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 19 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.
Advance notice IT maintenance 5pm Tuesday 24 November to end of Wednesday 25 November
Please be advised that essential 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.
Free Entitlement Spring term Estimates
A reminder that the Online Provider Portal is open for you to submit your Spring term estimates for Free Entitlement (FE) for 2, 3 and 4 year olds.
- Headcount Day for Spring term is 21 January 2021.
- Deadline for estimate submissions is 27 November 2020.
View our quick and easy Estimate video guide, alternatively, you can refer to the Estimate help guide PDF version. Please refer to broadcast update 96 for information regarding closures due to COVID-19 and the potential impact on funding. If you have any questions, please email free.entitlement@westsussex.gov.uk or phone the Family Information Service on 01243 777807.
Reminder to update your sufficiency data
In broadcast update 101 on 3rd November, we explained how the data we collect on places and vacancies was changing.
The new form is now live, and you can find guidance on how to access and complete this here. We expect all providers to complete this by the 31 December 2020 but this does not need to wait until the end of term and can be done at any point before the deadline. It may be useful for you to do this sooner, before all the end of term activities commence.
This will continue to be a termly task to allow us to build a picture of sufficiency across the county and identify any areas we are concerned about. This request is also a condition of funding as per the Free Entitlement for 2, 3 and 4 year olds Provider Declaration (4.2 supply any additional information requested by the LA or partner organisations, including WSCC annual Census return on behalf of the Department for Education (DfE), in order to support monitoring the use of public funds and childcare sufficiency planning).
Note: this is our normal sufficiency monitoring process and will not replace the information we currently ask you for as part of the COVID-19 response on behalf of the DfE, which requires weekly detailed information on the breakdown of the children currently attending. The DfE submission will be reviewed by the government by 30 November to determine if it is still required to continue. We thank you for your continued support in sharing this information.
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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#105 (Clarifying guidance, Ofsted inspections, heating and ventilation, aerosol generated procedures guidance, world nursery rhyme week)
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#104 (IT maintenance, informing Ofsted of cases, updated action cards, use of COVID-19 app, Ofsted briefing, using MS teams, attachment and trauma webinar, Compass Card)
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#103 (Updated guidance, support for vulnerable children, professionals visiting EY settings, foundation years COVID-19 FAQs, FE spring term estimates, FE autumn additional payments, starting school questionnaire, safeguarding training, research project)
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#102 (National restrictions, out of school activities/wraparound care, guidance clarification, furlough, Ofsted update, notice of IT maintenance, additional webinars)
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#101 (National restrictions, changes to how we collect sufficiency data, termly updates reminder, new webinars)
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:
- NOW - Spring Term FE Estimates submissions (opened 11 Nov)
- 27 Nov - Spring Term FE Estimates submissions close
- 07 Dec - Spring Term FE Estimates submissions payment expected
- 04 Jan - Annual Census submissions open (mandatory for FE providers)
- 04 Jan - Spring Term FE Actuals submissions open
- 21 Jan - Spring FE headcount day
- 22 Jan - Annual Census submissions close
- 29 Jan - Spring Term FE Actuals submissions close
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