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 4 March 2021
Advance notice - next week's DfE data capture
Next week's Department for Education 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.
Protective measures for holiday and after-school clubs, and other out-of-school settings during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak
The guidance has been updated with the following changes:
- updating the considering groups sizes section to make clear that
- each group or bubble should be supervised by at least one staff member
- you should only group children from different schools together where it is absolutely necessary
- where it is not possible to follow school day bubbles, you should ensure any children from the same school are kept together, and/or work with parents and carers to try and keep siblings together
- amending the who can attend your setting section to outline which children and young people can attend these settings and for which purposes after 8 March
- adding advice for pregnant staff members to the staff and workforce section
- updating the face coverings section to advise that children who were aged 11 and above on 31 August 2020 are recommended to wear face coverings
- when they are being educated or cared for in classrooms or during activities
- where social distancing cannot be maintained
- to include further information on exemptions, access and safe wearing of face coverings
- adding a new section - engage in asymptomatic testing, where available
Early Years Virtual Conference ‘Putting Children First’ Friday 12 March, 9.30am to 3.00pm
West Sussex Virtual Early Years Conference 2021 provides training opportunities throughout the day on practice and managerial topics. It will be delivered via Microsoft Teams, so you can enjoy listening to our presenters in the comfort of your own home or workplace. We are delighted to introduce a newly confirmed speaker, Dr Julian Grenier who will kick off the conference with a practice presentation on the revision of Development Matters. We also have a newly confirmed workshop by Dr Mine Conkbayir on self-regulation.
There are eight afternoon workshops to choose from. To find out more and book, go to Eventbrite and download the conference brochure. To thank you for the hard work you have put in this year, we are offering all West Sussex settings two free conference places per setting. Please book using an individual name and email, so that you can be assigned to the correct workshops.
Save the date - Childminder Virtual Conference, Saturday 15 May.
Further details will follow soon.
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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#132 (Vaccine prioritisation, Ofsted inspections, summer term extended FE, mapping the wellbeing landscape, getting to grips with EYFS changes webinar for childminders)
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#131 (Final chance to apply for funding, COVID Public Health webinar, planning for positive transitions, healthy eating and safe food preparation)
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#130 (Information transferred in government guidance, deadline approaching for Contain Outbreak Management Fund, FE spring term payments released, FIS Website and OPP down today, EYFS revised draft consultation, stories with symbols)
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#129 (Vaccinations for early years and childcare practitioners, planned IT upgrade, free early years virtual conference)
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#128 (Contain Outbreak Management Fund reminder, updated public health action cards, autism aware in early years)
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:
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