 Early Years Funding Coordinator
We are pleased to share that Gill Park has taken on the role of Early Years Funding Coordinator, effective 15 June.
Gill joins the funding team having previously worked as an Early Years Quality and Sufficiency Officer, bringing with her a strong understanding of the early years landscape across Portsmouth and extensive experience supporting providers and families.
In her new role, Gill will:
- Work closely alongside the funding team and funding outreach officers to promote and co-ordinate early education funding streams.
- Lead on delivering a targeted outreach strategy, ensuring effective early identification and intervention for vulnerable children.
- Support families to access early education funding and childcare places, helping to secure the best start for children.
This work is vital in ensuring that all children, particularly those most vulnerable, can access early education opportunities - laying the foundations for lifelong learning and positive outcomes.
We would like to thank Tracy Robinson for her work in this role and wish Gill every success as she begins her new position.
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Early Years Quality and Sufficiency Officer (specialising in SEND and Inclusion)
We are pleased to share that Hannah Rapley has been successful in her interview to take on the role of Early Years Quality and Sufficiency Officer, specialising in SEND and Inclusion (start date TBC).
Hannah will join the Quality and Sufficiency Officer team following her post as Higher Level Early Years Inclusion Outreach Officer, bringing with her valuable experience in supporting children with SEND, families, and early years providers.
In her new role, Hannah will:
- Work closely with the Early Years Inclusion Team to support inclusive practice across Portsmouth.
- Deliver training to early years providers to strengthen SEND and inclusion practice.
- Work alongside Layla Riches and Vicky Taylor as part of the Quality and Sufficiency Officer team.
This role plays an important part in strengthening inclusive provision and ensuring all children are supported to achieve the best outcomes.
We wish Hannah every success as she begins her new position.
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 We’re delighted to congratulate this year’s successful participants who have achieved their Level 2 SEND practitioner qualification and level 3 early years SENCo accreditation.
This marks the sixth successful cohort of accredited SEND training in Portsmouth - a fantastic milestone for our city’s early years workforce.
Since the programme began in 2019:
- 78 different settings across Portsmouth have taken part
- Every participant has successfully completed their training and written assignments
- Practitioners have achieved DfE-backed CACHE/NCFE Level 2 or Level 3 qualifications
This is a huge achievement and reflects the commitment, passion and dedication of early years professionals in supporting children with SEND.
Looking ahead - book your place for next year
We’re excited to continue this success and are now inviting early years practitioners to book onto our 2026 - 27 programmes.
Level 2 SEND practitioner (accredited)
Develop your confidence and skills in supporting children with SEND in early years settings.
Level 2 SEND accredited training course (evening sessions on Teams) - book here
Level 2 SEND accredited course for group-based settings (daytime sessions) - book here
Level 3 early years SENCo (accredited)
Enhance your leadership and specialist knowledge to support inclusive practice across your setting.
Early years level 3 SENCo accreditation course - book here
Why take part?
- Gain a nationally recognised qualification
- Strengthen your SEND knowledge and practice
- Build confidence in supporting children and families
- Contribute to high-quality, inclusive early years provision across Portsmouth
Once again, a huge congratulations to all of this year’s participants - your hard work is making a real difference to children’s lives.
We look forward to welcoming the next cohort!
 Foundation Years have launched a set of business support materials on their webpage. These materials provide practical support around the running of an early years provider business, bringing together guidance on business planning, finance, marketing and human resources in an Early Years context.
The page signposts key national guidance, and highlights the importance of understanding local provider agreements, funding rules and consumer law when delivering childcare.
It also brings together a range of practical business support tools which were developed by a local authority and kindly shared for wider use. This includes a business planning template, cashflow tools, occupancy calculators and marketing plans to support sustainability and growth.
The resource is complemented by a selection of materials developed by Childcare Works, which means that providers can access these materials without local authorities needing to supply these from the Knowledge Hub.
 The Department for Education’s Early years child development training is a free, online programme designed by early years experts to support educators working with children from birth to reception.
This flexible online training will help you to:
- Build and strengthen your child development knowledge
- Get practical advice and ideas to support children in your setting, including reception classes
- Reflect on your practice and test your knowledge
- Learn from practical training videos filmed in early years and reception settings
- Access modules in any order, at any time
- Download a certificate on completion of each module
The programme includes 8 modules, covering key areas such as:
- Brain development and how children learn
- Personal, social and emotional development
- Communication and language
- Physical development
- Mathematics
- Effective curriculum and assessment
- Supporting individual differences and needs
The training has recently been updated to include:
- Additional videos and practical advice for supporting children in reception
- Guidance on supporting the EYFS profile assessment
 Help for Early Years Providers offers free resources for educators working with children aged 0 to 5 years. The website has recently been updated to include EYFS profile assessment support including bite-sized videos and case studies. A new safer sleep page has also been created in collaboration with The Lullaby Trust, providing advice to create and maintain safer sleep environments for babies and young children in their care.
 Please see button below for a communications pack from the Hampshire Domestic Abuse Partnership linked to the upcoming Men’s World Cup as, unfortunately, major football tournaments can lead to a significant increase in domestic abuse.
In response, this county-wide awareness campaign is being launched, with the Men’s World Cup tournament beginning on 11 June. The pack sets out the campaign approach, key messages, and the full range of assets available to support your involvement.
Please play an active role in amplifying this campaign where appropriate by:
Using the materials in the attached comms pack to:
- Brief your staff teams
- Share messaging via intranets, newsletters, and internal bulletins
- Promote content externally through your social media, websites, and community networks
- Display campaign materials in your settings, particularly in public-facing and community settings.
All campaign materials referenced in the attached pack, including animations, posters, and digital content, are available here (under the button ‘Help us extend the reach of this campaign’).
More general information about safeguarding children who are exposed to domestic abuse can be found on the PSCP website.
 Portsmouth City Council currently have a Community SuDS (sustainable urban drainage) grant open for applications. The closing date is 29 June. The grant is for community organisations, including schools and preschools to apply for funding to purchase and install a SuDS planter. SuDS planters help manage rain water and slow it entering the drainage network, which can become overwhelmed during periods of intense rainfall. SuDS planters also provide space for planting.
 Take a look at the training and support from the Thames Valley and South Central Early Years Stronger Practice Hub below:
Free webinars:
Developing children's early learning linked to counting and cardinality, 30 June, 4.00 - 5.30pm - book
Getting it right for boys, 13 July, 2.00 - 4.00pm - book
Outdoor learning, 15 Sept, 3.00 - 5.00pm - book
Curiosity, attunement and communication: Listening to 2 year olds, 30 Sept, 3.00 - 1.30pm - book
Blog:
Blog by Suzanne Taylor - access
Recorded webinars:
Gross motor recorded webinar - access
Fine motor recorded webinar - access
Physical development - part 1, webinar - access
Physical development - part 2, webinar - access
Childminder network online meeting:
Discussing safer sleep, 18 June, 7.00 - 8.00pm - book
Moving to write workshop:
Moving to write slidepack from workshop on 11 June - access
 A new post, “How safeguarding and children’s welfare and wellbeing underpin the September 2026 updates to early years inspections” has just been published on the Ofsted: early years blog.
We are pleased to share the latest newsletter from the Child Accident Prevention Trust, providing helpful safety advice and resources for practitioners and families.
The newsletter includes a range of seasonal safety messages and practical guidance to support you in keeping children safe, along with resources that can be shared with parents and carers.
 The Lullaby Trust has created this helpful leaflet to provide guidance to childcare providers about safer sleep arrangements.
 There's more to wraparound care than TV and computer games. Come along to this workshop and be inspired! Suitable for early years wraparound childcare providers, staff at out of school clubs and childminders providing care for over 5's.
Tuesday 7 July, 7.00pm - 8.30pm at Landport Adventure Playground.
 A short while ago, you were invited to share your feedback on the Portsmouth Local Offer SEND Workforce Training page.
This is a final reminder to complete the survey. The SEND Workforce Development Group would greatly value your input to help ensure the page is useful, accessible, and responsive to the training needs of those working with children and young people.
If you have not yet had the opportunity to respond, they would be very grateful if you could do so by Friday 26 June 2026.
The survey should take no more than 5 - 10 minutes to complete, and all responses are anonymous. They are keen to hear from both those who have used the page and those who have not yet engaged with it, to help them understand awareness and identify any areas for development.
Thank you in advance for taking the time to share your views in advance of the deadline - it is very much appreciated.
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