 Home-Start Portsmouth is offering a 10-week free programme for all Hampshire Navy and Marine parents. Open to all naval families across Hampshire, this structured parenting course offers a safe and supportive space to reflect and grow as a family. Each session is confidential and shaped around the unique experience of naval family life.
It’s an opportunity to connect with other military parents, share stories, and develop practical tools that help family life thrive… even when things feel unpredictable. A free crèche is available for children under 5.
The programme takes place at The Haven, 17 Lake Road, PO1 4HA. The next start dates are:
- Friday 17 April 2026, 12.30pm - 2.30pm
- Friday 18 September 2026, 12.30pm - 2.30pm
A poster to share with families who may benefit from attending can be downloaded here.
 The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is asking parents, early years settings and other caregivers to check their infant formula against specific batches of Aptamil and Cow & Gate products listed in the Product Recall Information Notice published on Friday 6 February 2026.
As you might have seen in media coverage and on social media, Danone’s recall has been issued due to potential cereulide contamination, which can cause illness including vomiting and stomach cramps. The issue only affects the batches listed in the recall notice, in addition to the product included in Danone’s earlier recall on 23 January 2026.
The FSA’s advice to parents and carers is that if they have any of the affected products, stop using them and switch to an alternative formula. If formula was prescribed, they should speak to a pharmacist or doctor before changing. If they have recently fed the formula to their baby and are concerned about symptoms, they should contact their GP or call NHS 111.
Additional recalls
This follows recent recalls from Nestle of SMA infant formula products due to the same contamination issue.
The FSA have published the following:
 DfE and NDNA are offering a limited number of funded places on the Maths Champions programme (usually £1,205), designed to help early years practitioners build confidence and embed maths into everyday practice through play, routines and low-cost resources.
The programme supports practitioners to:
- Develop confidence in supporting early mathematical thinking
- Turn everyday interactions into meaningful maths opportunities
- Enhance learning environments without adding workload
- Improve outcomes for children through practical, sustainable approaches
Eligibility:
Settings must be a PVI nursery, maintained nursery school or children’s centre, or a state-funded school-based nursery with children accessing 3- and 4-year-old places for at least 15 hours per week.
Read more about the impact of the programme
Information sessions
Places are limited and allocated on a first-come basis.
 This online session will take place on 3 March from 4.00pm - 5.00pm. It will be led by Nathan Crook and used to explore how children can be provided with learning experiences that enable firm mathematical foundations in number to be developed through the earlier part of the Reception year. Ideas shared will be presented in a form through which dissemination of thinking can be shared with wider staff teams. Throughout the network meeting, mastery approach pedagogies will be promoted, which align with provision through which playful maths experiences can be provided to children.
The aims of this session will be:
- To deepen understanding about the importance of children developing understanding linked to composition of number, as well as determining opportunities for engagement through interactive activities.
- To understand key concepts related to spatial reasoning, as well as connect mathematical language that can be introduced to children in Reception.
- To provide an opportunity for networking as a community of Reception teachers and EYFS Leads.
 This online webinar will be taking place on 12 March from 4.00pm - 5.00pm. Children love making things move, and ramps are a perfect invitation for exploration. But ramp play is more than just fun; it’s a powerful way to spark mathematical thinking, problem solving, and reasoning in the early years. Explore how simple ramp play creates rich opportunities for prediction, experimentation, and problem solving, as children test ideas and explore cause and effect. You’ll gain practical insights, real examples from the free Ramp Play booklet, and strategies to deepen the maths in everyday play — leaving you inspired to see maths in motion.
 The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) is offering funding for the delivery and independent evaluation of fully developed early years programmes focusing on maths for children aged 2-4.
The priority areas for this funding round are:
- geometry, spatial thinking, and measurement
- number concepts
They’re particularly interested in programmes that:
- might benefit children from disadvantaged backgrounds
- build metacognitively oriented routines (for example thinking aloud, breaking tasks into manageable steps, and using mistakes as learning opportunities)
 NDNA’s free factsheet will specifically focus on parents as partners. It will support you in reflecting on how you currently work with parents and give ideas and suggestions of ways to develop your practice further.
 The National Education Nature Park programme encourages outdoor learning. A risk-benefit approach helps EYFS practitioners balance safety with challenge and discovery, ensuring that children can learn and grow through real-world experiences.
To help you make decisions for your setting and learners that consider a balance of risk and benefit, the Nature Park programme has created a downloadable toolkit focusing on some common features and activities you may come across within your setting while taking part in the programme. Balancing risk and benefit in this way can also help you to communicate transparently with parents and carers, building trust and understanding about the importance of outdoor learning and the benefits of managing risk.
 Liverpool City Region and Beyond Stronger Practice Hub invite early years professionals to an online workshop exploring Climate Action Plans and sustainability in practice taking place on 26 February, 6.30pm – 8.00pm, via Zoom. Led by Dr Diane Boyd, this session will guide practitioners through writing a Climate Action Plan, sourcing information, and linking everyday practice to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
This session will be held on Zoom
Meeting ID: 814 1824 8459
Passcode: 514311
Please ensure you are registered with Liverpool City Region and Beyond SPH to access this session. Please contact sphubnw@evertoncentre.liverpool.sch.uk to reserve your funded place.
 Since September 2025, early years providers have been required to have regard to the Early Years Foundation Stage nutrition guidance. This guidance supports settings to meet the EYFS requirement that meals, snacks and drinks provided to children must be healthy, balanced and nutritious, whether meals are served in the setting or brought from home.
The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS): Food Brought in from Home - Frequently Asked Questions document can be found here.
For information on nutrition in early years, please see the Help for early years providers: Nutrition page.
 Ofsted have published a new blog post, where they answer the most frequently asked questions about early years inspections. Here you can find answers to questions including:
- Who can take on the role of nominee?
- What happens on the planning call?
- How do shared observations work?
Ofsted will regularly update this blog post as they continue to inspect with the renewed framework.
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