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Newsletter for out of school childcare providers in West Sussex from West Sussex County Council
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Monday 23 January 2023
Ofsted out of school providers signing up to offer Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) places
As an Ofsted registered out of school provider, you are already well placed to offer HAF places. Whilst the Expression of Interest (EOI) process for the Easter holidays has now closed, there is still plenty of time to think about taking part for the summer holidays. If you've ever thought about putting in a bid for HAF funding but are not sure of what's involved, or if it's worth it, Sarah Moors, from Cherrytree Childcare in Worthing, took the plunge last year and has shared some useful information.
Q. Why did you want to become a HAF provider?
A. To be able to offer all children the same opportunities and enriching activities.
Q. What have been the benefits of offering HAF places as an existing out of school provider?
A. The main benefit to us is knowing that we are providing opportunities for some children that wouldn't be able to access what we provide as a setting. From a practical point of view, it is reassuring to know we have the income providing we can fill the places. Although there is some administration required, the difference we see in confidence and participation for some of these children from one holiday period to the next is huge and makes it all worthwhile.
Q. How did you find the application process?
A. We found it quite tricky not knowing what questions were coming next and quite lengthy. Having said that once you are used to the application process it is much quicker applying for subsequent holiday funding.
Q. How do you handle the food element of the offer?
A. We have very limited kitchen facilities, so have made the choice to predominantly offer cold food. However we do have some hot food days where we incorporate activities with healthy eating etc, so children have the opportunity to make their own healthy pitta pizzas or similar meals. We have chosen not to outsource our hot food as we felt there would be a lot of waste due to issues such as fussy eaters and our budget for our paying children wouldn't cover the cost of hot meals for them. If the HAF children received outsourced meals this would identify them as different to our paying children which we would not want to happen. We pride ourselves on the fact that if anyone came into our holiday camp, they wouldn't be able to identify which ones were HAF children.
Q. Have you needed to do anything over and above what you would normally do for your usual provision?
A. The HAF principles were already well embedded into our holiday camp culture, so any changes to what we have to provide has been negligible. What we have found is that we are getting a proportion of children with additional needs that aren't always fully disclosed which can have an impact on staffing.
Q. Has it been helpful to already be an Ofsted registered provider?
A. It is definitely very helpful as all of our Staff have completed a vast range of courses already to comply with our Ofsted registration. Parents are able to pay by Tax Free Childcare and Vouchers which is important to them.
Key dates to submit an EOI are below (more information on submitting an EOI will be sent out in the future).
Holiday period: Summer 2023
- Opens 27 February 2023
- Deadline 2 April 2023
National Playwork Conference is back for 2023
The 20th National Playwork Conference is taking place on 7 and 8 March in Eastbourne. For more information you can visit the event website. There are early bird discounts detailed on the website.
Termly childcare provider update form – reminder to submit
Please submit a provider update form on the Online Provider Portal for this term. If you have any queries then please contact the specialist team by emailing family.info.service@westsussex.gov.uk or calling 01243 777807.
Important reasons for submitting termly updates:
- When new businesses or housing developments are proposed in your local area, we use your provider and vacancy information to help identify if new childcare provision is required. New settings may open unnecessarily if your information is out of date and wrong.
- Your information helps families find suitable childcare for their children across the county.
- Free advertisement on our website which receives, on average, just under 10,000 hits a month.
How your updates benefit families:
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Families call us for help to find childcare that meets their individual needs.
- One of the biggest complaints the FIS receives from parents is that setting vacancy information is out of date which is frustrating when searching for childcare. Our information is only as good as the information you can give us.
- Parents do use our website to find childcare. The details you provide help them to make informed decisions on which providers to contact.
You should provide at least a termly update:
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Update, even if you’re full. Updating is about more than just free advertising. Out of date information can directly affect your business.
- If you have not updated your details in the last year we will remove you from our public list. This is to prevent a breach to our data protection policy, which you agree to when submitting your profile update.
The Early Education and Childcare statutory guidance (June 2018) requires local authorities to publish setting information which is updated at least once a term.
- 31 MAR - Sufficiency for Spring 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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#2 (Sufficiency updates; HAF expression of interest deadline; HAF providers - benefits of Ofsted registration; safe to play campaign; supporting families with childcare costs; safeguarding reminders)
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#1 (Welcome to the first edition of our Out of School Newsletter - Introducing the team; Family Information Service; Early Years and Childcare Advisors; Holiday Activity and Food programme; HAF funding and providers; expression of interest for 2023)
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