With you, with the child. Every step of the way.
Broadcast for Early Years and childcare providers in West Sussex from West Sussex County Council - Early Help Service
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Thursday 5 November 2020
Advance notice - next week's DfE data capture
Next week's DfE data capture for the numbers of children currently accessing early years provision will be open from Monday, and will close at the end of Wednesday (midnight). Please use this link to complete your return.
National Restrictions
On 4 November, the Department for Education published guidance on how the new national restrictions to control the spread of COVID-19 impact early years settings. The new guidance should be read in conjunction with:
Please note the changes around visitors to the setting which states that:
Settings should restrict all visits to the setting to those that are absolutely necessary. This means suspending parent and carer visits for:
- new admissions,
- settling-in children new to the setting, and
- attending organised performances.
Clinically extremely vulnerable children and staff:
Those children whose doctors have confirmed they are still clinically extremely vulnerable are advised not to attend childcare or nursery during the period this advice is in place. Children who live with someone who is clinically extremely vulnerable, but who are not clinically extremely vulnerable themselves, should still attend education or childcare. Parents of clinically extremely vulnerable children will be receiving a letter shortly confirming this advice.
Staff who are clinically extremely vulnerable are advised to work from home and not to go into work. Individuals in this group will have been identified through a letter from the NHS or from their GP, and may have been advised to shield in the past. Staff should talk to their employers about how they will be supported, including to work from home where possible, during the period of national restrictions.
All other staff should continue to attend work, including those living in a household with someone who is clinically extremely vulnerable. Staff and children who are clinically vulnerable or have underlying health conditions but are not clinically extremely vulnerable, may continue to attend early years and childcare settings in line with current guidance.
Out-of-school activities and wraparound childcare
Guidance for providers of holiday and other out of school settings was updated on 5 November. Out-of-school activities (including wraparound care) may continue to operate if their primary purpose is providing registered childcare, or where they are offering other childcare activities, where this is reasonably necessary to enable parents to:
- work or search for work,
- undertake training or education, or
- access respite care, including for vulnerable children.
Out-of-school activities that are primarily used by home educating parents as part of their arrangements for their child to receive a suitable full-time education (which could include, for example, tuition centres, supplementary schools, or private tutors) may also continue to operate for the duration of the national restrictions.
Guidance clarification
Following on from the queries from Tuesday's broadcast email 03/11/20, around which families can access settings during the new restrictions, the Department for Education has responded to our question as follows:
'The government has been clear that limiting attendance at schools and other education settings will only be done as a last resort, even in areas where a local alert level is ‘high’ or ‘very high’.
Decisions on any restrictions necessary in education or childcare settings are taken separately on a case-by-case basis in the light of local circumstances, including information about the incidence and transmission of Coronavirus (COVID-19).
It is recommended that you continue to visit https://www.gov.uk/ which will be updated with any new developments'.
This was in response to the confusion over the wording in section 8 of the guidance which stated that 'parents will still be able to access some registered childcare and other childcare activities (including wraparound care) where reasonably necessary to enable parents to work, or for the purposes of respite care'.
Please continue to operate your provision as normal. Should you find your provision in the position where you feel you have no choice but to implement a whole or partial closure, where you have not been instructed to do so by Public Health, please follow the instructions at the bottom of this email as there could be implications for funding received as per the government guidance.
Government extends Furlough to March and increases self-employed support
The Chancellor announced today that workers across the United Kingdom will benefit from increased support with a five-month extension of the furlough scheme into Spring 2021.
Ofsted Update
Ofsted have confirmed that, during the national restrictions starting on 5 November, they will carry out their work remotely where possible, only going on site where it is necessary to do so, or in response to urgent concerns.
Ofsted will continue to carry out:
- regulatory work in early years to respond to safeguarding concerns,
- investigatory work into unregistered schools/early years provision,
- registration work, and
- enforcement activity where necessary.
They will risk assess Childcare Register inspections and early years interim visits and either:
- deliver these remotely, or
- make a visit, if it is safe and necessary.
Advance notice IT maintenance 4pm Thursday 13 November to end of 15 November
Please be advised that maintenance has been scheduled for the above dates that will affect the following:
- Online Provider Portal
- Family Information Service website (parents searching for childcare)
- 2 year old Free Entitlement applications (parents applying for funding)
Additionally, the West Sussex County Council website may be unavailable at times during the work. Note that this work is taking place within the Free Entitlement estimate submissions window. Please refrain from trying to submit your estimate between these dates.
Additional webinar dates
Due to the popularity of our Early Years Foundation Stage webinars, we have scheduled additional dates this term:
- A Look at Christmas Crafts - mass production or creativity? Best practice examples and fun. Hands-on activities will support understanding of what meets children’s needs whilst avoiding the “production line” approach to crafts. Tuesday 11 November 7.00pm to 8.30pm EYT 20/2625
- Grasping My World: A Look at Treasure Baskets for Babies. You will learn to create a responsive and stimulating learning environment that meets the needs of under 2's using treasure baskets. Thursday 26 November 7.00pm to 8.30pm EYT 20/2626
Only £15 per place. Please log onto the Learning and Development Gateway and search for the course code to find out more, book and pay by card.
Please inform the Family Information Service if your current operating status changes. Email family.info.service@westsussex.gov.uk and include your setting name, Ofsted URN, the date you intend to close/open, and any changes to your operating hours. If you inform us of re-opening, you will be reinstated on the public list and appear on our website www.westsussex.gov.uk/fis.
In the event of your setting having a confirmed COVID-19 case, if Public Health have stated you must close for any period of time you must inform the Family Information Service. However, if Public Heath have not explicitly stated in correspondence to you that the setting must close, we would expect you to make contact with your Early Years and Childcare Adviser (EYCA) to talk through your circumstances, where possible, before making the decision to close the setting. If you are not able to make immediate contact with your EYCA then please email your nearest Early Help Hub using the following email addresses:
Where there are not clearly evidenced reasons why the setting had no option to close, there could be implications for funding received as per the government guidance.
All providers please complete a short online survey, once a week. The link to the survey is different each time. A link will be provided in each Thursday update for the following week, and the survey will be open for three full days each week from Monday to Wednesday, closing at midnight on the Wednesday. The latest link to the survey is also available on our website.
If a family you know are struggling to ensure they have food for their family, collect medication, or are in need of any additional support, contact West Sussex County Council Community hub.
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#101 (National restrictions, changes to how we collect sufficiency data, termly updates reminder, new webinars)
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#100 (Heating and ventilation, and pedagogical leadership webinar)
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#99 (EYPARM Outcomes, supporting children with self-regulation, WSSCP newsletter)
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EYC Special Broadcast 23/10 - 'Managing Confirmed Cases of COVID-19' Update
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#98 (updated outbreak action cards and guidance, upcoming changes to collection of sufficiency data, updated early help offer, track and trace, understanding positive, pro-active and effective leadership)
We have a range of online training available for you to access for your staff to ensure they have the most up to date information to support them in their role:
- 11 Nov - Spring Term FE Estimates submissions open
- 13-15 Nov - Online Provider Portal downtime (planned maintenance)
- 27 Nov - Spring Term FE Estimates submissions close
- 07 Dec - Spring Term FE Estimates submissions payment expected
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