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 26 October 2022
Disclosure and Barring Service
The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) is running a campaign to highlight the free advice and training that DBS can offer to organisations of all sizes, at both a national and regional level. Training and support covers DBS checks, and the legal duty or power to make a barring referral as well as tailored training workshops and resources. You can find out more about the campaign and how DBS can offer support to organisations that employ staff and volunteers here.
There is also further information available which includes:
It is important to remember that a person who is under a duty to refer, and fails to do so without reasonable justification, is committing an offence, and if convicted, they may be subject to a fine up to £5,000.
In addition, you can access a webinar, hosted by PACEY, Making Recruitment Safer with Cathy Taylor DBS Regional Outreach Manager (1 hour 20 minutes)
Safe to play launch
As part of our safe clubs for children campaign West Sussex is becoming a ‘safe to play’ local authority. Safeguarding children is everyone’s responsibility and this also applies in the world of sport. This campaign has been designed specifically for the sports sector to help raise awareness of how abuse can occur through sport.
The ‘safe to play’ campaign is run by the National Working Group (NWG)) who are a national charity based in Derby. They have recently been funded by Sport England to help raise awareness of how children can be abused through sport and other physical activities such as dance and drama. You can visit the NWG safeguarding in sport website to find out more.
The Safe to Play campaign has been developed in partnership with safeguarding colleagues at the Lawn Tennis Association, and the NWG have utilised augmented reality technology to embed short safeguarding videos into a small credit card sized resource that is aimed at parents, children and sports coaches. The videos give vital information to all about how to keep children safe whilst playing or participating in their chosen activities. You can visit the tackling CSE in sports website for more information.
Road Safety Week
Road Safety Week is the UK’s biggest annual road safety event and this year it is taking place from 14 to 20 November 2022. ‘Safe Roads For All’, the theme for the campaign this year, will aim to raise awareness of key areas of road safety, including safe vehicles and speeds, the recent update to the Highway Code and the importance of inclusivity to keep us all safe on the roads.
Schools, organisations and communities should come together to speak up for everyone’s rights to make safe and healthy journeys on our roads. Together, we can help children, young people and parents learn why safe roads are important.
We are encouraging all providers to sign up to this year’s Road Safety Week so that you can access posters and teaching materials in time for 14 November.
Updated Health Protection Guidance
Please note that the Health protection in children and young people settings, including education guidance has now been updated.
This guidance has been updated to provide a practical guide for staff in education and childcare settings, including those working in children and young people’s social care. The guidance includes advice on managing COVID-19 and other childhood infections. While this guidance may be of use to all education and childcare settings, it is recognised that there are some differences for residential children’s homes and secure settings, which means that aspects of this guidance may not be applicable. The guidance should be used alongside the emergency planning and response for education, childcare, and children’s social care settings published in April 2022 but is not intended to be used as a tool for the diagnosis of infections. The information is designed for use by staff members in educational and childcare settings (for example teachers, nursery managers, teaching assistants, and cleaners) to prevent and respond to infection, incidents and outbreaks. For additional information about what infections are and how they can be prevented, access the Preventing and managing infections in childcare and pre-school online course.
To complement the guidance, and support its implementation, the Health Protection Team recommend educating children and young people on hygiene, germs (microbes), vaccination, and antibiotics. A range of interactive lesson plans for ages 3 to 16 have been developed by the UK Health Security Agency with teachers and are available for free at e-Bug.eu. These are designed to promote healthy behaviours and provide additional support and guidance to educators, to contribute to the prevention of infections in settings.
Energy Bill Relief Scheme Survey
Please read the information about the current review of the Energy Bill Relief Scheme which closes at 11:55pm on Sunday 30th October 2022. This is an opportunity to ensure that the Early Years Sector is represented and understood in the review.
Early Years to get £180m funding boost
Kelly Tolhurst, Minister for Schools and Childhood has recently announced a boost of up to £180 million for the Early Years sector to support children’s development. The package of support for early years professionals will allow them to benefit from new opportunities to boost their skills and qualifications through:
- professional development,
- leadership training,
- SENCO training,
- support and guidance, and
- expanding the Nuffield Early Language Intervention (NELI).
To find out more about this recovery package, click here.
SEND and Inclusion Newsletter - October 2022
The latest edition of the West Sussex SEND and Inclusion Newsletter can be found here.
Assessment course for managers and leaders – spaces available
Would you like an opportunity to reflect on your setting’s assessment practices regarding their appropriateness and effectiveness? Can you see the benefits of improving your formative and summative assessment in line with statutory requirements?
Take this opportunity to identify where assessment and monitoring of children’s progress is working well and where enhancements are needed. The course will also look at ways to embed knowledge in your staff teams. The Bigger Picture – Assessment Considerations is a webinar priced at £52 per place.
Tuesday 8 November - 9.30am to 3.00pm - EYT 22/1901
To book, search for the course code on the Learning and Development Gateway. If you have any questions, please email early.years.training@westsussex.gov.uk.
Ofsted Blog: Committee Run Childcare
This blog explains what committee-run childcare is and what Ofsted's role is in checking the suitability of committee members, trustees and directors.
Support with the cost of living
West Sussex County Council, along with the district and borough councils and charities, are working together to support residents who are struggling with the cost of living. The ‘Here to help – Cost of living’ webpages contain advice and information about local and national support, including with finances, food, transport, energy, employment and wellbeing.
You can drop into one of the local libraries where they can give you information and advice as well as internet access and help to get you online. You can also contact the Community Hub which is open seven days a week and offers advice about available support.
The webpages can be found here and we would encourage you to share with colleagues and families at your setting.
- W/C 31 OCT - Autumn Inclusion payment expected
- 31 DEC - Sufficiency for Autumn term deadline
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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#237 (Input into our Early Years strategy; autumn actuals payment expected; 2 year old funding criteria extended to include all families with no recourse to public funds; retaining and recruiting practitioners; business focus; launch of seasonal flu and COVID-19 vaccinations programmes; early years food and nutrition survey; early years professional development programme - phase 3; support for early years settings from the experts and mentors programme; EYFS reforms One Year On conference; I CAN is now Speech and Language UK)
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#236 (Government's energy support scheme; starting school questionnaire; wrap around childcare for armed forces families; network meetings; early years designated lead forum; virtual school website; inclusion courses; home learning environment campaign launched; new blog on the early years experts and mentors programme)
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#235 (Starting school applications; Ofsted roadshows; new foundation years vodcast and blog; autumn term network meetings; updated contact details for SAT EY SEND transition teachers)
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#234 (Safeguarding focus: safer recruitment - guidance on online searches of shortlisted candidates; childcare survey deadline approaching; committee run provision; introduction to specialist advisory teachers - EY SEND transitions; Ofsted education recovery series; respiratory outbreaks and prevention and control webinar; pre-school immunisations; HAF summer feedback)
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#233 (Childcare needs survey update; autumn FE actuals - deadline this Friday; tax-free childcare search route now live; early years stronger practice hubs advisory group; updated FAQs and webinar recording; updated quality improvement criteria; virtual reality demonstrations)
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