The Department for Education, in collaboration with the London Early Years Foundation (LEYF) and Anaphylaxis UK, have developed new nutrition content on the Help for Early Years providers platform.   

   Within the Early Years Foundation Stage framework there is a requirement that states: ‘Where children are provided with meals, snacks, and drinks, these must be healthy, balanced and nutritious.’  

Establishing healthy eating habits at a young age is important for long-term health. As early years practitioners you can help set solid foundations for children’s future health by providing them with nutritious food in your settings.  

Help for Early Years Providers has added new nutrition content including videos to help you fulfil the requirements needed.

The content:   

• explaining the importance of introducing good food habits from birth  
• information on dietary requirements for babies and young children and how to plan a balanced menu   
• provides recipe cards for tasty, cost effective, nutritious recipes 
• gives tips on how to introduce solid foods safely 
• provides information on food safety   
• links to further reading and resources    

For more guidance on supporting children in the early years, visit the Help for Early Years Providers website.  

The new module covering Effective Curriculum and Assessment has been added to the following web pages:

DfE Child Development Training

Help for early years providers webpage

TfL Discoverers is a fun and accessible programme for nurseries and early years settings to explore road safety. It champions key messages for 3-4 year-olds on how they can stay safe around the roads of London.   

TfL Discoverers includes fully resourced and interactive stories and activities that deliver valuable and relatable road safety messages to young people ages 3-4-years old.

To find out more, click here.

If you currently follow our Children and Families Facebook page, you may have seen a few of our posts.

A huge thank you to the childcare providers who are liking and sharing the posts.  This really does help spread the word to families and to organisations who support families.

If you’re not already following, visit https://www.facebook.com/LBHChildrenandFamilies and give us a follow, like or share.

To capture feedback on Family Hubs on behalf of Hounslow families, an online survey has been launched https://forms.office.com/e/VkDePxqG4c

The survey is open to all parent/carers of children aged 0-19 or up to 25 with SEND (including expecting parents), and not just those that attend Family Hubs or Children’s Centres.

The survey will close on Sunday, 26 May 2024.

Those who complete the survey will be in with a chance to win a £100 voucher. The winner will be selected at random.

Please click below for a poster containing a QR code that parents can scan to take part in the survey.

Oral language intervention for nurseries 

The Nuffield Early Language Intervention (NELI) Preschool are recruiting for an effectiveness research trial starting in Autumn 2024. NELI Preschool is a 20-week oral language enrichment programme, centred around shared storybook reading, which is designed to improve the oral language skills of children in nursery settings.

Click here to find out more and register your interest.

The DfE is currently running a number of consultations for the Early Years Foundation Stage.

The safeguarding and welfare elements consultation proposals include:  

• Amendments to promote safer recruitment
• Creation of new requirements for following long term absence and the holding of additional emergency contact details. 
• Creation of new requirements to ensure safer eating. 
• Creation of a safeguarding training criteria annex and a requirement for safeguarding policies to include details of how safeguarding training is delivered and how practitioners are supported to put it into place. 
• Amendments to clarify that early years students and trainees are required to have paediatric first aid training. 
• Amendments to ensure that children’s privacy when changing nappies and toileting is considered and balanced with safeguarding need. 
•  Miinor changes to the structure and wording of the safeguarding requirements to improve clarity. 

  You can respond to the consultation here by 17 June 2024: Early years foundation stage (EYFS) safeguarding - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). 

The other consultation being held is on the experience-based route for early years practitioners.

This proposal aims to give providers the flexibility to use staff more effectively by counting those without an approved qualification - but with sufficient experience - in the level 3 ratios.

Responses to this consultation are required by 20 May 2024. Take part here: Experience-based route for early years practitioners - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).