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Bulletin 409

12 October 2026

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

The Early Years and Childcare Bulletin is issued every week during term time and a condensed version during the school holidays. 

Liquidlogic

Autumn term adjustments

The window to submit autumn term adjustments is open until Friday 27th November.

If you have any children changing their hours during the term, please amend the funding screen for them on the live register.

Select yes as a midterm change, then enter the date of change and the number of weeks before and after the change.

Please note you cannot make changes to hours in advance, they can only be changed on or after the date of the increase/decrease in hours.

Please continue to remove any children from your live register if they are leaving your setting midterm.

Business Support

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. Please note: this email address applies to all Jobcentre Plus' in Cheshire East.

Safeguarding

Beyond the Obvious: Professional Curiosity, Critical Thinking & Professional Challenge Training

The Cheshire East Safeguarding Children's Partnership still have spaces available for their Beyond the Obvious: Professional Curiosity, Critical Thinking & Professional Challenge Training at Macclesfield Town Hall – Council Chambers – 20th October 2026 - 10am-1pm. Safeguarding reviews repeatedly highlight missed opportunities, unchallenged assumptions, and a lack of understanding of children's lived experiences. Professional curiosity is key to better decision-making and improved outcomes for children. Join this interactive session to: Strengthen professional curiosity and critical thinking Understand the impact of assumptions and bias Build confidence to challenge concerns appropriately Focus on children's lived experiences Learn from safeguarding reviews and multi-agency practice To book your place click the button below.

National Updates

SEND

SEND advice and information online

Key information and advice of what support is available for SEND can be found on:

SEN support - The Graduated Approach

If you are a new practitioner or just need a quick refresher please take a look!

Family Hubs

Training

Maths Champions programme

Maths Champions is a 12-month CPD programme that aims to boost children's attainment in maths and language by the end of Reception. Developed by the National Day Nurseries Association, the programme is completely free of charge for all nurseries, including those within school settings, and is delivered online with expert early years advisor support.  To register interest click the button below.

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:

PACE Inspired Approaches in Early Years Settings – 19th October 2026 18:30 – 20:30 (Microsoft Teams)

PACE stands for Playfulness, Acceptance, Curiosity and Empathy. The PACE model is a trauma informed approach developed by Clinical Psychologists, which is centred around building safe, trusting, and meaningful relationships with children and young people that have experienced trauma or attachment difficulties. The PACE model provides opportunities for early years practitioners to build on their attachments with children, by communicating and interacting in a way which helps children. This training will cover, an introduction to the PACE model and psychological underpinnings, a brief overview of attachment and trauma within the early years and practical strategies utilising PACE which can be applied to an early years setting.

Out of School Club Network – 21st October 2026 10:00 – 11:30 (Holmes Chapel Comprehensive School and Sixth Form College Training and Conference Centre)

This network session is for Out of School Club providers. The Out of School Club Network will include up to date information on the wraparound programme and breakfast clubs’ schemes and provide an opportunity to network with other providers.

Preschool Network – 22nd October 2026 10:00 – 11:30 (New Life Church)

This network session is for Preschool providers. This Preschool network is an opportunity for preschool managers, committee chairs and business managers to meet together, make new connections and share experiences. There’s no agenda. Please feel free to come along, network and ask questions. The Childcare Development Team will be facilitating the network.

Progress check at age 2 – 22nd October 2026 18:30 – 20:00 (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.