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Broadcast for Early Years and childcare providers in West Sussex from West Sussex County Council - Early Help Service
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Tuesday 11 May 2021
Reminder - this week's DfE data capture
This week's Department for Education 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.
Data collection frequency change
The Department for Education (DfE) have reviewed the responses to their consultation on the frequency of the data collection and have announced that this will now move to fortnightly. Following this week's collection, you will next be required to submit data for your setting via the online link which will open on Monday 24 May and close on Wednesday 26 May.
This data continues to be crucial to the DfE during the COVID-19 pandemic and enables them to ensure that they hold timely information on the childcare market and can proactively identify any emerging childcare sufficiency issues that they would need to respond to. The DfE will continue to review the need for the data collection in light of the ongoing pandemic and the availability of alternative data sources in assisting their monitoring process.
Update to Government COVID-19 Guidance
Actions for early years and childcare providers during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak has been updated to reflect step three of the roadmap out of the pandemic. Information has been included on:
- staff wellbeing
- clinically extremely vulnerable
- safe removal of face coverings
- attending more than one setting
- visits to setting by external professionals
- parent and child groups
- organised performances
- trips
- childminders meeting other childminders
IMPORTANT - Do you have any children starting FE at your setting between 10–17 May 2021?
As the numbers of children submitted through the Early Years Census in January 2021 were lower than normal, due to the current pandemic, the Department for Education has provided the opportunity for local authorities to submit further Census information in the summer term.
It is important that West Sussex County Council is able to secure the maximum amount of Dedicated Schools Grant for the financial year 2021-22. Therefore, funding claims for children who are starting at your setting week commencing 10 May, up to and including 17 May 2021, must be submitted to us via a Post Headcount Exceptional Payment (PHEP) form by Wednesday 19 May 2021.
Please note, WSCC will approve PHEPs for eligible children starting FE during this period (no exceptional reason required), where a PHEP has been received by 19 May 2021. Any PHEPs submitted after this deadline will have the normal PHEP rules applied as stated in the Provider Declaration 2021-2022 section 4.14.
The PHEP request form can be found on our webpage under ‘Additional scheme documents’.
Free Entitlement Summer term Actuals reminder
A reminder that the Online Provider Portal is open for you to submit your Summer term Free Entitlement (FE) actuals claims for 2, 3 and 4 year olds. Please submit your FE claims for children who were in attendance during Headcount week (Headcount day 6 May 2021) by midnight on Friday 21 May 2021.
For help and guidance please refer to Setting Update #146. For information regarding Early Years Pupil Premium and Disability Access Fund please refer to Setting Update #149. 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
New online service to support implementation of the revised EYFS
To support the implementation of the revised Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) from September 2021, the Department for Education (DfE) are developing a new online service for private, voluntary and independent early years settings and childminders. The service provides resources, advice and support to help practitioners to understand the requirements for each area of learning and development and what these requirements mean in practice.
The new service is live on gov.uk however the DfE are not currently advertising this publicly as it is still in a testing phase. This enables the DfE to gather user feedback to inform future development.
Providers in West Sussex have been asked to input into the feedback process and this allows us to share the link with you in advance of the full launch. The DfE are only releasing the link in specific local areas during the testing phase so please do not share outside the local authority or on social media.
The service is available on the webpage here.
Please provide feedback on the service directly using the link at the top of the webpage but if you have any questions about the service please email EYFSP.REFORMS@education.gov.uk
Safeguarding and Child Protection in Early Years Refresher
Dates for this refresher training are now available to book. It is recommended that your Child Protection and Safeguarding knowledge is updated every three years. We have both webinar and face to face dates available and will advertise more face to face sessions when venues open. Each place costs £15.
- Thursday - 27/05/2021 - 6.30pm to 9.30pm - Online - EYT 21/1713
- Monday - 14/06/2021 - 6.30pm to 9.30pm - Online - EYT 21/1714
- Tuesday - 22/06/2021 - 9.30am to 12.30pm - Online - EYT 21/1715
- Saturday - 18/09/2021 - 9.30am to 12.30pm - Online - EYT 21/1716
- Tuesday - 28/09/2021 - 6.30pm to 9.30pm - Online - EYT 21/1717
- Tuesday - 12/10/2021 - 1.30pm to 4.30pm - Field Place, Worthing (Code TBC)
- Saturday - 30/10/2021 - 9.30am to 12.30pm - Online - EYT 21/1718
- Monday - 24/01/2022 - 9.30am to 12.30pm - Online - EYT 22/145
- Wednesday - 26/01/2022 - 9.30am to 12.30pm - The Kings Church, Burgess Hill (Code TBC)
- Thursday - 03/02/2022 - 6.30pm to 9.30pm - Online - EYT 22/146
- Saturday - 12/02/2022 - 9.30am to 12.30pm - Online - EYT 22/147
- Friday - 11/03/2022 - 9.30am to 12.30pm - Field Place, Worthing (Code TBC)
To book, search for the course code or type Refresher in the Keyword box on the Learning and Development Gateway. If you have any questions, please email early.years.training@westsussex.gov.uk.
Supporting bereaved children in early years settings
Many early years staff will find themselves looking after children who have lost someone special. The Anna Freud Centre has recently announced a free series of webinars aimed at all early years practitioners, including Supporting bereaved children in early years settings. This session will offer early years workers clear and practical guidance on how they can manage the needs of children in their care who have experienced some kind of loss or bereavement. The event will be open to anyone in the early years sector interested in attending. This training is not part of our early years training offer so all information can be found in the link above.
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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#151 (DfE data capture, changes on how to order testing kits, testing of staff, new resource to support diversity and inclusion)
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#150 (support available to providers to engage with asymptomatic testing, FE summer term actuals final reminder, extended FE claims reminder)
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#149 (COMF update, reminder to report positive COVID-19 cases, get a PCR test if symptomatic, ventilation, DAF summer claims, EYPP summer claims, working with pregnant people and/or families with a child under 1, childminder conference - enabling environments workshop)
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#148 (data retention period for testing log, Makaton)
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#147 (updating your Local Offer information, EYFS update, Ofsted update, Foundation Stage Forum subscription and Tapestry discount, Tools for Schools and Settings, Paediatric First Aid)
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:
- 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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