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 11 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.
Lateral Flow Device - home testing kits
We have been informed that the Department for Education has sent the following communication to early years group based settings:
"Following the the announcement on 22 February, nurseries in the private, voluntary and independent (PVI) sector will soon have access to home testing kits through the COVID-19 education testing programme.
PVI nurseries can expect to start receiving initial deliveries of testing supplies and instructions for use for asymptomatic testing from this Thursday 11 March. You will not need to place an order or take any specific steps to receive an initial delivery of testing supplies. The initial delivery of supplies should last around 3 to 4 weeks.
Please make sure that someone is available who can accept the deliveries when they arrive. A delivery schedule will be circulated shortly which will provide details as to when your setting can expect its delivery. Please refer to this schedule in the first instance of any questions arising.
The lateral flow device (LFD) test kits should be stored securely at a temperature between 2˚C and 30˚C and so must not be stored outside.
You should not open the test kits or commence testing yet. We will circulate further guidance on asymptomatic home testing in the next couple of days. This will include in-depth guidance and webinars on how settings can manage the testing process.
To add you to the education testing programme, Ofsted has provided your contact details to the Department for Education and Department of Health and Social Care. We will only use your contact details to update you with the latest information on the COVID-19 education testing programme."
If you are a Pre-school or Day Nursery and have not received the above by email you may wish to check your junk/spam folder.
Childminder Network Webinar – available now
Childminder Networks are briefings for local childminders. They provide the opportunity to meet with other childminders to discuss practice, share ideas and to receive up-to-date information about national and local developments that may affect practice. These two networks are hosted by the Crawley and Horsham Early Years and Childcare Advisors, but childminders from any area are welcome to attend. There is no cost to participate. To book, log onto the Learning and Development Gateway and search for the course code.
- Wednesday 31 March - 6.30pm to 8.00pm - EYT 21/1078
- Saturday 12 June - 10.00am to 11.30am - EYT 21/1079
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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#134 (DfE Data capture, Asymptomatic testing, guidance to contain the spread of COVID-19, Contain Outbreak Management Fund, Free Entitlement Provider Declaration 2021/2022, FE summer term estimate, Online Provider Portal account changes, new workshop added to virtual conference)
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#133 (Updated guidance for out of school settings, early years virtual conference, save the date - childminder conference)
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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)
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:
- 10 Mar - Summer term Estimate submissions open (FE providers)
- 10 Mar - FE Provider Declaration 2021/2 opens (Mandatory for all FE providers)
- 12 Mar - West Sussex Virtual Early Years Conference
- 26 Mar - Summer term Estimate submissions close (FE providers)
- 26 Mar - FE Provider Declaration 2021/2 closes (Mandatory for all FE providers)
- 31 Mar - deadline for completing termly Sufficiency data (all providers)
- w/c 5 Apr - Summer term Estimate payments expected (FE providers)
- 15 May - Childminder Virtual Conference (save the date, event details to follow)
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