The West Sussex approach puts the child first. We work with children, families, communities, our partners and schools in a restorative, strength based way. Strong relationships are at the heart of what we do.
Broadcast for Early Years and childcare providers in West Sussex from West Sussex County Council - Early Help Service
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Thursday 27 May 2021
Celebrating inclusion across West Sussex
The month of June has been chosen as the Celebration of Inclusion month for West Sussex. This will shine a light on schools and settings using the Inclusion Framework and will bring together many of the case studies featured on our Tools for Schools pages. Anyone can nominate their school or setting to share examples of good inclusive practice by emailing celebratinginclusion@westsussex.gov.uk. The celebrating inclusion team can provide advice and support to help capture the information, including anonymisation, information and data sharing consent. We hope that the Inclusion Framework and its four aspects: Ethos, Leadership, Personal Development and Wellbeing, and Quality of Education, will help settings to identify their good practice examples.
The aim of our West Sussex Inclusion Framework is to facilitate useful and constructive discussions to highlight good practice and inform whole school and setting development. The Inclusion Framework is designed to be used flexibly, in a way that is relevant to a school or setting and will best support its development journey. The framework is also aligned to the Ofsted Education Inspection Framework and we hope it will prove a powerful tool to support colleagues at any stage in their inspection cycle. The framework is organised into four main areas, or aspects:
The aim of the Ordinarily Available Inclusive Practice (OAIP) guide is to help every member of staff in mainstream schools and settings to understand the types of everyday support and adaptations that can be made as part of normal teaching practice. Please note that the term ‘ordinarily available’ originates from the SEN Code of Practice and refers to the support that mainstream schools or settings should be able to ‘ordinarily’ provide through their agreed funding and resource arrangements. The OAIP is organised into two main sections:
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Section 1 describes examples of ‘reasonable adjustments’ that can be made through ‘quality first teaching’.
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Section 2 provides examples of more tailored approaches that can be made to meet the individual needs of children and young people. An annex for early years settings is available with tailored approaches for our youngest children.
The concept of our ‘Tools for schools and settings’ website was developed by schools and education settings through the task and finish groups as part of a request to have quicker access to reliable and useful information to support those with additional needs. The website is organised into the following four main areas:
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Inclusion: Inclusion framework; inclusive practice, ethnic minority and traveller information, disadvantaged groups, targeted inclusion groups and celebrating inclusion.
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SEND toolkit: Ordinarily available inclusive provision guide; The ‘assess, plan, do, review’ cycle; additional SEND strategies, information and links.
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Child’s journey: Transition; person centred planning; voice of child/parent; home school partnership; journey to independence.
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Team around the school/setting: Teams that support schools; training and development, SENCO conference, SEND Leadership forums, news and views.
Some new courses for practitioners working with the under 2's
Babies - Books, Baskets and Bonding (Taster webinar)*
This practical and engaging taster webinar considers firstly, how to foster a love of books for babies and toddlers and the impact this has on positive later learning outcomes. Secondly, the benefits, practicalities and role of the adult in creating and using treasure baskets through providing low cost, stimulating sensory experiences, interesting natural objects and everyday items will also be explored. The key priority of bonded relationships with babies is a vital thread of this course. Application will result in an enhanced learning environment, positively impacting the learning and development of babies. *This is a revised and updated version of ‘Grasping My World, a look at Treasure Baskets.’ Cost is £15 per place.
- Thursday 10 June - 10.00am to 11.30am - EYT 21/1678
Best for Babies (Full day webinar)
This stimulating and engaging Enable Children webinar seeks to support your practice and provision in threading responsive and playful interactions throughout a baby’s day. It includes exploration of learning and development for under 2’s considering attachment, attunement, communication and physical development plus schemas, treasure baskets and heuristic play. Cost is £50 per place.
- Tuesday 29 June - 9.30am to 3.30pm - EYT 21/1707
To book either of these two courses, search for the course code on the Learning and Development Gateway. If you have any questions, please email early.years.training@westsussex.gov.uk.
All early years providers must follow a new reformed EYFS framework from September 2021. View the new framework and how the changes affect you.
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.
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:
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#156 (DfE data capture, infant mental health awareness week, a look at dynamic displays, roll out the role play)
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#155 (protective measures for out of school providers, advance warning Holiday Activities and Food programme, FE summer term actuals final reminder, process for FE starters between 10-21 May, Makaton training)
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#154 (COMF update, preparing for the introduction of EYFS reforms, the role of the INCO, graduates in early years research, free traumatic bereavement resources)
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#153 (Final reminder - Early Help redesign consultation, amendment to #152, writing readiness and pencil grip, survey on SEND and Inclusion resources, SEND newsletter, public health survey)
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#152 (DfE data capture and change in frequency, updated guidance, children starting FE between 10-17 May 2021, FE summer term Actuals reminder, new online service to support implementation of revised EYFS, safeguarding and child protection refresher, supporting bereaved children)
- 21 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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