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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Tuesday 1 December 2020
Reminder - this week's DfE data capture
This week's DfE data capture for the numbers of children currently accessing early years provision is open now, and will close at the end of Wednesday (midnight). Please use this link to complete your return.
Actions for early years and childcare providers during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak
The guidance Actions for early years and childcare providers during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) has been updated on Gov.uk
In this revised version of the guidance, the DfE have included updates to address the exit from National Restrictions on 2 December and provided new and updated guidance on managing safety in settings, staffing, 30 hour entitlements and information on business support. A full list of updates is included at the beginning of the guidance document.
The guidance continues to be applicable to settings during national restrictions although it should be read alongside the education national restrictions guidance. The national restrictions guidance supersedes the early years and childcare guidance where it touches on the same policy areas. This applies until national restrictions end on 2 December.
Minor updates have been made to the EYFS disapplications guidance:
- Remove reference to the transition period for the original disapplications, which ended on 25 November 2020.
- Remove reference to extending the validity of Paediatric First Aid certificates if certificate requalification training is prevented for reasons associated directly with the COVID-19 pandemic, or by complying with related government advice. The period up to which the validity of certificates could be extended ended on 25 November 2020.
Coronavirus (COVID-19) contingency framework for education and childcare settings
The government has published new guidance to explain how settings can prepare for restrictions to help contain community transmission of COVID-19.
Protective measures for holiday or after-school clubs and other out-of-school settings for children during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak
This guidance was updated on 27 November and includes updates in the following sections:
- home education,
- educational visits and trips,
- providers of music, dance and drama or sports provision,
- who can attend your out-of-school setting,
- equality, and
- additional guidance about social distancing.
These updates apply from 2 December.
Planning for Spring Term 2021 - Free Entitlement funding
The latest government guidance (last updated 20 July 2020) makes reference to Spring term 2021 early years funding. Specifically, the expectation is for local authorities’ funding to Early Years providers to return to the normal approach (that is, ‘funding following the child’) for all providers from 1 January 2021. The Department for Education have also said they will keep this under review and confirm the approach in further guidance in the Autumn. As soon as we receive any further guidance we will be able to share this will you.
Survey on Transition Arrangements for Children Starting School
As you will know, our usual Transition Events held in May were not able to go ahead this year due to COVID-19. We would like to collect feedback from practitioners about the impact of the different arrangements this year to support us with planning for transitions for children starting school in September 2021 and in future years. Your feedback on both the universal and the supported transition process will allow us to update the guidance we provide to ensure that these processes work for you and give children the best possible start to their school experience.
To share your views, please complete this survey which is open now until 18 December 2020.
Early Years Training Engagement session
We need your help to plan our Early Years Training programme for 2021 and beyond. We want to hear your views about what’s working well and what you want to see continue. What you feel are gaps in the training program, how you feel about the virtual delivery (webinars) and how this might be included in the programme going forward. Join us at one of these sessions so we can hear what you would like to see next year. If you can’t make a session, but would like to feed in, please email us with your ideas for training, which town you are in, and whether you prefer face to face or webinars on early.years.training@westsussex.gov.uk
The sessions will be a maximum of one hour. To book, email early.years.training@westsussex.gov.uk with your name and preferred date. We will send you a joining link the day before.
- 2 December 6.30pm to 7.30pm
- 7 December 3.30pm to 4.30pm
- 8 December 1.00pm to 2.00pm
Celebrating Inclusion
The Inclusion Task and Finish Group, which is part of the SEND and Inclusion Strategy, have produced an update to share with settings and schools. Please note the request for examples of good inclusive practice and how you can submit and share your ideas, contributing to the Celebration of Inclusion month, being planned for June 2021.
Please inform the Family Information Service if your setting needs to close or is re-opening. 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.
If closing due to COVID-19 please ensure you read and follow all the steps in the PHE South East Health Protection Team ' Managing Suspected and Confirmed COVID-19 cases in Early Years and Childcare settings' flowchart.
In the event of your setting having a confirmed COVID-19 case, if Public Health or the Department for Education 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.
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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#108 (Public health seminars, FE spring term estimate deadline tomorrow, autumn additional payments, spring term 30hr deadline reminder, safeguarding webinar)
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#107 (IT maintenance, Foundation Years FAQs, Attachment and Trauma webinar)
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#106 (Advance notice of IT maintenance, FE spring term estimates, reminder to submit sufficiency data)
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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)
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:
- w/c 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
- 29 Jan - Annual Census submissions close
- 29 Jan - Spring Term FE Actuals submissions close
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