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Bulletin 329

4 November 2024

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

Business Support

Free Early Education Entitlement – hourly rate increase for 3- & 4-year olds

The Department for Education (DfE) has provided local authorities with additional in-year funding via an Early Years Budget Grant (EYBG) to cover the 7-month period between 1 September 2024 and 31 March 2025.

As a result, with effect from 1 September 2024 the hourly base rate for 3- & 4-year-olds has increased from £5.06 to £5.13 (an increase of £0.07).

Autumn term balancing payments will be adjusted to incorporate the increased base rate.

Provider Portal – data for spring term 2025

The provider portal is now open for providers to add spring term 2025 data. The provider portal will close on Sunday 17 November for interim (70%) payments to be calculated and paid by week ending 20 December 2024.

If there are any issues with entering working family codes, please contact the team FEEE@cheshireeast.gov.uk or phone 01270 685888. Please be aware that by incorrectly adding a 2YO as disadvantaged, providers are placing themselves at risk of having funding reclaimed.

When entering new children who are ‘nominated for DAF’ (Disability Access Fund) in the Provider Portal, please scan a copy of the Disability Living Allowance letter (DLA) to FEEE@cheshireeast.gov.uk to verify and receive the DAF payment of £910.

Spring term 2025 – 4-year-old data

Unfortunately, a system error occurred when carrying forward autumn term children into spring term. The error is limited to 4-year-old data only, therefore if 4-year-old funding was claimed during autumn term it may be necessary to add these details to the Portal again for spring term 2025. Autumn term data is unaffected.

Cheshire East Council - Proposed Admission Arrangements 2026-2027

Cheshire East Council is consulting on its proposed coordinated scheme and the admission arrangements for 2026-27 for all community and voluntary controlled schools in the local authority’s area.

We are not proposing to make any changes to the general admission arrangements that were determined for community or voluntary controlled schools for 2025-26 except to clarify and make clearer how we decide on the child’s address used for admissions purposes and the process of applying for admission outside of normal age group.

Any proposals to alter a community or voluntary controlled school’s published admission number (PAN) are indicated within the document.

Comments should arrive no later than midnight on the 3 December 2024. Responses can be submitted by clicking the button below.

Finalised admissions arrangements for 2026-27 will be determined by 28 February 2025 and will be published on Cheshire East Council’s website.

If you have any difficulty in accessing the website, then please do not hesitate to contact the school admission team on admissions@cheshireeast.gov.uk

Safeguarding and Welfare Requirements

Foundation Years Live Event - Safeguarding Excellence: Protecting Our Youngest Learners

Join Foundation Years live event on Wednesday 27 November 18:00 - 19:30 on Microsoft Teams for Safeguarding Excellence: Protecting Our Youngest Learners.

This comprehensive session will focus on critical aspects of safeguarding children in early years settings, recapping official guidance from DfE and emphasising practical strategies to deal with common challenges, such as managing allergies, applying safeguarding best practices in daily roles and many more.

You will hear from a range of experts who will share insights on creating inclusive environments, recognising and responding to allergy-related emergencies, and implementing proactive measures that ensure a high level of safeguarding for all children.

Click the button below to register.

Safeguarding and Welfare Requirements: Focus on...

The premises and equipment must be organised in a way that meets the needs of children. Providers must meet the following indoor space requirements where indoor activity in a building(s) forms the main part of (or is integral) to the provision: • Children under two years: 3.5m2 per child. • Two-year-olds: 2.5m2 per child. • Children aged three to five years: 2.3m2 per child. Where the space standards are applied, providers cannot increase the number of children on roll because they additionally use an outside area. Forest and other exclusively (or almost exclusively) outdoor provision is not required to meet the space standards above as long as children’s needs can be met. For this kind of provision, indoor space requirements can be used as a guide for the minimum area needed.

National updates

‘Do Something BIG’ campaign – advertise your vacancies on Find A Job

The Department for Education’s Do Something BIG recruitment campaign is continuing to highlight the huge difference early years educators make to young children and how rewarding working in the sector can be.

On average, the DfE are seeing over 46,000 visits to the campaign website each week, which directs potential applicants to use DWP’s Find a Job vacancy platform to search for early years roles in their area. 

Listing your early years vacancies on Find a Job - which is free to use - is a cost-effective way of ensuring they are seen by a large pool of candidates and will help connect more job seekers with the opportunities they’re looking for.

If you do not yet have a Find a Job account and have current or upcoming roles in your setting, please watch these video tutorials to help you create an employer account and post your jobs.

Please make sure to include the term ‘early years’ in your job advert titles and select ‘Education and childcare jobs’ as the job category.

EYFS Learning and Development

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

SEND

SEND Drop-In session

The Portage, Quality and Inclusion Team are running SEND drop-in sessions the first Monday of every month for our Early Years settings. The next session is on Monday 4th November 2024 17:00 – 18:00 on Microsoft Teams. Please feel free to join them on Teams. This is a chance to ask any questions, receive support and guidance with targets, to meet other practitioners and share ideas. The first half of the session will include a SEND topic and the second half of the session is an opportunity to ask questions and share good practice. If you haven't already received the link, please email: earlyyearsandchildcareteam@cheshireeast.gov.uk to request the Microsoft Teams link if you are available to attend.

Planning your Future Event

Following the success of the previous Planning Your Future event at Monks Coppenhall Family Hub, another 2 events will be held on Tuesday 26 November aimed at professionals to build their knowledge of ‘Preparing for Adulthood’ and children/young people with SEND and their families: Planning Your Future Event November Flyer.

• Marketplace Event - Tuesday 26 November 1-4pm
• Workshop Event - Tuesday 26 November 4-8pm

Both events will be held at: Oakenclough Family Hub, Colshaw Drive, Wilmslow, SK9 2PZ

The Planning Your Future Events have been arranged by the SEND Transition Team in response to a request from Parent Carer Forum (PCF) to offer additional advice and support for young people with SEND (0-25yrs) and their families on key topics/ focus areas linked to preparing for adulthood.

The aim of these events is to showcase the post 16 services available within education, employment, adult social care, health and community services and to encourage discussions to start as early as possible regarding preparing for adulthood.

If you have any questions or require any additional information, please contact the Transition Team.

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

Cheshire East Chatters

Cheshire East Chatters - Training Needs Analysis Autumn 2024 

Cheshire East Chatters is a collaborative initiative led by Speech and Language Therapists working in conjunction with Family Hubs in Cheshire East. We aim to upskill Early Years Practitioners to identify and provide support for children’s language difficulties as early as possible. Our training courses are offered universally. 

Training Needs Analysis (TNA) is a key part to discovering your training needs; at Cheshire East Chatters we want to meet your training needs as closely as we can to support your confidence in your role which will support our young children's communication development in return. We value and appreciate the role you play to every child's development. 

Responses are collected anonymously.

Please click the button below to complete the Training Needs Analysis form. 

Family Hubs

Continuous Professional Development

Early Years Professional Development Programme: Catch-up support available for registered practitioners

The Early Years Professional Development Programme (EYPDP), launched in early 2023, has made significant strides in advancing the skills and confidence of early years practitioners across England. To date, over 10,000 practitioners have registered, benefitting from high-quality, government-funded training as part of the Early Years Education Recovery Programme.

As the programme enters its final stages, with the fourth cohort concluding in spring 2025, catch-up webinars have been made available for those practitioners who may not be fully on track with their learning.

By catching up on missed content, practitioners can ensure they get the most out of the EYPDP, enhancing both their professional growth and the learning experiences they provide to the young children in their settings.

If you have registered for the EYPDP and need assistance or wish to attend a catch-up webinar, you can contact the support team at EYPDPsupport@edt.org.

For further information about the programme, please click the button below to view the website.

Please note, the Early Years Professional Development Programme is no longer accepting new registrations.

Autumn Term Training available on the Early Years Training Hub

The ChESS Early Years Training Hub has been updated with lots of training opportunities for the Autumn term, please take a look and book on now!

Upcoming training next week:

Liquidlogic Training - EHCP Reviews - 11th November 2024 18:00 - 19:30 (Microsoft Teams)

A demonstration on how to complete EHCP annual reviews on the case management system, Liquidlogic. The training is appropriate for Early Years settings who have one or more children with a draft or final EHCP. This session will include an overview of how to log in and access Liquidlogic and how it is used in Cheshire East Council. There will be an explanation of trays in Liquidlogic and a demonstration of a full EHCP annual review, including scheduling meetings, pre-reviewing paperwork and meeting outcomes. Login details will be provided to attendees after the session.

 Fundamental Safeguarding Awareness - 12th November 2024 09:30 - 11:30 (Microsoft Teams)

This two hour training course will provide fundamental information and understanding about safeguarding children. It has been specifically written to address safeguarding in Early Years and Childcare Settings and covers practice and procedures used within Cheshire East. This training will help you to develop an awareness of, and the ability to act on, concerns about the safety and welfare of children and young people. It will enable you to understand your safeguarding role, be able to define, identify, understand and respond appropriately to signs of possible abuse and neglect and identify safer caring practices.

Difficult Safeguarding Conversations - 13th November 2024 18:30 - 20:30 (Microsoft Teams)

This two hour training 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.

Moving and Positioning of Children (Manual Handling) 15^th November 2024 9:30 - 16:15 (Oakenclough Family Hub)

Join us for Moving and Positioning of Children (Manual Handling) training. This one-day course will give delegates the knowledge and practical skills needed for the moving and handling of children safely.