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 20 July 2022
As some settings approach the end of term, we appreciate that there are also those settings who will remain open, or are about to re-open, over the summer break. We hope that you all have a lovely summer - whether on holiday or continuing to work with and support children and families. It continues to be a challenging time in the early years and childcare sector in a number of different ways and we would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your hard work and dedication. We hope that those of you who are able to have a break can do so and thank those of you who will still be working.
Free Entitlement for 2, 3 and 4 year olds – Autumn Term Estimate Payments
Thank you for submitting your Autumn term Estimate claims. For all submissions where there were no outstanding queries, please expect payments to reach your account this week (week commencing 18 July 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
Checks to carry out before offering an Extended FE place
In order for a 30 hours code to be valid for Autumn term:
- Parents must have applied for, or reconfirmed their 30 hour code before 31 August 2022.
- The code ‘start date’ must be before 1 September 2022 and the ‘Grace period end date’ covers the Autumn term 2022.
To check a code is valid for the Autumn term use the online eligibility checker and view our helpful video guide for step-by-step guidance (Note: you may need to click a prompt to continue to video, or may need to update your browser, or use an alternative). Please note, West Sussex County Council cannot fund without a valid code.
If you have any questions or require assistance, please e-mail free.entitlement@westsussex.gov.uk or call the Family Information Service on 01243 777807 and ask for the Specialist Team.
Sufficiency Updates - Reminder to Submit
This is a reminder to submit sufficiency information for your setting. The final deadline for submission for the summer term is 31 August 2022.
Sufficiency information is required from all day nurseries, pre-schools, childminders, out of school care provision, breakfast clubs and holiday playschemes once per term. Step by step guidance on submitting your Sufficiency information on the Online Provider Portal can be found here. We have also created a guidance video which you can view if you require further guidance on how to submit.
Please note that the termly submission of Sufficiency information is a requirement for all providers and is needed to allow us to display your setting’s information on the Family Information Service website. Failure to submit can lead to your setting’s removal from the publicly available list. In addition, termly submission is a condition of offering Free Entitlement as per the Provider Declaration 1 April 2022 – 31 March 2023, item 4.2 and therefore mandatory.
Advance notice of Parental Childcare Survey
As part of our statutory duties around ensuring sufficient childcare places, in September we will be surveying parents and carers of children aged 0-14 years (and up to 18 for children with SEND) about how they use childcare, how this has changed over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, and how this may continue to change in the future. The survey will be open from 1-30 September 2022.
The feedback will help us to shape improvements to the future of childcare delivery in West Sussex and support the availability of childcare provision to meet continuing demand. We will share the feedback with providers to support you to further understand the childcare needs in your local area. We will be asking providers to please share this with the families accessing their setting, as well as encouraging any staff with children to complete the survey. Thank you in advance for your support.
Update to the Ofsted Early Years Inspection Handbook
The Early Years Inspection Handbook has been updated for September 2022. To see what has changed, please see the summary of changes.
Safe Sleep
When reviewing your sleep policy and practice in your setting, please make sure you refer to the Lullaby Trust safer sleep advice. You can also find information on the West Sussex Safeguarding Children Partnership website - Safe Sleeping and access their Basic Awareness of Safer Sleeping Messages for Babies (Under 6 months) training. Babies should always sleep on their back in a clear, flat sleep space.
Family Assist Closure
We want to let you know that Family Assist will be closing towards the beginning of August due to changes in the way people are accessing their information. For more information about what this means and how to access other useful sources of information please refer to the FAQs.
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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#223 (Safer recruitment, selection and induction; welcome message from head of standards and effectiveness; welcome message from senior education adviser for early years; SEND and inclusion newsletter)
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#222 (Free Entitlement estimates, 30 hour code deadlines, Government drive to reduce the cost of childcare, Update from Early Years Team Managers, Early Years Stronger Practice Hubs, The power of music to change lives, Looking after children during heatwaves, National week of play)
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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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