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Bulletin 354

16 June 2025

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

Business Support

Liquidlogic Establishment Portal training

In preparation for the new system, each week in September the Business Intelligence Team are delivering a demonstration session on how to use the Liquidlogic Establishment Portal for Early Years Funding purposes. The training is appropriate for all Early Years providers.

• Thursday 4th September 2025 10:00 - 11:30
• Tuesday 9th September 2025 18:30 - 20:00
• Monday 15th September 2025 10:00 - 11:30
• Wednesday 24th September 18:30 - 20:00

All sessions will be delivered on Microsoft Teams

One of the sessions will be recorded and made available online. This means those who are unable to attend can watch, and all providers can refer back to the training at a later date.

The session will include an overview of how to register for an account on the establishment portal, how to navigate and update your live register, estimations and headcount.

Please book on through the ChESS Early Years Training Hub.

Are you interested in joining the Early Years Reference Group?

The Early Years Reference Group (EYRG) is a subgroup of the Cheshire East Schools’ Forum. The purpose for the EYRG is to offer advice, experience, information and recommendations to the Local Authority and the Cheshire East Schools’ Forum in relation to the practical exercise of developing, reforming and implementing early years funding arrangements.

Terms of reference:

https://www.cheshireeast.gov.uk/schools/info-for-schools/schools_forum/schools_forum.aspx

All providers of the early education entitlements in Cheshire East were invited to put forward nominations to join the EYRG.  Members were selected from the nominations to ensure representation across provider types.  It is some time since the group was refreshed and we are inviting new nominations. 

Please complete the following form if you would like to be considered:

https://forms.office.com/e/YVRQYxNGby

Nominations will close on Thursday 26^th June.  Membership will be confirmed shortly after nominations close.

Grace Periods – 15 to 30 hours from September

A number of questions have been raised concerning grace periods in the run up to the expansion of the working parent entitlement in September. 

Based on the scenario, a child that is currently funded in Summer Term on working family 2yo entitlement (15hours) that enters their grace period in Autumn term, but at the same time the same child turn 3yo before the end of August.  

The entitlement provision is intended to be seamless, allowing the child to continue in childcare, as long as their parents continue to meet the eligibility criteria, or are in their grace period.  

If child has/will fall out of eligibility before September 2025 but remains in their grace period, which is until 31 Dec, the child can take up the 30 hours working parent entitlement providing the child remains at the same setting.

If the parent is still ineligible at the end of their grace period on 31 December 2025 it will depend on the age of the child whether the child is eligible for any free childcare in January 2026.

If the child has turned 3 by 31^st December 2025, they will be eligible for the universal 15 hour entitlement.

If the child has turned 2 by 31^st December, they may be eligible for the disadvantaged 2YO entitlement providing the parent / child has met the eligibility criteria by 31^st December 2025. 

Safeguarding

NSPCC PANTS resources

The NSPCC ‘Talk PANTS’ campaign – with the help of the friendly dinosaur Pantosaurus, Talk PANTS is a simple conversation to help keep children safe from sexual abuse. Click on the button below to access the resources for early years providers.

National Updates

Ofsted confirms September publication for consultation response, ahead of new-look education inspections from November

A formal response to the consultation was originally intended for the summer term, but Sir Martyn Oliver, Ofsted’s Chief Inspector, has confirmed in a letter to the Secretary of State for Education that the scale of feedback received means the final response will now be published in September. This will allow more time to analyse responses and carry out further testing of proposals to refine and improve the final approach.   

For more information, please click on the button below.

SEND

Cheshire East Chatters

Family Hubs

Continuous Professional Development

Training Cancellations

We are increasingly seeing practitioners booked onto our training courses, and not attending, both face-to-face and on Microsoft Teams. We appreciate that you may have staff illness and therefore last minute cannot attend due to ratios. However, if you cannot attend a training course that you have booked onto via the ChESS Early Years Training Hub, please let us know as soon as possible by either cancelling your place through your account, or emailing: earlyyearsandchildcareteam@cheshireeast.gov.uk. This enables us to inform the trainer and cancel the session if necessary.

Summer Term Training available on the Early Years Training Hub

The ChESS Early Years Training Hub has lots of training opportunities for the summer term. Please take a look and book on now!

Upcoming training next week:

SENCO Network – 23rd June 2025 18:30 - 20:00 (Microsoft Teams)

These network sessions are intended to further develop your understanding, knowledge and skills as SENCO. At these meetings there will be opportunities for discussion with other SENCO’s, networking, sharing of effective practice/materials, input from other agencies and updates on new legislation/initiatives. Attendance at each termly network is highly recommended to keep your SEND knowledge up to date.

Transitions in the Early Years – 24th June 2025 10:00 - 12:00 (Oakenclough Family Hub)

This is an Autism Education Trust (AET) training course. This course aims to provide you with the knowledge, skills and understanding to plan transitions and implement processes to improve the education and wellbeing of children in the Early Years. There continues to be a significant increase in Early Years children at risk of exclusion from their settings, often linked to poorly managed transitions. Transitions occur throughout an entire person’s life, in both life stages, events, changes throughout the day, and even in between tasks. This training will develop your understanding of the differences between macro and micro transitions, increase your knowledge of why transitions can be challenging for autistic children, support you to identify the key principles of transition support in the Early Years and identify key considerations when planning Early Years transition support.

Supporting Speech Sounds – 25th June 2025 9:30 - 12:30 (Oakenclough Family Hub)

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.

Fundamental Safeguarding Awareness – 25th June 2025 18:30 - 20:30 (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.

Barriers to Early Years Education – 26th June 2025 18:30 - 20:30 (Microsoft Teams)

Join us to explore barrier to early years education, delivered by an Educational Psychologist. This training will explore common responses to starting and attending early years settings, focusing on key aspects of social and emotional development. We will identify early barriers that may prevent children from engaging in early education, explore possible causes, and discuss effective strategies to support children and families. You will gain practical tools to create an inclusive, nurturing environment that promotes wellbeing, helps children feel secure, and encourages positive early learning experiences.

Role of the SENCO – 27th June 2025 9:30 - 15:00 (Monks Coppenhall 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.