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Bulletin 362

22 September 2025

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

Liquidlogic

2-year-old codes for families in receipt of certain benefits (previously Disadvantaged 2YOs)

A fix has been applied to the new establishment portal which enables 2-year-olds with the old 6-digit eligibility codes to be entered onto the portal.

When adding a disadvantaged 2YO click ‘Check Eligibility for 2-Year-Old Funding’ and choose the out of authority option but enter Cheshire East as the authority followed by the date of evidence seen field.

This process will also need to be followed if you need to change the hours previously submitted for a disadvantaged 2-year-old.

Creating a child record

Providers are required to see proof of a child’s date of birth and record the type of document seen e.g., birth certificate. The ‘Document Reference’ is no longer a mandatory field on the Establishment Portal and can be left blank.

Business Support

Advertise your vacancies via the free Find a job website

The Department for Work and Pensions' (DWP) free ‘Find a job’ vacancy platform supports applicants to search for early years roles in their area.

Employers are encouraged to advertise their jobs on the Find a job website. Click the button below to create an account or login to the Employer section to add your company to post job adverts and manage your team.

You should use the term ‘early years’ in the title of your job adverts and select ‘Education jobs’ for the job category. Watch the video tutorials below to help you list any vacancies in your setting on Find a job.

Safeguarding

Prevent in education: training for early years foundation stage staff

The DfE have designed a training package for staff within the early years foundation stage to understand their responsibilities and the importance of the Prevent duty.

For more information and to book a place, please click on the button below.

National Updates

Sign-up to the virtual DfE Early Years and Childcare Childminder Roadshow

This event for Childminders is the first early years event since the publication of government’s Giving Every Child The Best Start In Life strategy, and is a great opportunity for you to engage with DfE and be part of shaping government’s next steps on its delivery. The event will include an overview and update from the Department for Education, and opportunity for you to ask questions, and share experiences and views in virtual breakout sessions.

The event will be held online on Thursday 25^th September 18:30-20:00, please click on the button below sign up.

SEND

Early Years Individual Pupil Consultations

The Early Years team offers bespoke individual pupil consultations for all Early Years staff, including our reception class teachers and support staff, covering a range of themes including PSED, SEND and SALT.

These bespoke sessions can be booked via the link below – parental consent is needed first.

SEN support - The Graduated Approach

If your needs don’t fit with one of the specific consultations, please email earlyyearssenhelpline@cheshireeast.gov.uk for support.

Family Hubs

Bookstart Pre-schooler/Nursery Pack

Bookstart Pre-schooler/Nursery are book packs designed to help families have fun reading and share stories with their children. Bookstart Pre-schooler/Nursery packs are designed for 3–4 year-olds. Each pack contains two books, activities and games to bring the book to life and get young children interested in reading. In Cheshire East, these packs are allocated to children living in our most disadvantaged areas. To find out if your setting qualifies, please speak directly with your Portage, Quality and Inclusion Practitioner (PQUIP) or email bookstartcoordinator@cheshireeast.gov.uk.

Training

Autumn Term Training available on the Early Years Training Hub

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

Upcoming training next week:

Making Sense of Autism – 29th September 2025 14:00 - 16:00 (Microsoft Teams)

This is an Autism Education Trust (AET) training course. This training will extend your understanding of how autism may affect children in Early Years settings, increase your expertise in recognising an autistic child’s individual strengths and differences, develop your skills in identifying potential barriers to learning for autistic children and develop your understanding of what reasonable adjustments may need to be made to support an autistic child in your setting. This course is an awareness-raising session that introduces autism and the Three Areas of Difference. In the training, we explore areas of difference in terms of strengths and support needs and identify some initial reasonable adjustments that may need to be considered when supporting autistic children.

Supporting Speech Sounds – 1st October 2025 9:30 - 12:30 (Crewe Lifestyle 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.

Basic Safeguarding Awareness – 2nd October 2025 9:30 - 11:30 (Microsoft Teams)

This two-hour training course will provide basic 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.

Progress check at age 2 – 2nd October 2025 18:30 - 20:30 (Microsoft Teams)

“When a child is aged between two and three, practitioners must review their progress and provide parents and/or carers with a short written summary of their child’s development in the prime areas. The summary must highlight areas in which a child is progressing well, areas in which some additional support might be needed, and focus particularly on any areas where there is a concern that a child may have a developmental delay, which may indicate a special educational need or disability. The summary must describe the activities and strategies the provider intends to adopt to address any issues or concerns” (EYFS, 2025). Explore the process of writing a good quality progress check including when to do it, what to include and how you can work in partnership with parents/carers and other professionals to put in place appropriate early support and intervention in order to best meet the individual needs of the child. Delegates will be given access to a variety of resources that can be used when completing this statutory assessment.