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 20 April 2021
Reminder - this week's DfE data capture
This week's Department for Education (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.
The DfE have been collecting local authority-level data on Early Years childcare provision since April 2020 on a weekly basis (published here). This data has been crucial to the DfE during the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure that they hold timely information on the childcare market and for monitoring whether there are any emerging childcare sufficiency issues. Having reviewed the need for this collection, as well as acting on feedback from the sector, the DfE are consulting users of the statistics on moving to a fortnightly data collection from Thursday 29 April until the Summer Half Term. After Half Term they will review the frequency again as it is anticipated that the need for this data may decrease. They aim to find a balance between reducing some of the time and resource pressures the data collection places on local authorities and providers, whilst ensuring the DfE has the information it needs to keep Ministers and No.10 informed.
If you have any feedback on this proposal, please add your comments to this week's data return so we can include your views in our response to the department.
FINAL CHANCE TO APPLY: Contain Outbreak Management Fund (COMF)
As announced on 31 March, West Sussex County Council have secured £100,000 for Breakfast Clubs, Out of School Clubs, Holiday Playschemes and Childminders who do not offer Free Entitlement (FE) places to help with the challenges of operating during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Following some queries from providers, we want to clarify the position for applications from settings where they have changed their FE status during the past year. The first COMF award was for settings signed up to deliver FE and the second COMF is for settings who are not registered to offer FE places. If your status has changed during the last year, you can apply for the current COMF for the period of time that you were not registered to deliver FE places within your setting. There is space for you to give further details on this in the application form.
Please refer to the special broadcast for more details and to apply. The closing date is midnight on 21 April 2021.
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. As restrictions begin to relax, you may want to ask some questions around measures you can put in place to keep staff and children safe when activities are resumed, as well as how you can support children's transitions over the coming weeks. One further webinar has been organised for Thursday 29 April 1.00pm to 2.00pm. Places can be booked via the Learning and Development Gateway, event code PH 21/1387.
Free Entitlement Summer term Actuals
The Online Provider Portal (OPP) opens on Wednesday 21 April 2021 for Summer term Free Entitlement (FE) actuals claims.
- Headcount day: Thursday 6 May 2021
- Submission deadline: Friday 21 May 2021
Help and guidance:
- Your actuals should only contain claims for children where a Parent Declaration form has been completed. Please refer to setting update 145 for further information.
- To ensure you submit your claims correctly please refer to the Actuals help guide and YouTube video, which also covers how to submit Disability Access Fund (DAF) and Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP) claims.
- For further information, including termly limits for stretched settings, please read the document entitled ‘Claims process pdf’ on our website.
If you have any queries, please email free.entitlement@westsussex.gov.uk.
Extended Free Entitlement (FE) claims
If you offer Extended FE places it is recommended that you use the online eligibility checker to check a child’s 30 hour code is valid for Summer term. View our helpful video guide for step by step guidance.
In order for a 30 hours code to be valid for Summer term:
- Parents must have applied for, or reconfirmed their 30 hour code before 31 March 2021.
- The code ‘start date’ must be before 1 April 2021 and the ‘Grace period end date’ covers the Summer term 2021.
Please note, a parent cannot start a new Extended FE place if the code is in the grace period, for example, where a parent falls into their grace period before the child has started an Extended FE place. If a code is not valid for Summer term, then only Universal hours can be claimed. WSCC cannot fund without a valid code.
If you have any questions or require assistance, please contact the Family Information Service on 01243 777807 and ask for the Specialist Team, or e-mail free.entitlement@westsussex.gov.uk
Transitions for children starting school in September 2021
Following feedback from schools and early years settings, and in the light of the ongoing impact of COVID-19, the decision has been made to not hold large Transition Events this year. However, it is still crucial for pre-schools settings and schools to continue to work together to support the smooth transition of children in to school in September.
Information to support the transition process, including updated templates for information sharing can be found at Early years transitions - West Sussex County Council and Tools for Schools - EYFS transition guidance.
Using this feedback, the guidance to support universal transitions has been updated. The key changes are:
- Updated guidance providing greater clarity over the information that should be shared – including current and previous involvement of Early Help or Social Care.
- Updates to the summary templates for 2021 to include key information about the impact for each child of the COVID-19 measures this year.
Transitions Events are only part of the package of support for children starting school. We are sure you will be able to link with your feeder schools to share key information as soon as possible now that school places offered have been communicated. This will include the identification of children who would benefit from a supported transition plan being developed.
We know that many pre-school settings and schools carried out the transition process very successfully last year, despite dealing with the challenges of COVID-19, so we are sure that you will be able to build on the successes of last year to support children’s successful start to their school life. As the current restrictions are slowly relaxed and the weather starts to get warmer, there will be new opportunities to link with your feeder schools to arrange face to face transition activities in line with risk assessments. You may be able to organise staff from schools to visit children in your outside area so that they can meet their new teachers in a familiar environment.
Feedback from schools and settings was that the Transition Events are an important part of the process of supporting children into school. Therefore, we plan to resume Transition Events in May 2022 for children starting school in September 2022, building on the lessons learnt during COVID-19 and the successful arrangements put in place during this time.
Childminder Virtual Conference - Workshop focus
The West Sussex Virtual Childminder Conference 2021 is on Saturday 15 May 2021, 9.30am to 2.00pm and is free to attend. This week, our workshop focus is ‘Superhero Play! ’ delivered by Tamsin Grimmer from Linden Learning. Children are surrounded by stories of heroism in real-life and superhero stories in popular culture, which are often enacted during play. We may see children engaging in rough and tumble or playing with weapons and it can be difficult to know how to respond appropriately. Tamsin will address these issues and encourage delegates to embrace superhero play and its many benefits. To find out more about the conference and book your place, go to Eventbrite and search for Childminder Conference 2021 - ‘Putting Children First’.
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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#145 (COMF, updated EY guidance, updated OOS guidance, new Parent Declaration form, paediatric first aid)
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#144 (twice-weekly rapid testing, childminder virtual conference)
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#143 (COMF reminder, final EYFS published, recovery and renewal survey reminder, summer term childminder network, online learning)
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#142 (SEND under 5's support process, COMF round 2)
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#141 (Updated Covid-19 Guidance, FE Estimate Payments, Recovery & Renewal Survey, Virtual Childminder 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:
- 21 Apr - Summer term Actuals submissions open (FE providers)
- 21 Apr - Contain Outbreak Management Fund 2 (COMF) application deadline
- 6 May - Free Entitlement Summer term 'headcount day'
- 15 May - Childminder Virtual Conference
- 21 May - Summer term Actuals submissions close (FE providers)
- 16 Jun - Autumn term Estimate submissions open (FE providers)
- w/c 21 Jun - Summer term Actuals payments expected (FE providers)
- 2 Jul - Autumn term Estimate submissions close (FE providers)
- w/c 12 Jul - Autumn term Estimate payments expected (FE providers)
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