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 15 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. This is the last data capture required until 4 January 2021, at which point they will become fortnightly.
Updated Guidance
On 14 December 2020 the Actions for early years and childcare providers during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak was updated to include information on:
- quality assurance visits (Ofsted section)
- 30-hour entitlements: amended references to autumn (Childminders and Funding and business support sections)
- number of days of self-isolation (System of controls, Returning from abroad and Childminders sections)
Change to the Self-Isolation Period for COVID-19
From Monday 14 December, the length of time that you need to self-isolate following contact with an individual who tested positive for COVID-19 is changing from 14 days to 10 days after the contact.
Department for Education COVID-19 helpline – Christmas opening hours
The Department for Education COVID-19 helpline will be available over the Christmas holidays to answer any questions you have about COVID-19 relating to education settings and children’s social care. The helpline will, however, close on the bank holidays, and have shortened opening hours on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve.
Phone: 0800 046 8687
Until 24 December, the helpline opening hours are:
- Monday to Friday from 8.00am to 6.00pm
- Saturday and Sunday from 10.00am to 6.00pm
Then reducing as follows:
- 24 December – 8.00am to 4.00pm
- 25 to 28 December – Closed
- 29 to 30 December – 8.00am to 6.00pm
- 31 December – 9.00am to 4.00pm
- 1 January – Closed
- 2 and 3 January – 10.00am to 6.00pm
Please listen carefully to all of the available options before selecting the most appropriate option for your nursery, school, college or university.
Please select option one or two if you require specific advice on the action to take to respond to a positive case of COVID-19 in your setting. This option will take you through to a dedicated team of NHS Business Services Authority advisors who will work through a risk assessment with you to identify close contacts and will inform you what action is needed based on the latest public health advice. Please select option three or four for any other questions about COVID-19 relating to education settings and children’s social care.
Competitions and Markets Authority Provider charging update
The Department for Education (DfE) has received a number of enquiries from Local Authorities regarding the Competitions and Markets Authority’s (CMA) advice to the sector on charging earlier in the year within the current circumstances. The CMA published an open letter to the early years sector on 28 July 2020 followed by detailed advice to the sector, with the purpose of helping providers understand how consumer protection law applies during the COVID-19 pandemic. The CMA has also since updated its broader advice on cancellations and refunds for consumer contracts affected by COVID-19 health restrictions.
The CMA has advised that, while the circumstances in which providers are operating have changed somewhat since the publication of the letter, the CMA's advice within this letter is still applicable. We ask that providers continue to be fair and balanced in dealings with parents, and they must continue to avoid unfair charging practices.
There will always be individual circumstances in each case, however the general principle is that providers should not charge parents for services that cannot be provided. If there is a barrier to accessing childcare, based on government guidance or the law, the provider should not charge the consumer for this period. For example, from 28 September people in England are required by law to self-isolate if they test positive for coronavirus or are contacted by NHS Test and Trace. Accordingly, if a child is self-isolating on the advice of NHS Test and Trace, the provider should not charge the consumer for this period.
The DfE is not currently aware of a rise in consumer complaints about provider behaviour, and will continue to work with the CMA to ensure the sector is offered appropriate advice.
Collecting sufficiency data and accessing the Online Provider Portal
Here is a reminder that the information on sufficiency is due from all settings by 31 December, and is now submitted via a separate "Sufficiency" tab on the Online Provider Portal. Guidance on how to access and complete this can be found here.
We have received a large amount of queries relating to settings creating accounts for the Online Provider Portal in order to access this. Please note that access to the "Sufficiency" tab, along with all other functionality, including forms and funding claims, is only given to accounts which have been issued to you by the Family Information Service. If you are unsure of your existing Online Provider Portal account credentials, please email family.info.service@westsussex.gov.uk. For clarity, the submission of your sufficiency information is separate to the Termly Provider Update form, which is also due termly.
SEND Consultation and Inclusion Funding
Following the consultation earlier this term, please see the summary of the responses.
As a result of further discussion, and feedback through our network meetings, from January 2020 we will be moving to new funding arrangements. Funding will now be paid as a lump sum each term. For children currently in receipt of inclusion funding, we have been reviewing the funding arrangements and will notify you shortly of the new band of funding you will receive.
If there are children with SEND within your setting that are not currently in receipt of inclusion funding, but you feel this may be appropriate, please complete an Action Plan for Inclusion (MS Word) following the guidance and discuss this with your Early Years and Childcare Advisor (EYCA).
Deadlines for notifying your EYCA of your request for inclusion funding:
- Funding for Spring Term 2021, please return your up to date Action Plan for Inclusion to your EYCA by 15 January 2021.
- Funding for Summer Term 2021, please return your up to date Action Plan for Inclusion to your EYCA by 26 February 2021.
- Funding for Autumn 2021, please return your up to date Action Plan for Inclusion to your EYCA by 18 June 2021.
The deadline for notifying your EYCA of a request for inclusion funding will usually be six weeks before the end of term to ensure that you are notified of the decision and can plan the use of funding, if awarded, for the following term.
Starting School Applications - one month to go
Over 5,000 families with children starting school in September 2021 have applied for a school place, which is great, but this does mean that there are still lots of families still to apply. The deadline for applying for a school place is Friday 15 January 2021. Please make sure that the families who should be applying for a school place for their child, are aware of the deadline and complete their application on time. Please also check that families are aware that completing the Starting School Questionnaire is not the same as applying for a school place and that they have also completed their school application before the deadline.
To apply for a school place, or for more information on applying, please signpost parents to www.westsussex.gov.uk/admissions and read the Starting School Leaflet and the application checklist.
To complete the Starting School Questionnaire, please signpost parents to https://westsussex-self.achieveservice.com/service/School_readiness_questionnaire.
Paediatric First Aid Blended - new dates
This course has a six hour online portion and a one day face to face element. You will complete the online part at home and bring the certificate to the face to face course, where the practical skills will be demonstrated and practiced. Paediatric First Aid must be updated every three years. Cost is £60 per person. Log onto the Learning and Development Gateway and search for the course code to book and pay by card. All times run 09.30am to 4.30pm for these dates.
- Monday 11 January - Broadfield Community Centre, Crawley - EYT 21/634
- Saturday 06 February - The Kings Church, Burgess Hill - EYT 21/638
- Wednesday 10 February - Field Place, Worthing - EYT 21/641
- Saturday 27 February - Arundel Museum - EYT 21/639
- Monday 01 March - County Hall Chichester - EYT 21/276
- Thursday 04 March - County Hall North Horsham - EYT 21/637
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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#112 (Update PH flowcharts, positive cases whilst closed, Ofsted inspections update, taking children's records off site, transitions survey, Putting wellbeing at the heart of practice, EYFS and Development Matters from September 2021)
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#111 (DfE data collection frequency, public health seminars, information sharing, LADO myth busting, SEND strategy update, springtime crafts, online sessions for children from West Sussex libraries)
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#110 (Public health seminars, updating your sufficiency data, IT maintenance 7 December, DfE research, Ofsted research, Makaton training, EYTS training)
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#109 (Updated guidance, contingency framework, OOS guidance, planning for Spring 21 FE, transitions survey, future EY training programme, celebrating inclusion)
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#108 (Public health seminars, FE spring term estimate deadline tomorrow, autumn additional payments, spring term 30hr deadline reminder, safeguarding webinar)
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:
- 31 Dec - Deadline for Sufficiency information for Autumn 2020
- 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 (*mandatory for FE providers)
- 29 Jan - Spring Term FE Actuals submissions close
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