope to see as many of you as possible.
Early Years Inclusion Toolkit - 21st June 2024 09:00 - 10:30 or 11:00 - 12:30 (Monks Coppenhall Family Hub)
This session will concentrate on the new sections of the Cheshire East Inclusion Toolkit for Early Years and how they can be utilised effectively to support your role in the setting. We will also discuss the changes that are likely to be made to the paperwork and the new sections that are upcoming.
Introduction to Signalong - 25th June 2024 09:30 - 12:00 (Oakenclough Family Hub)
This training course will focus on, core vocabulary signs, methodology of Signalong and how the use of Signalong can aid children’s communication and understanding. The Education Inspection Framework focuses on interactions between staff and children, Signalong can support practitioners in looking at interactions from a different perspective so as to be inclusive of all children wherever possible.
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Early Years Training Hub – reminder to sign up
Thank you to everyone who has already signed up to the ChESS Early Years Training Hub. If you haven’t yet signed up, please do so now to book on to training. You can sign up by accessing this link:
Chess Early Years Training Hub (sla-portals.co.uk)
Then click on the sign up button on the top right hand side of the login page.
The ChESS Early Years Training Hub button on our Early years training webpage will also give you access to the Hub.
Through our Early Years training page, you can find information about the training and CPD offer available to Early Years practitioners in Cheshire East.
Please note: If you already have access to the ChESS Hub for schools, you do not need to sign up again, however, please email us to request additional access user rights to the Early Years Hub.
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