Free EY Safeguarding Forum
The EY Safeguarding Practitioner Forum meets termly to discuss emerging safeguarding themes from the sector. It also aims to share the learning from local reviews, pick up on good practice when it comes to the methods and platforms used to share learning and to celebrate successes that spotlight how the sector is keeping children safe.
The forum is a perfect platform for practitioners from EY settings to have their voice heard, seek advice, knowledge and share best practice and lessons learnt with other settings and the partnership.
The guest speaker for this term’s forum is one of the independent Conference chairs.
Providers only need to attend one of these duplicate sessions:
- Tuesday 25 February 2025 10am to 11:30am via MS Teams
- Wednesday 26 February 2025 6pm to 7:30pm via MS Teams
Click the link below to book your place on the SSCP website.
Under 2’s speech and language screening tool
The screening tool is intended for practitioners working with children around the 12-month milestone mark and forms part of the current speech and language pathway to access specialist support.
Following the launch of the under 2's speech and language screening tool on the Early Years Practitioner Hub, click the link below to access the resource which can be found at the bottom of the EY SENIS webpage.
EY Finance news
Early Years Census 2025
A reminder that the Census is open until Friday 7 February 2025.
It can be found on your EY Portal under the EY Census button; guidance notes are also available.
Completion of this information is mandatory for all settings except Academies who have opted to complete the School Census.
If you have any queries contact the Early Years Finance team on 01785 854009 or email eefportal@staffordshire.gov.uk, remembering to quote your Provider Portal ID.
Summer term funding and Easter 2025
A reminder that as Easter is falling late this year at the end of April, the Summer Term funding period covers the period 1 April to 31 August. This means that settings can claim the first 2 weeks of the summer term before the Easter holidays, and then resume after the break to claim a maximum of 13 weeks funding. This ensures parents are not missing out on 2 weeks funding they are entitled to before Easter.
For any queries or help contact the Finance team on 01785 854009 or email eefportal@staffordshire.gov.uk.
Click the link below for more details on payments and task dates.
DfE EY Qualifications
The DfE has announced a package of EY qualification initiatives that will both support entry and progression within the workforce and ensure that the staff working with young children have the right skills and knowledge to deliver high-quality provision.
To support EY settings to recruit and retain staff and meet this increased demand, from 3 March 2025 eligible educators will be able to access an experience-based route to working in the Staff:Child ratios at level 3. This new route recognises the significant contribution that skilled and experienced staff can make to the education and care of young children. This is an opportunity for educators without currently approved qualifications, to develop their careers, and for providers to maximise the potential of their talented staff in a way that works best for the children in their care. The full consultation response can be found here.
Alongside this, the DfE have announced the publication of the Early Years Teacher Degree Apprenticeship standard. This new, graduate-level qualification will give everyone from school leavers and junior staff to senior leaders the opportunity to easily move into a specialist career in the EY sector.
Free training opportunities
Early years child development training
DfE’s Early years child development training is a free online programme that has been designed by early years experts:
- Build and strengthen your child development knowledge and understanding
- Get practical advice for supporting children in your setting
- Test your knowledge and reflect on your own practice
- Watch practical training videos
- Access the modules in any order at any time
- Pause and restart the training to suit you
- Make notes as you learn
- Download a certificate after completion of each module
There are 8 modules available now covering key areas of child development, including understanding child and brain development and the EYFS, personal, social and emotional development, communication and language, physical development, effective curriculum and assessment, and supporting individual differences and needs.
Click the link below to find out more and register your interest.
Free Childcare Works resources
Childcare Works have produced informative and practical videos exploring the following topics, which providers may find useful:
Free-new Foundation Years Vodcasts
Two brand new vodcasts are available on the Foundation Years website. These resources are designed to support early years educators in providing the best care for babies and young children.
The Importance of Positive Interactions on Baby Brain Development
Discover the crucial role positive interactions play in a baby's brain development, with insights from leading experts at the NSPCC.
Watch by clicking this link : The Importance of Positive Interactions
Responding to Babies' Cries – A Guide for Early Years Educators
Learn how to recognise the causes of distress and soothe babies effectively. Alex Robinson (Early Years Policy Advisor, DfE) is joined by Melanie Farman (NSPCC Development Manager) and Natasha Harrison (NSPCC Early Years Development Support Officer) to share their expert advice.
Watch by clicking this link: Responding to Babies' Cries
Best start in life: the prime areas of learning and what Ofsted research means for childminders
On 16 December 2024 DfE held a webinar for childminders about their EY research series: Best Start in Life part 2: the 3 prime areas of learning.
The webinar focussed on the importance of Personal, Social and Emotional Development (PSED), Communication and Language (CL) and Physical Development (PD) and what a curriculum for these areas of learning looks like. Also discussed are how the prime areas of learning are looked at on inspection and the top 10 takeaway points from the research.
Guidance-Expanding a registered setting into new premises
Ofsted have published new guidance for providers of childcare on domestic and non-domestic premises who want to expand their registered setting into new premises.
This guidance explains when you may be eligible to expand your registered setting and when you need to apply to register a new, separate setting.
You may be able to apply for an expansion if you are expanding your setting into new premises next to, or close to, your registered setting, and you intend to manage them as one setting.
For more information click the link below.
Guidance-starting a nursery or other daycare and running the business
Find out how to register with Ofsted as a nursery or other daycare, and what you will need to tell them about.
You will need to apply to register as a daycare if you will be looking after children aged up to the 31 August following their fifth birthday in:
- a location other than someone’s home
- someone’s home, working with 3 or more people at the same time.
You must register with Ofsted unless you plan to work with 3 or more people in someone’s home. In this case, you can choose to register either with Ofsted or with a childminder agency.
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