Early Years and Childcare Broadcast

West Sussex County Council sent this bulletin at 08-01-2020 04:00 PM GMT

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 Service

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Wednesday 8 January 2020

Mandatory Early Years Census 2020 – Final Reminder

If you are claiming Free Entitlement for 2, 3 or 4 year olds this spring term, it is mandatory that you complete the Early Years Census Form. The deadline to submit your form via the Online Provider Portal is 24 January 2020.

The Early Years Census is important because it is used to calculate the funding West Sussex County Council receives for free early education.

If you are a childminder claiming Free Entitlement, on page 3 of the form, please remember to include yourself as a member of staff working with children under 5 years of age.

When recording staff qualifications, only their highest qualification is to be recorded.

Please see the attached letter for further information and guidance. You can also view our Census video and help guide at www.westsussex.gov.uk/ecsportal.

If you have any questions or require assistance, please do not hesitate to contact the Family Information Service on 01243 777807 and ask for the Specialist Team, or e-mail free.entitlement@westsussex.gov.uk

Starting School – January 2020 update

Please remember that the deadline for applications for children due to start school in September 2020 is Wednesday 15 January 2020. Have all of the families in your setting applied yet?

If you have any new children starting in your setting this term who are starting school in September 2020, please share the Starting School Questionnaire with them - https://www.westsussex.gov.uk/media/11880/sr_questionnaire.pdf. Completed questionnaires can be returned to your local Healthy Child Programme Team or Children and Family Centre.

This term, we are collecting EYFS assessment data for all children starting school in September 2020 so we can track local and countywide trends. Please submit your data via your EYCA or directly to IPEHIntegratedChecks@westsussex.gov.uk. For more information about this please read the information on our website at www.westsussex.gov.uk/integrated_review in the section “Integrated health and learning reviews”.

Do You Run a Breakfast or Holiday/Out of School Club? How Up To Date Are You?

When was the last time you checked or updated your business and childcare vacancy details to us?

You can check and update your vacancy and business information easily in the form on the Online Provider Portal. Even if you have no vacancies it is vital we are regularly kept aware of this as we do not want to be referring prospective new business to you that has incorrect information – frustrating for you and frustrating for parents.

Regularly checking over the information we hold, updating any if necessary and pressing submit to confirm we are holding the correct data for you takes just 5 minutes of your time.

Check your business details and vacancy information here