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
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Wednesday 5 April 2022
Updated COVID-19 Guidance
On 1 April, the government published Emergency planning and response for education, childcare, and children’s social care settings and Health protection in education and childcare settings was updated to support education and childcare settings to manage cases of infectious diseases in their setting, including COVID-19. "Actions for Early Years and Childcare Providers during the COVID-19 Outbreak" and "Managing COVID-19 in Education and Childcare Settings" have now been withdrawn.
The NHS has updated the list of Coronavirus (COVID-19) symptoms in children and Coronavirus (COVID-19) symptoms in adults . There is also guidance People with symptoms of a respiratory infection including COVID-19 which outlines how long children and adults should stay at home if they have had a positive test for COVID-19.
In addition, UKHSA has shared a letter to all education and childcare providers and actions cards to support providers in managing any respiratory outbreaks.
Reminder for education and childcare settings on distributing existing stocks of self-test kits
Now that regular asymptomatic testing in mainstream education and childcare settings is no longer advised, you may have surplus stock of self-test kits that are no longer required.
UKHSA will issue further communications in due course about how to manage any excess stock of test kits from Friday 1 April. Please do not hand out any test kits to staff, pupils, or students unless advised by your local health protection team, local authority or director of public health. Expired stock is classified as municipal waste and may be disposed of with other waste.
Free Entitlement for 2, 3 and 4 year olds – Summer Term Estimate Payments
Thank you for submitting your Summer term Estimate claims and completing the Provider Declaration 2022/2023 online form. For all submissions that returned their Provider Declaration form by the deadline, and where there were no outstanding queries, please expect payments to reach your account this week (week commencing 4 April 2022).
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.
If you have any queries, please email free.entitlement@westsussex.gov.uk
Free Entitlement Funding Rates Explained 2022/23
Following the Indicative Budgets which have now been shared with you, we would like to share a short video (access link via Google Chrome) which explains how the funding rates for 2022/23 were calculated in West Sussex, and the guidance we must follow. These revised rates will commence from the start of the summer term 2022.
Attracting and Retaining Talent - Recruitment and Retention
Following on from the article in the setting update #207 about the Business West Sussex website, we would like to draw your attention to the information around
'Attracting and retaining talent'. This section contains information about initiatives to help businesses recruit, retain and develop employees.
Apprenticeships: The Government is currently offering a £3,000 apprenticeship incentive payment to businesses who start a new apprenticeship. Applications close on 15 May 2022. You can hear directly about the benefits of apprenticeships through video stories and case studies.
T-levels: T-levels are a two-year qualification for 16 to 19 year olds, which require an unpaid industry placement with an employer for 20% of their time. Find out more about offering a technical industry placement to a student.
Traineeships: A traineeship is a skills development programme, that includes a work placement. It can last from six weeks up to one year, though most traineeships last for less than six months. The Government is currently offering up to ten £1,000 incentive payments to businesses who offer a work placement to a young person on this programme. Find out more about Traineeships for employers.
Opportunity for all: strong schools with great teachers for your child
On 28 March, the Department for Education published its white paper setting out its vision to level up outcomes for children across the country. The paper includes an emphasis of the need for children to access high quality early years provision and the training the government are providing to support practitioners and leaders within early years. The papers can be read here.
SEND Review: right support, right place, right time
The Government’s SEND and alternative provision green paper, published on 29 March, sets out its vision for a single, national SEND and alternative provision (AP) system that will introduce new standards in the quality of support given to children across education, health and social care. You can access a copy of the Green Paper on GOV.UK.
Alongside the Green paper, the government has also published:
The plans to reform the system will be open for a 13-week public consultation, giving families the opportunity to shape how a new system will work in the future - and give them confidence that their local school will meet their children’s needs so they can achieve their full potential. The consultation closes at 11.45pm on 1 July.
Early years and childcare: Ofsted's enforcement policy
On 1 March, Ofsted updated their Early years and childcare: Ofsted's enforcement policy. You can read the new policy and see a summary of the changes on their website. To keep up to date with changes to Ofsted guidance, you can register for email alerts here.
Childminder Agencies: a new policy paper
For the benefit of local authorities, childminders and others, the Department for Education has published a new policy paper on childminder agencies. The paper provides useful background on what they are, what they do, the services they provide to childminders and how they provide an alternative registration route to Ofsted.
Minister for Children and Families letter to Early Years
The Minister for Children and Families Will Quince has written to all those working in the early years sector (open in Google Chrome) recognising the role that early years educators play in the lives of children and their families, calling for nominations from the early years sector to be submitted for future rounds of the Queen’s honours.
Parental feedback on 'What to Expect in the EYFS'
The Department for Education (DfE) are keen to gather feedback from parents on the 'What to Expect in the EYFS' guidance and would be grateful if practitioners could assist with getting the message to parents and families you work with. If you are in a position to share this message with families, there are two questions DfE would like to ask:
Parents can be directed to send their responses to the Foundation Years inbox at foundationyears@ncb.org.uk.
- 21 Apr - Spring term Sufficiency deadline (all providers)
- w/c 4 Apr - Summer term Estimate payments expected (FE providers)
- 27 Apr - Summer term Actuals submissions open (FE providers)
- 12 May - FE Headcount day (FE providers)
- 20 May - Summer term Actuals submissions close (FE providers)
Network meetings ran as online webinars:
Learning and Development Network Meetings
These took place online in January and February. The network focused on reviewing the quality of your provision and ongoing quality improvement planning. View the key presentation slides and the updates shared at the meetings.
INCO SENCO Network
These took place in March and focused on Supported Transitions, SEND Under 5 Outcomes, Deferring or Delaying School Entry, and Action Planning. View the key presentation slides, the presentation from the Virtual School and the FAQ document.
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 consult the guidance to check when to inform Ofsted.
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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#208 (Changes re COVID-19 guidance, changes to self-isolation rules, closure of UKHSA advice service, education and skills consultation reminder, SEND and inclusion newsletter, reducing parental conflict)
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#207 (Updated guidance for childminders, Final reminder for Provider Declaration forms and summer estimates, change to SSP and ESA, EY transition events 2022, EY conference 2022, business West Sussex website, inspiring environments - resource for home-based childcare providers, WSSCP safeguarding under 1's podcast)
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#206 (Free Entitlement and Afghan Resettlement Programme, summer term estimates reminder, 30 hour codes deadline, transitions workshops, medical restrictions on attendance, vodcast on Ofsted inspections, support for the Ukraine, SENCO network meeting notes)
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#205 (Share your views on draft education and skills strategy, FE provider declaration 22/23, FE indicative budgets, FE summer term estimates, message from your schools forum representative, tax free childcare webinars, choking prevention, experts and mentors programme, best for babies, physical activity and active play in early years settings)
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#204 (Updated COVID-19 guidance, testing update, Schools Forum representative, 30 hour codes, FE - summer term estimates, Provider Declaration, Supported Transitions Programme, SEND Under 5s Online Referrals, DfE Recovery Programme)
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