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 6 July 2022
Free Entitlement Autumn Term Estimates – closing tomorrow
A reminder that the Online Provider Portal (OPP) is currently open for you to submit your Autumn term estimates for Free Entitlement (FE) 2, 3 and 4 Year olds - www.westsussex.gov.uk/ecsportal
- Headcount Day for the Autumn term is 15 September 2022.
- The deadline for estimate submissions is Thursday 7 July 2022.
If, after viewing the guidance available on our website, you have any questions, please email free.entitlement@westsussex.gov.uk or phone the Family Information Service on 01243 777807.
30 hour codes – deadline reminder
In order for children to access an Extended FE place in the Autumn term, please advise eligible parents that they must:
- apply in good time to ensure they have their 30 hours code by 31 August 2022 - www.westsussex.gov.uk/freechildcare,
- log in to their childcare account to check their details are up to date, and reconfirm their eligibility by 31 August 2022 - gov.uk/sign-in-childcare-account,
- contact the HMRC helpline on 0300 1234 097 if they are experiencing issues applying or reconfirming their eligibility.
Please use the online extended FE eligibility checker (which is always available) to check a child’s 30 hour code is valid ahead of the upcoming term.
Please note, parents must apply/reconfirm their eligibility by 31 August 2022 in order for their code to be valid for Autumn term as West Sussex County Council can only fund valid codes.
If, after viewing the guidance available on our website, you have any questions, please email free.entitlement@westsussex.gov.uk or phone the Family Information Service on 01243 777807.
Government drive to reduce the costs of childcare for families
The government has announced a drive to reduce the cost of childcare for parents, which includes two consultations that opened on Monday and will remain open until 16 September 2022. You can read a statement from Minister for Children and Families here, and more about the announcement here.
The first consultation covers proposals on:
- staffing ratios for 2-year-olds in group-based settings,
- clarifying greater flexibilities for childminders when caring for sibling children or their own child,
- supervision requirements while children are eating.
Click here to see the proposals and find out how to respond.
There is also a second consultation on updating the early years funding formulae to ensure the system is fair and transparent. You should read the Early years funding formulae consultation document and then click here to find out how to respond.
The government announcement also includes a new campaign to encourage take-up of Tax-Free Childcare and the Universal Credit Childcare offer. Find resources to use in your settings and share with parents in this communications toolkit.
With the summer holidays approaching, it is more important than ever that parents and carers understand and are able to access the financial support that can help them with the cost of childcare. It can reduce their costs, help them to stay in work, or help them work more hours if they wish to.
Over a million families in the UK are entitled to some form of government childcare support, but many are missing out because childcare providers in their area haven’t signed up to accept the various offers. The toolkit also contains a step-by-step guide to ensure that you have all the elements in place for your services to be accessible to families who use government childcare support, which could help you boost your business.
Update from Early Years Team Managers
In order to ensure that we are able to continue to support early years and childcare providers effectively across the county, we have recently reviewed the allocation of EYCAs across the county. We are arranging the EYCAs in teams that work across a wider area to give greater flexibility in allocating work and responding to local need.
From September, the allocation of EYCAs will be as follows:
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Buddy Districts/ Boroughs
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Adur and Worthing with Horsham
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Chichester with Arun
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Crawley with Mid Sussex
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EYCAs
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Debbie Fry
Renira Currid
Nina Lambkin
Ellie Partridge
Fiona Crowther
Kerry Iden
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Amanda Scutt
Jo Hernandez-Stenson
Katy Akrill
Ellie Glew
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Yvonne Branchfield
Anna Parsons
Wendy Dunn
Nicky Holman
Sarah Morgan-Petrillo
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The managers of the EYCA team are:
Katie Crompton – Team Manager Early Years – Sufficiency
Grace Fairbourn - Team Manager Early Years – SEND and Inclusion
Sue Woods - Team Manager Early Years – Quality Improvement
You can continue to email your local team using the email for your area:
SettingSupportCrawley@westsussex.gov.uk
SettingSupportHorsham@westsussex.gov.uk
SettingSupportMidSussex@westsussex.gov.uk
SettingSupportChichester@westsussex.gov.uk
SettingSupportAdurWorthing@westsussex.gov.uk
SettingSupportArun@westsussex.gov.uk
or by contacting the Family Information Service on 01243 777807.
Although we will allocate providers to an EYCA, the teams will work flexibly across settings to respond to need. Please use the contact details above to make sure your queries are responded to as quickly as possible. The changes will come into effect from September 2022 and EYCAs will contact you during the autumn term.
Early Years Stronger Practice Hubs - forthcoming opportunity over the summer to apply to become a Hub
The Department for Education (DfE) is investing almost £20m to create a new network of Early Years Stronger Practice Hubs. Building on the Early Years Foundation Stage reforms, the Hubs will be existing, well-established early years settings with expertise and knowledge of what works to support child outcomes, and the supporting evidence base.
The Hubs are part of the wider Early Years Education Recovery programme which will provide evidence-based professional development for early years practitioners, including new programmes focusing on speech and language development for the youngest children.
Hubs will support other settings to adopt practice improvements, including:
- Establishing local networks of settings to share knowledge and effective practice.
- Proactively sharing information and advice on evidence-based approaches, for example, through newsletters, blogs and social media
- Acting as a point of contact for bespoke advice, and signposting to other funded support.
- Selecting evidence-based programmes to fund and make available to settings.
Hubs will be led by a group-based (school-based, private, voluntary, or independent) early years provider, and evenly distributed across England with two planned in each of the nine government office regions. The Hubs will be funded for two years until late 2024, with a focus on supporting children from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds.
The DfE will be supported by the Education Endowment Foundation as their Evidence Partner, and by a separate Delivery Partner to be announced in mid-July following a commercial procurement. These partners will run a selection exercise for the new Hubs, expected to launch in August until mid-September, with appointment confirmed by November. These are provisional timings, and further details about this opportunity will be published following the appointment of the Delivery Partner.
The Power of Music to Change Lives: A National Plan for Music Education
The government has announced The Power of Music to Change Lives: A National Plan for Music Education (NPME). Building on the previous 2011 National Plan, the new NPME is clear about the importance of music education in early years. Its vision is to enable all children to learn to sing, play instruments, create music together, and progress their musical interests and talents.
The development of children’s artistic and cultural awareness and supporting children’s imagination and creativity, including through music development, is an important part of the early years curriculum. This is why Expressive Arts and Design is one of the areas of learning in the statutory EYFS framework that all early years providers in England must follow.
Given the importance of music education in the early years, the DfE collaborated with experts from the music sector to deliver Development Matters, which provides non-statutory curriculum guidance as to how practitioners and teachers can support children’s learning, including around music and the arts. Musical Development Matters can provide additional ideas for nurturing children’s musical development by offering broad musical experiences.
Early years practitioners can also seek support and training from their Music Hub, who may be able to provide specialist music teaching and link providers with music in local schools. You can read the NPME here.
Looking after children during heatwaves
With the recent warm weather, it might be a good time to remind yourself of the DfE guidance on looking after children in early years settings during heatwaves. This guidance, produced for teachers and professionals, reminds us of the health risks from heat, the actions you can take to protect children suffering from heat illness and information on developing a sun protection policy.
National Week of Play - Saving the planet through stories
To mark their National Week of Play, the Early Years Alliance published a series of blogs on the theme of 'protecting the planet through play'. Check out this blog on how stories can open a child's mind and encourage them to imagine.
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
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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#221 (Free EY SEND training from ICAN; updating information with FIS; NPQ early years leadership course; foundation years vodcast on infant mental health; infection prevention and control webinars reminder)
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#220 (Free entitlement summer term payments; free entitlement autumn term estimates; 30 hour codes deadline; LADOs; sensory food education; music in the early years blog; safeguarding courses)
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#219 (Have your say on mental health and wellbeing in the sector; recruitment on Facebook; Advance notice of planned IT upgrade; Early Childhood Hub; infant mental health awareness week; trauma awareness training)
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#218 (Advance notice of planned IT downtime, Beyond COVID-19 infection prevention and control public health webinars; safeguarding reminder; action planning to improve outcomes for children with SEND; infant mental health awareness week)
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#217 (HAF Deadline Reminder, Invitation To Take Part in Research, SEND and Inclusion Newsletter, Launch of the NPQEYL, Staff Ratios Consultation, Learning Language and Loving It, Good Practice Articles)
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