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 25 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.
Provider Declaration 2021/2022 final reminder – existing Free Entitlement providers only
The new Free Entitlement (FE) Provider Declaration (April 2021 to March 2022) is now available, please ensure you refer to the latest version on our website.
The Provider Declaration form is available on the Online Provider Portal (OPP). All existing FE providers must complete and return their signed ‘Provider Declaration v2’ form electronically by 26 March 2021 in order to continue delivering FE from April 2021.
To access guidance and the OPP go to www.westsussex.gov.uk/ecsportal. Failure to return this form by the due date may delay your Summer term estimate payment.
Any providers wishing to sign up to deliver Free Entitlement for 2, 3 and 4 year old's for the first time, please contact the Family Information Service for a separate form and do not complete the online form. If you have any questions, please contact the Family Information Service on 01243 777807 and ask to speak to the Specialist Team, or email free.entitlement@westsussex.gov.uk
COVID-19 Asymptomatic Testing
The government have added to their collection of guidance for early years settings on responding to COVID-19, new guidance documents for COVID-19 testing - Asymptomatic Testing: Early Years Staff in different settings and Asymptomatic Testing for Primary and Maintained Nursery School Staff. These documents each contain guidance for both the PVI and the maintained sectors.
The asymptomatic testing programme does not replace the current testing policy for those with symptoms. Anyone with symptoms should self-isolate immediately and follow government guidance on symptomatic testing.
COVID-19 Asymptomatic Testing Letter for Parents
A letter from Public Health has been written for early years providers to share with parents to support their understanding of how to use asymptomatic testing at home. Please share this information with parents of children in your setting to read alongside government guidance for parents.
NCFE CACHE Early Years Educator (EYE) and Early Years Practitioner (EYP) qualifications ‘knowledge only' pathway
To enable progression for learners who are unable to access a work placement due to the current restrictions, NCFE CACHE worked together with Ofqual, Department for Education (DfE), Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) and Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) to agree how learners can progress through a 'knowledge only' version of EYE or EYP qualifications. Therefore, certificates need to be carefully checked as the ‘knowledge only' pathway does not allow the holder to practice as an early years educator or early years practitioner. The NCFE CACHE have issued a statement with further information about this and DfE have updated the early years qualification list and spreadsheets showing the impacted qualifications.
Managing COVID-19 in Early Years Setting - Public Health Webinar
Public Health have previously run a series of webinars for early years providers to receive up to date information and guidance around managing COVID-19 in their settings. These webinars offer you a chance to hear key messages and ask questions directly to Public Health colleagues. One further webinar has been organised for Thursday 29 April 1-2pm. Places can be booked via the Learning and Development Gateway, event code PH 21/1387.
SEND Survey
The following survey is being coordinated by the Inclusion Teams at West Sussex. It is aimed at those with responsibility for learners with SEND in all educational settings - including pre-school settings such as childminders, day nurseries and pre-schools. Please take this opportunity to share your views about the challenges you are currently facing in order to inform future planning. You can access the survey here: https://yourvoice.westsussex.gov.uk/school-support-needs.
Positive cases of COVID-19 during the holidays
It is important for us all to make sure that we continue to do all we can to reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19 by contact tracing for any confirmed cases where the child or member of staff had been in your setting within 48 hours of symptoms developing or a positive test result. There may be confirmed cases of children or staff in your setting in the days where your setting is closed and it is important that their close contacts are alerted so that they self-isolate rather than mixing with other households. Please make sure you have made arrangements within your setting to receive and share any notifications of positive cases. This would include reminding families that they need to contact you if they or their child receives a positive test result and providing them with contact details if different to the usual setting contact number. This process should also take into consideration term-time only children and staff in all year round provision.
The government guidance is that staff do not need to be available for contact tracing duties beyond the first 6 days of the Easter holidays, at which point all positive cases should be dealt with through NHS Test and Trace. This means, for example, that where a setting ends face-to-face provision on Friday 26 March, there will be no need to remain on-call after Thursday 1 April.
Whilst we understand that all staff need a break, we also need to stress how important it is that someone is available to receive the information and carry out the usual procedures where there is a positive case, including notifying affected families. We would suggest that each setting plans a system that gives all staff some rest time as well as having someone who can respond to any information about positive cases of COVID-19 to minimise the risk of the spread of infection.
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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#138 (DfE Data Capture, Asymptomatic Testing for Childminders and Parents of Under 5s, Shielding Update, Free Entitlement deadlines, provider declaration and indicative budgets, Cyber-attack warning)
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#137 (Reporting COVID-19 cases, COVID-19 resource packs, revised OOS guidance, household and bubbles get rapid lateral flow tests, PACEY survey)
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#136 (Asymptomatic testing guidance and delivery schedule, face coverings, 30 hours deadline)
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#135 (Lateral flow device/home testing kits, childminder networks)
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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)
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:
- 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)
- 21 Apr - Summer term Actuals submissions open (FE providers)
- 15 May - Childminder Virtual Conference (save the date, event details to follow)
- 21 May - Summer term Actuals submissions close (FE providers)
- w/c 21 Jun - Summer term Actuals payments expected (FE providers)
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