See a series of DfE updates/new publications relating to early years
Withdrawal of the need to report Covid Cases to Ofsted
What do the changes to isolation mean for childminders?
Key Guidance
Covid Support Grants
Introducing Carmella Michals who is working temporarily with Angela Doidge-Nelson, the Childcare Sufficiency Lead, on the Covid support supermarket voucher grants for families
Please find the email here that Angela sent to you on 16 February explaining about how less advantaged families can, with your assistance, access supermarket vouchers. Some further clarification was sent out in an email by Angela on 22 February which you can find here
There are also two grants available for providers, a cleaning grant and a food grant. The details are all in the emails but please note, if your setting is on a school site, you will only receive the cleaning grant if you have a separate Ofsted registration from the school.
Strong Early Years London - workshop and webinar dates
The Department for Education has announced that early years providers are no longer required to notify Ofsted or their childminder agency of cases of Covid-19 within their settings. This applies regardless of whether the positive case is a child who attends the setting or a staff member.
Additionally, settings do not need to notify Ofsted of any cases that have happened within the last 14 days and are yet to be reported.
The change is consistent across all Ofsted-regulated services and is intended to relieve the reporting burden on settings. All other incidents that require reporting to Ofsted should continue.
Ofsted has therefore now withdrawn the specific guidance on the requirement to report Covid-19 cases and the following guidance has been updated to reflect this change:
The DfE and Ofsted will continue to monitor the impact of Covid-19 in Early Years settings through other data sources and through direct engagement with the sector.
What do the new isolation arrangements mean for childminders?
The guidance on managing positive cases for childminders has not changed and childminders should not childmind in their home when someone living there has tested positive or have symptoms of COVID-19. This is because there is a higher risk of transmission to those attending the provision for childcare as they are in close proximity of the case and for extended periods of time.
Guidance is available for childminders that outline the situations where you may be able to continue working if there is someone self-isolating in their house
Thank you for subscribing to our Early Education newsletter. If you'd like to subscribe to more newsletters on a variety of topics from Hounslow Council, please click here. For a full list of current job opportunities please visit our website.
