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Bulletin 339

27 January 2025

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 – Provider Portal Closed

The Provider Portal will be closing for spring term data entry on Friday 24 January 2025. For any adjustments/additions please email the signed parental declaration form to the FEEE Team FEEE@cheshireeast.gov.uk.

Staff contact details in the Provider Portal

Providers need to ensure staff contacts are correct in the provider portal. This is in preparation for the new FEEE contracts to be signed and summer term payments to be received.

Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP)

Early Years Pupil Premium gives settings additional funding to support children from families receiving additional support accessing an entitlement place.

Children who are being or have been looked after by a local authority also qualify for EYPP. Therefore, children who are looked after by Cheshire East and weren’t in receipt of EYPP have had EYPP added to their funding record for spring term.

EYPP forms part of the existing Ofsted inspection framework. Providers will be expected to evidence outcomes as a result of the funding allocated and this will be assessed as part of the Ofsted inspection.

Further information and an example EYPP tracking grid is available on the Early Years Pupil Premium information for childcare providers webpage.

Safeguarding and Welfare Requirements

Safeguarding and Welfare Requirements: Focus on...

If providers/childminders become aware that they are to be inspected by Ofsted or have a quality assurance visit by the CMA, they must notify parents and/or carers. After an inspection by Ofsted or a quality assurance visit by their CMA, providers/childminders must supply a copy of the report to parents and/or carers of children attending on a regular basis.

Early Years Section 11 Safeguarding Audit

‘Working together to safeguard children’ 2023 makes clear the statutory duties for early years providers with regards to the safeguarding requirements for your provision.

To enable us to support you with these requirements, we have put together a short safeguarding audit to capture what you have in place in your provision. This has been emailed directly to each setting.

School managed or governor run provision do not need to complete this audit as schools complete separate Safeguarding Audits.  

Please complete the audit in full by Friday 28 February 2025.

If you have not received the audit email please contact: earlyyearsandchildcareteam@cheshireeast.gov.uk 

 Safeguarding Children Partnership: Learning Week 3 - 7 February

With an overarching theme of Children's Mental Health, Learning Week 2025 offers two full days of short on-line sessions exploring key topics surrounding mental health in childhood. Inspirational key speakers and local experts will come together on
Tuesday to present the 'Neglect is Child Abuse' Conference. Midweek, a huge professional networking event brings together over 30 local agencies, including The Children's Society and the NSPCC, to share their FREE resources. The week's unmissable Friday finale is a workshop led by guest 'experts by experience' of child sexual abuse and exploitation, 'The Reign Collective'.

Look out for timetables and booking links!

National updates

‘How To Love Your Job’ new four-part early years series with Channel 4 

The Do Something Big campaign team is delighted to share the first episode of their new four-part series with Channel 4, hosted by Anna Williamson.

#HowToLoveYourJob follows four individuals searching for a more meaningful career, spending a day discovering the joy of working in early years.

In Episode 1, Carla, a former prison officer, visits a forest school nursery and embarks on a journey to rediscover herself and embrace the great outdoors!

Click the button below to watch the episode in full on Channel 4's YouTube channel.

Exciting New Vodcasts for Early Years Educators

Foundation Years have released two brand new vodcasts on the Foundation Years website.These engaging and informative resources are designed to support early years educators in providing the best care for babies and young children.

The Importance of Positive Interactions on Baby Brain Development

Discover the crucial role positive interactions play in a baby's brain development, with insights from leading experts at the NSPCC.

Watch now: The Importance of Positive Interactions

Responding to Babies' Cries – A Guide for Early Years Educators

Learn how to recognise the causes of distress and soothe babies effectively. Alex Robinson (Early Years Policy Advisor, DfE) is joined by Melanie Farman (NSPCC Development Manager) and Natasha Harrison (NSPCC Early Years Development Support Officer) to share their expert advice.

Watch now: Responding to Babies' Cries

Getting it Right in the Baby Room: A Free Conference for Educators and Nursery Managers

Are you a baby room educator or nursery manager? Are you extending your baby room or hoping to improve practice in the baby room? 

The Nuffield-funded research team behind www.thebabyroom.blog are launching a FREE Saturday conference called ‘Getting it right in the baby room’. It’ll be a day of inspiring speakers and engaging conversations all about the baby room, with lots of delicious food thrown in. They’re coming to six cities around the country over the spring/summer: London, York, Norwich, Manchester, Falmouth and Bristol. 

Places are limited so if you’re interested and want to book a space, please click the button below.

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

Changes to SEND, PSED and SLCN Consultations

The process to request a PSED, SEND and SLCN consultation has been updated.

Professionals will now need to submit a request for consultation by completing the online form and uploading a parent/carer signature via the portal.

Please see the link below:

https://childrenandfamilieseportal.cheshireeast.gov.uk/web/portal/pages/home

Once opening the link, select the ‘forms for professionals’ button.

Next select the ‘Request for Consultation with Early Years and Childcare Team’ button, and complete the form.

Supporting Transitions from Nursery to Reception

Over the past few months, the SEND Transition team have been collaborating with various settings and agencies to co-produce a leaflet designed to support families with the transition from nursery to reception. The final version is now being shared, please can you distribute it to as many families as possible within your network.

The aim is to promote a consistent approach to the key skills that young children need in order to start reception, alongside helpful online resources.

Please share the following link with families:

Supporting your Child's Transition to Reception

As always, the team value your feedback, which is essential for them to continue improving and ensuring they have the right support in place. If you haven't already, please send over any thoughts or suggestions regarding the resources, websites, or any other aspects you think might help make the transition smoother for all. The team are open to any feedback and truly appreciate your contributions.

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

Family Hubs

Continuous Professional Development

Spring 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 Spring term, please take a look and book on now!

Upcoming training next week:

Role of the SENCO – 4th February 2025 9:30 - 15:00 (Oakenclough Family Hub)

This course has been written for those new to the role of the SENCO and those wishing to refresh their knowledge. If you need information on Cheshire East’s graduated approach, Cheshire East’s SEND Toolkit, up to date and relevant paperwork, external advice systems and processes, then this is the course for you. We will also share useful ideas and strategies, the roles and responsibilities of the Early Years SENCO and time to discuss any questions with other professionals.

Safer Sleep and ICON – 4th February 2025 18:30 - 20:30 (Microsoft Teams)

Join us to learn about safer sleep and ICON, delivered by a Named Midwife for Safeguarding Children from East Cheshire NHS Trust. This training session will provide information on safer sleep including the most up to date, evidence-based practice regarding the safest ways to sleep babies. This session will also provide you with information regarding ICON, a national initiative to help reduce the risk of abusive head trauma, more commonly known as 'shaken baby.' 

Supporting Speech Sounds – 5th February 2025 13:30 - 16:30 (Congleton Library)

This course is designed to help you to understand and support children’s speech sound development. This session will discuss typical speech sound development in the early years and give you practical ideas for strategies to implement in your setting. You will also get the chance to have a go at some sound awareness activities to increase your confidence in carrying them out with children in your setting.

WellComm for Childminders – 5th February 2025 18:30 - 20:00 (Microsoft Teams)

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 explore activities from the Big Book of Ideas? 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. If you would like to purchase a WellComm toolkit before the training, please visit this website: www.gl-assessment.co.uk.

Emotionally Based Non-Attendance (EBNA) in Early Years Settings – 6th February 2025 18:00 - 20:00 (Microsoft Teams)

Join us to explore emotionally based non-attendance (EBNA) in early years settings, delivered by an Educational Psychologist. This training will look at typical responses to starting and attending early years setting, and relevant aspects of social and emotional development in early years. We will also explore what may be early signs of EBNA, possible causes and ways to support.