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
Difficulty viewing this bulletin? Click here to view in your browser.
Wednesday 23 November 2022
Final Reminder - FE Spring Term Estimates
The Online Provider Portal (OPP) is open until 11.59pm Friday 25 November for you to submit your Spring Term estimates for Free Entitlement (FE) 2, 3 and 4 Year Olds.
Please note, upcoming Headcount and submission deadlines can be found on our website. 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.
Post Headcount/Exceptional Payment (PHEP) Request Forms
We are currently receiving a high number of PHEP requests which means that processing times may take us a little longer than you would normally experience. Please be reassured we will let you know the outcome as quickly as we can.
When submitting a PHEP request, it would be helpful to us if you could ensure that:
- You use the current version of the form which is available to download from our website. If you use an out-of-date form, we will need to decline the request and ask that you re-submit on the correct form.
- You complete the form in full. We are currently finding that many requests are missing information required in order to make a decision on whether we are able to fund the request or not. Key information such as dates or details of where children moved from or the number of weeks of funding required are missing, meaning we need to then query this with you and wait for a response, which slows this process down.
- You are only submitting requests for the current term.
We are currently investigating solutions to improve the form so it is easier to complete and therefore reduce these issues and improve processing times. More information will be given in a future broadcast once the changes are ready to be implemented. Your help and support with this is much appreciated and we recognise how important it is for you to have decisions made as quickly as possible.
Local Offer information
Through a national parental survey, it has been identified that parents and carers of children with additional needs are asking for a greater level of information on childcare provision. We therefore ask that you update the Areas of Experience within the Local Offer Section of the Termly Provider Update form. This will give parents and carers the information they need to make meaningful choices over the provision available to them.
The seven headings we use for Area of Experience are:
- SEND Social, Emotional and Mental Health
- SEND Communication and Interaction
- SEND Cognition and Learning
- SEND Health/Medical needs
- SEND Physical Needs
- SEND Sensory Needs
- SEND Development Delay
In addition, please provide details of any relevant training that has been undertaken within the past seven years as well as any experience that you/your setting have had within each SEND area. The full guidance can be found within the Local Offer section of the Termly Update form.
Please submit your Local Offer information on the Online Provider Portal here. The deadline for you to update your Local Offer information is Friday 16 December 2022.
Supporting Parents with Childcare Costs
In last week's broadcast #241, we shared the main challenges as highlighted by families around accessing childcare. One of these is affordability. We are of course aware that finances for providers are also incredibly difficult in these tough economic times. West Sussex County Council will continue to share the very real challenges our providers are facing with the Department for Education.
However, one way you could support families is by ensuring your setting is signed up to offer Tax-Free Childcare and ensuring that parents are made aware of the benefits of utilising this, if they are eligible. If you haven't already, you can register here to help families save money on their childcare costs.
Signposting families to Childcare Choices can also help families see if they are eligible for any other funding to support them with childcare costs. Being able to confidently have these conversations with families can help with the take up of places as parents can see the overall cost to them once the government support is included.
Providers can use the Childcare Choices Partner toolkit for resources to help communicate details of this scheme to parents.
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 web page.
The next Expression of Interest will be open from 1 December 2022 to 8 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 contact the HAF team at haf@westsussex.gov.uk.
Early Years Professional Development Programme - Phase Three
The Department for Education (DfE) recently announced the third phase of the government funded Early Years Professional Development Programme (EYPDP). Education Development Trust (EDT) have now been announced as the delivery partner for this programme. As you may be aware, EDT has already successfully delivered two phases of this programme and Phase Three of the programme will provide the opportunity to reach up to 10,000 practitioners across all local authorities in England with this latest phase.
The training programme aims to improve practitioners’ understanding of children’s learning in Communication and Language, early Mathematics and Personal, Social and Emotional Development. It will have four cohorts staggered across the 2023/25 period, the first of which is due to start in February 2023.
The programme will be delivered through a blended mix of e-learning and facilitated webinars with tailored content created in partnership with Speech and Language UK; the Anna Freud Centre and early years Mathematics experts Dr Catherine Gripton and Dr Sue Gifford. Learning for each cohort will be spread over an eight-month period and is expected to take practitioners around 60 hours to complete, with funding provided by the DfE to release practitioners to complete the training.
Eligible settings will be contacted directly by EDT using the email address that we hold for your setting, so please keep an eye out for the email, including checking your junk/spam email folder. The training is open to any practitioners in your setting who have not yet completed this training. Phase Three is the final phase of the programme and places are open to practitioners across the country, so please respond quickly to secure a place.
First Early Years Stronger Practice Hubs announced
The Department for Education (DfE) announced the first 13 settings in England that will be early years Stronger Practice Hubs. Early years stronger practice hubs will provide advice, share good practice, and offer evidence-based professional development for early years practitioners. The hubs are part of the early years education recovery support package which also includes the early years experts and mentors programme.
The DfE's ambition is to fund two hubs in each region of England (a total of 18 once a further five are appointed next Spring). The early years stronger practice hubs programme is supported by the Education Endowment Foundation and the National Children’s Bureau. You can find the full list of hubs, including two in the south east on the Foundation Years website and Early years stronger practice hubs - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Ofsted - Best Start in Life Review
Ofsted has published the first in a series of reviews on early years education. The review underpins the inspectorate’s new strategic focus on early education and giving children ‘the best start in life’ following the COVID-19 pandemic. You can read the review on the Ofsted - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) website.
Measuring wellbeing in early years settings
Supporting young children and their families is a tough job. It can be immensely rewarding but also physically and emotionally draining. If we want our early years staff to do what is asked of them, then we need to make sure that their mental health and wellbeing is effectively supported. The Anna Freud Centre for Children and Families have launched a new Measuring wellbeing in early years settings resource which provides sets of questions to help early years settings better understand their staff and provide them with the support they need.
Early Years Training
Five to Thrive Essentials (Webinar) - last few places left this term - Suitable for all levels of practitioner and particularly useful for those working with the under twos. Five to Thrive Essentials (webinar) is a 2.5 hour webinar that aims to implement and develop meaningful empowering adult and child relationships. Such relationships will have a positive impact on the child's resilience and ability/readiness to learn, while feeling confident, happy and secure. The cost of this course is £26 per place and includes three booklets to enhance your learning.
Tuesday 6 December - 09.30am to 12.30pm – EYT 22/2490
A Look at Dynamic Displays (Webinar) - last chance this term - This is a 90 minute webinar suitable for all practitioners working with children aged 3 plus. It aims to explore and understand that an effective display, which involves your children, is a creation of the world from the eyes of a child.
A great display involves children in every stage of its creation, continuation, and dismantling. You will establish approaches that celebrate and extend children’s learning both “in the moment” and over several weeks. You will learn the importance for children to be involved in selecting, discussing, changing, and interacting with displays. The cost of this course is £16 per place.
Tuesday 29 November – 7.00pm to 8.30pm - EYT 22/2451
To book, search for the course codes on the Learning and Development Gateway. If you have any questions, please email early.years.training@westsussex.gov.uk
- 9 NOV - Portal opened for FE Estimates
- 25 NOV - Portal closes for FE Estimates
- w/c 5 DEC - FE Estimate payments due
- 31 DEC - Sufficiency for Autumn term deadline
- 3 JAN 23 - Portal opens for Early Years Census
- 4 JAN 23 - Portal opens for Spring headcount claims
- 19 JAN 23 - Spring Headcount day
- 27 JAN 23 - Portal closes for Spring headcount claims
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)
-
Practice support (EYFS, Diversity and Inclusion, health and wellbeing, transitions, legislation, regulation and safeguarding)
-
Supporting families in your childcare setting (includes CLaWBA, integrated reviews)
-
Tools for schools and settings (supporting the inclusion of all children in early years)
-
Business support (Free Entitlement, marketing, finance, recruitment, advertising)
- Training and qualifications
-
Network meetings/events (Learning and development, INCO SENCO, business and welfare)
-
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.
-
#241 (Childcare survey results; termly childcare provider update form; drones and education settings; DfE childminder mentor programme; DfE EY SENCO training; new foundation years blog; intermediate child development)
-
#240 (Get involved in our early years strategy; FE spring term estimates open; starting school applications reminder; deadline for spring term pandemic recovery support; level 3 inclusive practice course; winter HAF; home learning environment resources and campaign; specialist advisory teachers referrals; assessment in the revised EYFS; West Sussex libraries)
-
#239 (Early years education recovery programme; contacting your EYCA team; online provider portal feedback form; new flyer to replace CFC registration form in welcome packs; network meetings; West Sussex disability register; the SrHEC approach; new vodcast on online safety; safety resources for autumn; anti-bullying week; early years training)
-
#238 (Safeguarding focus: disclosure and barring service; safe to play launch; road safety week; updated health protection guidance; energy bill relief scheme survey; early years funding boost; SEND newsletter; assessment course; - Ofsted blog - committee run childcare; support with the cost of living)
-
#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)
| 
