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Newsletter for out of school childcare providers in West Sussex from West Sussex County Council
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Monday 21 November 2022
Welcome to the first edition of our Out of School Newsletter!
These will be emailed to you twice a term and are aimed at providers offing care for school age children including breakfast clubs, after school clubs, holiday playschemes and Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) providers. Please look out for this in your inbox and share with others in your setting as appropriate, including committee members as relevant.
Although you should continue to read the weekly broadcast email, we are aware that this can be quite Early Years focused so we are starting this newsletter to ensure we can provide you with further, more targeted information.
Introducing the team
Within the county council there are teams who are here that can support you and your setting:
Family Information Service
The Family Information Service (FIS) provides free, impartial and up to date information on activities, services and childcare to parents and carers of 0-25 year olds. We help families to find Ofsted registered childcare, including out of school clubs.
Extra help for parents and carers with bespoke childcare needs including school pick-up services and for children with Special Educational Need and Disabilities (SEND), is also offered as part of our Extra Help to Find Childcare service. We are the only locally authorised source of information on registered childcare across West Sussex and receive daily updates directly from Ofsted.
Whilst we are here to support parents and carers, we are also here to support you. FIS maintains all of your information within our Online Provider Portal (OPP) which can then be used to publicise your details on our website. Ensuring your details are correct and up to date by completing a Termly Update form, means that we can signpost parents to your provision and that they can easily find you on our website. More information on the OPP and Termly Update form can be found here.
Within our web pages you can also find information on business and practice support such as: financial planning, staff recruitment, marketing, diversity and inclusion. There is also information about training you can access. If you cannot find what you need from our web pages, you can also contact FIS by emailing family.info.service@westsussex.gov.uk or call 01243 777807.
Early Years and Childcare Advisors
Early Years and Childcare Advisors (EYCAs) work within the Children, Young People and Learning directorate, which groups all services including Early Help, Children’s Social Care and Education and Skills, that work together to put children first and improve outcomes for children and families across West Sussex.
Their role is to work with Ofsted registered early years and childcare providers, which include pre-schools, day nurseries, childminders and out of school provision. They can provide support, guidance and information to potential, new and existing childcare providers in order to secure sufficient high quality inclusive early years and childcare places in West Sussex (aged 0-14 or up to 18 for SEND). They also work with providers who have received a less than ‘Good’ Ofsted outcome to make rapid improvement to the quality of provision.
Should you require any support you can contact the local team for your area via the email addresses below:
If your query relates to concerns for a child or family who may need access to support from Early Help or Children's Social Care, please contact the Integrated Front Door on 01403 229900.
Holiday Activity and Food programme
The Holiday Activity and Food (HAF) Programme is fully funded by the Department for Education and offers children who are entitled to benefits related free school meals the opportunity to attend a participating holiday activity club and have a free meal.
Eligible children can attend their chosen HAF provision for a maximum of four days per week for one week at Easter, four weeks during the Summer and one week at Christmas. More information can be found on their webpage.
HAF funding and providers
Providers interested in offering HAF places for eligible children can place a ‘bid’, known as an expression of interest, for HAF funding. This can be done each holiday during the allocated time, or one bid can be made for all three holidays.
Expression of interest is open for one month in December, March and September. Exact dates will be shared on our website. Providers will be required to share details of their activity plans, meal plans, insurance and policies and procedures.
Following checks of all necessary paperwork, expressions of interest are then considered by a panel at WSCC and then all interested parties are contacted with details.
Funding is paid directly to providers, sometimes in two parts, with 75% in advance followed by 25% on delivery, who can then offer the allocated amount of HAF spaces to eligible children. Every child who is eligible for HAF will have a unique HAF code which they will need to make a booking.
Expression of Interest for 2023
The next Expression of Interest will be open from 1 of December 2022 until 8 of January 2023. For more information and to place an expression of interest please click here. If you would like to discuss your bid before you submit, or if you have any general enquiries, you can email haf@westsussex.gov.uk.
We hope you have found this newsletter helpful. If there is any information you would find beneficial or want to learn more about then please email family.info.service@westsussex.gov.uk.
- 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
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