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 1 April 2021
DfE data capture
Please note, there is no Department for Education data capture for the numbers of children currently accessing early years provision next week.
As you are aware, following the announcement of the third national lockdown in January, the DfE had to delay plans to move to a fortnightly data collection. This is currently under review and they are hoping to make a decision about the frequency of this collection very soon. This will be dependent on the continued reduction in the infection and transmission rates of COVID 19 and the impact this has on education settings.
The DfE have recognised that capacity may be an issue for both providers and local authorities over the upcoming Easter period. It is for this reason that we will not be collecting data both week commencing 5 and 12 April.
Updated Guidance
The latest guidance was published 29 March 2021 and can be found here: Actions for early years and childcare providers during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak (publishing.service.gov.uk). The Early Years guidance has been updated on shielding for staff and children; asymptomatic testing; test and trace payments for parents; parent and child groups, educational visits; and resuming Ofsted visits.
Free Entitlement Summer term Estimate payments
Thank you for submitting your Summer term Estimate claims and returning the Provider Declaration 2021/2022 form. For all submissions that met the deadline, returned their signature form, and where there are no outstanding queries, please expect payments to reach your account week commencing 5 April 2021.
You can log back on to the Online Provider Portal to view your payment summary. Please refer to the Estimate Help Guide for step by step guidance on how to do this: www.westsussex.gov.uk/ecsportal
Please note that we will request your actuals data shortly and further details will be in a future setting broadcast.
If you have any questions, please email free.entitlement@westsussex.gov.uk or phone the Family Information Service on 01243 777807.
Recovery and Renewal Survey
Lucy Butler, Executive Director of Children Young People and Learning for West Sussex County Council, is chairing a recovery group to start to work on the way services are delivered as we recover from the pandemic restrictions.
We want to ensure you are kept well informed and engaged on all areas of work across our Children, Young People and Learning department. We also want to give you opportunities to get involved in helping us shape and move forward various aspects of how we work. To do this as effectively as possible, we need your help and a few minutes of your time!
We would be grateful if you could respond to the following survey to help review and inform our next steps and decision making.
We plan to feedback on the survey responses we receive and how we are taking onboard your feedback and ideas for the future.
The survey closes on 13 April 2021. There are only a few questions and this will not take long to complete.
Childminder Virtual Conference ‘Putting Children First’ Free tickets
The West Sussex Virtual Childminder Conference 2021 is on Saturday 15 May 2021, 9.30am to 2.00pm. It provides training opportunities throughout the day on practice topics. The presentations and workshops will be delivered via Microsoft Teams. To find out more and book, go to Eventbrite and search for Childminder Conference 2021 - ‘Putting Children First’. We are offering all West Sussex childminders a free conference place. Please book using an individual name and email, so that you can be assigned to the correct workshop.
All attendees will hear from key presentations:
- Dr Julian Grenier on the reforms to the EYFS
- Dr Mine Conkbayir on self-regulation and the critical role this plays in emotional health across the life trajectory
- Dr Nikki Fairchild on Enabling environments: Thinking with space and place in childminder homes and gardens.
- Gail Dubock from Enable Children Ltd on Our Words what impact?
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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#140 (Asymptomatic testing letter for parents, Ofsted inspections, Contain Outbreak Management Fund round 2, Talking Heads with our LADOs)
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#139 (FE - Provider Declarations, Asymptomatic Testing Guidance, Qualifications Pathway, Public Health Webinar, SEND Survey, Reporting COVID-19 cases over the holidays)
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#138 (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)
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 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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