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Broadcast for Early Years and childcare providers in West Sussex from West Sussex County Council
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Wednesday 1 December 2021
On Saturday the government announced temporary new measures as a result of the new Omicron variant and the Department for Education has outlined what this means for education settings. This updated guidance can be found in this broadcast. We understand that this new development may cause some anxiety for providers and we strongly recommend that you review your current procedures to ensure that you are doing all you can to reduce the spread of any infection within your setting, including the use of masks by staff and visitors in communal areas within your setting and implementation of hands, face, space. If you have positive cases of COVID-19 within your setting, please review your plans for Christmas activities to ensure that you are keeping children, staff and families as protected as possible.
Providers will be informed of any cases of the Omicron variant by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) or by NHS Track and Trace.
DfE data capture required next week
The next monthly Department for Education data capture for the numbers of children currently accessing early years provision will open on Monday 6 December, and will close at midnight on Wednesday 8 December. Please use this link to complete your return. As our Setting Updates are weekly, this is your only reminder in advance of the survey opening - we recommend you add it to your calendar.
New measures in response to the identification of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 in the UK
As you will all be aware, the Prime Minister has announced new temporary measures following the emergence of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 in the UK. A summary of what the new measures mean for early year settings, out-of-school settings, schools, colleges and universities can be found here. The early years guidance has been updated accordingly and can be accessed here.
Arrangements for COVID-19 testing during the holidays and on return in January for early years settings in England
When settings close for Christmas, all staff should test over the holidays in line with national guidance. This means that they should test if they will be in a high-risk situation that day, and before visiting people who are at higher risk of severe illness if they get COVID-19. For settings remaining open over the Christmas period, staff (including students of secondary age and older) should continue to test at home twice per week.
Staff in all early years settings should take one self-test at home either the evening or morning before they return in January. They should then continue to test in line with government guidelines. Settings should check their test kit stock levels and make an order of test kits so that staff are able to test over the holiday period if required, and for the first week of January, using home test kits.
Reminder about CO2 monitor rollout for Early Years
In August, the Department for Education (DfE) announced that it is providing CO2 monitors to state-funded education settings. The rollout extends to all early years settings, including private, voluntary and independent settings, and childminders who work together in groups of four or more and are registered as operating childcare on domestic premises. Childminders working in groups of three or fewer are not included in the roll out of CO2 monitors. This is because most settings are not an appropriate space for CO2 monitoring due to low occupancy density.
The new monitors are intended to enable staff to identify areas where ventilation needs to be improved and provide reassurance that existing ventilation measures are working, helping balance the need for good ventilation with keeping rooms warm. As the monitors are portable, settings will be able to move them around to test all their rooms, starting with areas they suspect may be poorly ventilated. The programme will provide settings with sufficient monitors to take representative readings from across the indoor spaces in their estate, assessing all spaces in a relatively short space of time.
Monitors are currently being dispatched to early years providers. Settings will receive an email directly from the supplier, once their monitor allocation is dispatched. It is expected that all deliveries will have taken place by the end of the Autumn term. The DfE has also produced a ‘how to’ guide on using CO2 monitors in education and childcare settings, also available on the Google drive (Should you encounter issues with this link please use an alternative web browser such as Google Chrome). If settings have any further queries about their DfE issued CO2 monitor(s) they can call the DfE COVID-19 helpline on 0800 046 8687.
School Readiness Integrated Review
Thank you for your support with sharing the Starting School Questionnaire with your families.
From the completed questionnaires, there may be some issues identified that you can support the family with yourself. If there are issues that you feel unable to deal with, please contact a relevant professional to discuss next steps.
Please make sure that families are aware that they need to complete a school application, by 15 January 2022 in addition to completing the questionnaire. If there are any questions that the family have asked about the school admissions process that you cannot answer, please refer to the information on the website or contact the Pupil Admissions Team - admissions.north@westsussex.gov.uk, admissions.south@westsussex.gov.uk or call 0333 014 2903.
To allow our Early Years and Childcare Advisors to focus their support to where it is most needed, we ask that you check for information online before you contact us.
COVID-19 guidance
Other information and guidance (WSCC)
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Practice support (EYFS, Diversity and Inclusion, health and wellbeing, transitions, legislation, regulation and safeguarding)
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Supporting families in your childcare setting (includes CLaWBA, integrated reviews)
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Tools for schools and settings (supporting the inclusion of all children in early years)
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Business support (Free Entitlement, marketing, finance, recruitment, advertising)
- Training and qualifications
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Network meetings/events (Learning and development, INCO SENCO, business and welfare)
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Online Provider Portal (submission dates, help guides)
For help to access information
To request additional support for your setting
All early years providers must follow a new reformed EYFS framework from September 2021. View the new framework to see how the changes affect you, and access updated Learning Journal materials online.
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 ' What happens if there is a confirmed case of COVID-19 in an educational setting' 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.
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#191 (COVID-19 - Christmas Activities, FE - Spring Term Estimates, Safeguarding Poster, Holiday Activities and Food Programme, Early Years Professional Development Programme, Fire Safety training, Early Years Special Interest Group, Working with children with EAL, Calling All Superheroes)
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#190 (DfE data capture, new online provider portal guidance web pages, ministerial letter to parent and carers of children and young people with SEND, safer recruitment, EYPDP, a look at springtime crafts)
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#189 (DfE data capture, change of time for these emails, FE spring term estimates open, transition dates, area inclusion and improvement dates)
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#188 (COVID-related closure notification, key spending review announcements, support to early years settings, EYPDP invites to participate, FIS on Facebook, talking clearly)
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#187 (Under 5's safeguarding conference, safeguarding training, early years teacher status)
- w/c 6 Dec - Spring term Estimate payments expected (FE providers)
- w/c 6 Dec - Early Years DfE COVID-19 Return - open 6-8 Dec
- 4 Jan - Spring term Actuals submissions open (FE providers)
- 4 Jan - Annual Early Years Census submissions open (FE providers)
- 15 Jan - Applications close for starting school places (Primary, infant, junior)
- 20 Jan - Free Entitlement headcount day for Spring Term
- 28 Jan - Spring term Actuals submissions close (FE providers)
- 28 Jan - Annual Early Years Census submissions close (FE providers)
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