4 April 2025

EEAC update 52

EEAC updates are published every Friday, during term time.

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Past editions are also available to view on our web page

Congratulations - Outstanding!

Many congratulations to childminder Lindsey Topping (EY543269) in Newcastle for her recent Outstanding Ofsted judgement. Lindsey said "I am really proud to receive an Outstanding judgement from Ofsted. Creating a warm, nurturing and inspiring environment where children feel safe, valued, and excited to learn is at the heart of every thing I do. This recognition reflects the strong relationships I build with children and families, and I look forward to continuing to provide the highest quality care."

EYFS statutory framework -safeguarding and welfare requirements

Accident or injury
3.62 Pg 27 Childminders
3.63 Pg 35 Group and school-based providers

Registered providers must notify Ofsted, or CMA, of any serious accident, illness, or injury to, or death of, any child while in their care and the action taken.
Providers must notify local child protection agencies of any serious accidents or injury to, or the death of, any child while in their care and must act on any advice from those agencies.

Points to consider:

• Record the name of the person you speak to at the Staffordshire Children’s Advice and Support Services (SCASS)
• Record the information and advice they have given you and send to Ofsted and CMA, even if this is no further action.
• Record the incident in chronological order with a timeline to show how you are meeting the statutory requirements and the rationale behind the decision-making process.

Staffordshire Children’s Advice and Support (SCAS)
0300 111 8007
Emergency Duty Service (out of hours) 0345 604 2886

Click the link below to view the Recording Incidents Guidance for those working with children in the PVI sector.

Maths Champions-early Maths programme 

The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) is inviting EY settings to sign up to deliver Maths Champions, a programme which has shown positive impacts on children’s attainment in large-scale, rigorous EEF trials.

Developed by the National Day Nurseries Association, Maths Champions delivers high-quality professional development to EY educators to support improvements to early maths provision in PVI, maintained and school-based settings. The programme trains a Maths Champion and Deputy Maths Champion in key mathematical concepts and increasing staff confidence. Practitioners receive online training and one to one support with reviewing current maths provision, and planning and implementing steps to improve maths practice over the one-year programme duration.

EEF’s most recent independent evaluation found that children taught by practitioners who received the programme made, on average, three months’ additional progress in both maths and language development.

There are places for EY settings to start the 12-month programme in April, May and June 2025.

Click the link below to find out more and register your interest before the closing date of 31 May 2025.

Free training opportunities

Transitioning into Reception – support for Early Years providers (PVI)

Places are still available on this workshop, which is aimed at PVI nurseries, preschools and childminders to help children transitioning into School.

It aims to help you:

• understand the importance of Transition in the Early Years,
• support children with additional needs / SEND into Reception,
• support parents and families through transition,
• understand what information to share to support the child’s transition,
• information on funding and further training.

Tuesday 8 April 2025 9:30am to 11am via MS Teams, or

Wednesday 9 April 2025  6pm to 7:30pm via MS Teams

All places must be booked through the Practitioner Hub. Click the link below to book a place on your chosen date on the EY Practitioner Hub.

Wraparound Inclusive Practice Pathway - Understanding behaviour and de-escalation strategies

Places are still available for this face-to-face session, which is aimed at wraparound care providers, including management and staff. It will explore our understanding of behaviour, recognising that behaviour is complex and impacted by many factors. It will cover preventative strategies we can implement to manage behaviour and how to create a positive environment, de-escalation strategies for challenging situations, and restoring relationships following challenging situations. 

Wednesday 7 May 2025 10:30am to 1:30pm at Stafford Family Hub, Faraday Road, Stafford, ST16 3NQ

All places must be booked through the Practitioner Hub. Click the link below to book a place on your chosen date on the EY Practitioner Hub.

Early Communication Screening (ECS)

A small number of places are still available on this online training, which was written by the speech and language therapy service in the Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust. It will help you to support children’s speech, language and communication development. It is aimed at practitioners in nurseries and preschools who work with young children and families in Staffordshire.

NOTE: a resource pack to support the use of the ECS programme must be collected from Stafford after attendance at the first session. Sessions 2 and 3 cannot be completed without the materials. Delegates will be notified with further details of collection after attendance of session 1 is confirmed. The resource pack cannot be posted. If your setting already has the resource pack then delegates do not need to collect and old resources can still be used.

By the end of training, you will:

• understand the importance of children’s early language development,
• understand the value of screening children’s communication and be familiar with the Early Communication Screen,
• understand the Time to Talk intervention programme and strategies you can implement to support children who are identified by the screen.

You will need to attend all three sessions to complete certification for this course.

Session 1: Tuesday 20 May 2025 9:30 to 12:00 

Session 2: Wednesday 11 June 2025 9:30 to 12:00

Session 3: Tuesday 17 June 2025 9:30 to 12:00

All places must be booked through the Practitioner Hub. If you attend training without having a place booked in your name then unfortunately you will not be recorded as attending and will not receive a certificate or evaluation.

Click the link below to book a place on the EY Practitioner Hub.

Direct work with children and young people workshop

Staffordshire County Council is pleased to announce a bespoke workshop designed to help practitioners who may complete direct work with children and young people. This training is free of charge and upon completion of an evaluation form, you will also receive a free practitioner toolkit with resources to help support you to complete direct work with children and young people.

The aim of this session is to explore why it is important to complete direct work as well as exploring the benefits. The session will also consider any barriers you may face, particularly when working with children and young people who may be non-verbal, too young to share their wishes or feelings, where there has been trauma or may have special educational needs.

The workshop will share ideas and resources and will offer a space for discussion and reflection. Resources that will be discussed can be used for multiple ages, predominantly up to 16 years old.

• 28 April 2025 FULL
• 7 July 2025 FULL
• 13 October 2025 10am to 2pm
• 26 January 2026 10am to 2pm

Only 25 spaces are available per session which will be allocated on a first come basis.

Click the link below to complete the form to book a place on your chosen session.

Climate action plans for a sustainable future

By 2025, all education settings will need to have a climate action plan to lead the way in tackling climate change.

Sustainability Support for Education are holding a number of online interactive workshops to provide free help to develop and progress your climate action plan. The session will guide you to identify key actions, engage colleagues, and access support to integrate sustainability into daily life.  

• Thursday 10 April 2025 3:30 to 4:30pm - Early Years special
• Tuesday 15 April 2025 10am to 11am -Early Years special
• Tuesday 6 May 2025 4pm to 5pm
• Thursday 8 May 2025 6pm to 7pm
• Monday 12 May 2025 4pm to 5pm
• Wednesday 14 May 2025 7:30am to 8:30am

Click the link below to book your place through Eventbrite.

Term Funding Periods

Summer term funding and Easter 2025

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.

These 13 weeks, added to the 11 funded weeks in Spring Term and the 14 funded weeks in Autumn term, total 38 weeks funding across the academic year, as shown in the table above.

For any queries or help contact the Finance team on 01785 854009 or email eefportal@staffordshire.gov.uk.

Encourage parents to apply or reconfirm their working parent code before the end of the period to be valid for next term. The deadline to apply for a code was 31 March to be valid to use from 1 April. Regularly review the dashboard on your EY Portal for those codes which are shortly due reconfirmation and let parents know. Signpost parents to www.childcarechoices.gov.uk to find out about the expansion of the entitlements for working families and how to save money on their childcare.   If parents have queries they can call the Childcare Choices customer interaction centre on 0300 123 4097. Parents will now be able to apply for codes for children turning the relevant age by 31 August in order to claim a funded childcare place in Autumn term. Parents who apply for their code early may need to reconfirm their code before their child takes up their place in September.   Eligible children will be entitled to 30 hours a week from 1 September.  A child’s existing code can continue to be used as before, and parents do not need to apply for a new or additional code to take up a 30 hours place from September. Parents with an existing code will need to reconfirm at the normal time to maintain the validity of their child’s code.

Childcare Choices Partner Communications Toolkit

Childcare Choices have produced a 'Partner communications Toolkit' containing templates and resources you can download to help you raise awareness with parents of the financial support available for childcare costs and the benefit of early education.

The 'Campaign Creatives' page allows you to share messages via your social media accounts, emails, on your website, or within your setting. These resources are available in a number of languages including Gujarati, Romanian, Ukrainian and Urdu.

Use these resources alongside our existing Early Education and Childcare Toolkit.

EY Area SENCO Team helpline 

To request a helpline call back:

• Email: EYSENIS@staffordshire.gov.uk
• Type the words ‘Tuesday helpline’ in the email subject
• Include a brief summary of your query and contact details including a contact phone number in the email

You can email at any time, requests are collated for the next helpline date.  Each Tuesday, a member of the team will operate the helpline.  If Tuesdays are not a suitable time to call back, please note this in your email and we will try to accommodate your request. 

To make a request for consultation, download the request form on Staffordshire Connects | EY SENIS Team. Instructions and guidance are included on the form.

Please note - the EYSENIS team do not have a direct phone number. They can be contacted by email: EYSENIS@staffordshire.gov.uk.

This update is produced and distributed by Staffordshire County Council. If you wish to follow up on anything in this update then please contact us by email at eeac@staffordshire.gov.uk

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