Early Years and Childcare Broadcast

West Sussex County Council sent this bulletin at 02-10-2019 04:00 PM BST

Early Years and Childcare Broadcast header

With you, with the child. Every step of the way.

Weekly broadcast for Early Years and childcare providers in West Sussex from West Sussex County Council - Early Help.

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Wednesday 2 October 2019

School Readiness Integrated Review 2019 – Action Required

Next week, your setting will receive copies of the new ‘School Readiness Questionnaire’ and a ‘Starting School’ leaflet, produced by the School Admissions Team. These are for you to distribute to families with children in your setting who are born between 1 September 2015 and 31 August 2016 and therefore due to start school in September 2020.

For full details and action required, please see the attached correspondence called ‘School Readiness Integrated Review 2019'.

Speech and Language Advice Sessions

As from 1 September 2019, the Speech and Language Therapy Service has stopped offering ‘Advice Sessions’ (formally Drop-ins). This decision was made largely because of the high numbers of children being directed to them with very obvious needs rather than what they were planned for i.e. families who have concerns, but other professionals are not concerned.

The Speech and Language Therapy Service will not accept referrals for children under the age of 28 months in line with the integrated 2 year check guidance which the Health Visitors are following. Health Visitors are currently receiving additional training on communication and language development, and a good source of information, advice and guidance for families with children under 28 months.

If you feel that your staff need more training to support children’s communication and language development and to share key strategies with families, please remember that there is a range of training available on the Learning and Development Gateway.

Increasing Immunisation Coverage across West Sussex

Public Health in West Sussex are asking for your support to spread the word on the importance of vaccinations for children and families.

Why?

In 2018 there were nearly a thousand confirmed measles cases in England. The majority of cases have been in people who are not vaccinated.
Vaccination is one of the most cost-effective ways of avoiding disease and it currently prevents 2-3 million deaths a year.
Each year there are different strains of Flu around. Flu is a very common and highly infectious disease caused by a virus and can be especially dangerous for children and adults who fall into the higher risk categories (people with respiratory conditions, pregnant women and anyone with a long term medical condition.

Did you know?

Vaccines are offered annually to children over the age of two and all primary school aged children. Babies over 6 months, children and adults can also be offered the Flu vaccine if they are in the higher risk categories.

Please share the promotional information in your setting around vaccinations with families by utilising the supportive information such as posters, fact sheets and leaflets. These can be found via multiple links on the attached document. There is also other key supportive information around vaccinations that you may find useful.