Newsletter for Early Years and Childcare providers in West Sussex
#14/2024 - Wednesday 3 April 2024
This week's newsletter includes:
- Safeguarding focus - Dangers of laundry capsules
- Accepting your provider declaration and estimate payments
- Validating 2 year old working families codes
- Transition Events
- Pre-school immunisations
- Ofsted's Big Listen consultation - for adults and children
- Free trees for schools, nurseries and community groups
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Laundry capsules (liquitabs) can badly injure children if they burst on their skin or in their mouth. But to children, they look like the best thing to play with. It is important that any cleaning products you use within your setting are securely locked away and always out of reach of children.
If you have cleaning appliances, such as washing machines or dishwashers, in your setting it is important to ensure children are unable to access these areas unsupervised. You could also consider the use of safety locks to prevent children accessing cleaning products you have placed in appliances, to prevent them ingesting any poisonous substances.
There are a range of resources below you can share with parents and carers in your setting to inform them of the potential risks to children. You could share these via newsletters, electronic letters, emails and text messages. You could also use these resources to inform staff training and practice within your setting.
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We are currently processing submitted provider declarations for 2024/2025. For a provider declaration form to be accepted we must ensure it is completed in full with the correct information. If a form is not completed in full or the information inputted is incorrect the form will be denied. You will receive an automatic email from the Family Information Service if your form is denied and a separate email from free.enitlement@westsussex.gov.uk explaining why the form was denied and the steps you need to take to correct any issues. Please read the email from free.entitlement carefully to ensure your next provider declaration submission is correct.
Payments are expected to be released from the week commencing 1 April. This means payments will be released over the course of the week and can take up to three to five working days to clear in your bank account. Estimate payments can only be released once your provider declaration has been accepted and processed by the Early Years Funding team. There must also be no other outstanding issues before your payment is released.
The common issues we are finding with provider declaration submissions are outlined in this summary document. This document also contains guidance on how to rectify these issues. You can also use the provider declaration help guide.
Did you know that it is critical eligibility codes are validated before a child takes up their early years funded entitlement place? To validate the code, please use the eligibility checker on the Online Provider Portal.
The help guide will support you in locating the checker and provides important guidance to help you identify if a code is valid for the Summer Term or not.
In newsletter #11/2024 we reminded you of the Transition Events for 2024. This year's Transition Events take place between 1 and 13 May. If you have not yet booked your place, please do this today by visiting the Transition Events booking page on the Learning and Development Gateway.
The events enable schools and early years providers to have initial discussions regarding children due to start school in September. It allows you to share key information about children and to set up additional transition support if required. Evaluations show that attendance at these events saves time for both schools and providers, but the success of the event is dependent on a high level of attendance.
Although parents have not yet received their school offers, it is helpful if you can book onto the events you anticipate needing to attend. Once you are aware of the allocated places for children in your setting, you can cancel your place, or book onto additional events as required. You can also cancel your place if you no longer need to attend an event that you had already booked.
As the summer term approaches children will soon be receiving confirmation of which school they will be attending in September 2024. It is important to remember routine vaccinations play a huge part in protecting children, families and the community against unpleasant and sometimes serious diseases. NHS England have asked if Early Years Providers can please share the below message with parents and carers, to ensure their children are up to date with their immunisations.
Please make sure that your child is up to date with all their routine immunisations before joining school. If you are not sure if your child has had all their routine vaccinations, check their personal health record (Red Book) or contact your GP surgery.
The pre-school immunisations – often called pre-school boosters – will update or top up your child’s level of antibodies (which their bodies produce to fight off disease and infection) and help to keep them protected. Protection (immunity) against diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough and polio from the immunisations given to babies can fade over time. Sometimes, complete immunity to measles, mumps or rubella does not develop after a single dose of the MMR vaccine – so this gives them a second chance. Measles cases are rising in England – all children starting or returning to school are at risk of catching measles if they are not fully protected.
For more information, please see Pre-school immunisations - a guide to vaccinations and The complete routine immunisation schedule from September 2023.
We appreciate you taking the time to share this important message with parents and carers in your settings.
The Ofsted Big Listen opened on 8 March and closes on the 31 May 2024. They are looking for feedback from everyone they work with and everyone they work for. There is a survey for children and young people (up to age 18). There is also a survey for parents/carers and professionals Ofsted work with, such as teachers and other educators, carers, employers and social workers.
Visit the Ofsted Big Listen web page to find out more and have your say. Please also share these surveys with parents and carers, so they can share their views and also support their children in completing the children's survey.
Hundreds of thousands of trees are being given away to help the UK reach its 2050 carbon net-zero target. Schools, nurseries and other groups such as residents' associations, sports clubs, scouts and guides are amongst some of the organisations eligible to apply for up to 420 trees to improve their local environment, for free. Tree packs available include:
- hedging,
- copse,
- wild harvest,
- year-round colour,
- working wood,
- wild wood,
- wildlife, and
- urban trees.
The Woodland Trust deliver in March and November and they are currently taking applications for trees to be delivered in November 2024. Applications are expected to close in August 2024, or sooner depending on stock availability. Visit the Woodland Trust website to find out more and apply.
Useful information
- W/C 01 Apr - Summer term estimate payments due
- 12 Apr - Spring term Sufficiency deadline
- 15 Apr - Portal opens for Summer term actuals
- 02 May - Headcount day
- 10 May - Portal closed for Summer term actuals
- 31 May - Inclusion funding deadline for Autumn term
- W/C 03 Jun - Summer term actuals payments due
We have a range of online training available for you to access for your staff to ensure they have the most up to date information to support them in their role:
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.
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 EYCA team using the following email addresses:
Where there are not clearly evidenced reasons why the setting had no option but to close, there could be implications for funding received as per the government guidance.
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#13/2024 (High volume of calls and emails; Final reminder to check Early Years Funded Entitlement codes; Childcare Expansion Provider Forum update; Are parents/carers in your setting confused about the new childcare offers?; Department for Education Provider Roadshows - postponed; Review of the Ordinarily Available Inclusive Practice guide; Billingual support for Chagossian families; Ofsted updates)
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#12/2024 (Contacting the Local Authority Designated Officer; Warning - Online Provider Portal downtime; Early Years Funded Entitlement eligibility codes - Summer Term deadline; New funding policy and invoice templates available; Childminder consultation; Early Years Training)
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#11/2024 (Business focus - Funding for apprentices in your setting; Warning - Online Provider Portal downtime; Outcomes Framework for children and young people - parent/carer survey; Department for Education Provider Roadshows; Transition Events 2024; Department for Education COVID recovery programme; Jobcentre plus - support with recruitment; SEND and Inclusion newsletter - March 2024; Fraud guide for businesses)
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#10/2024 (Early Years Funded Entitlement (EYFE) for working families – reminding parents to check and reconfirm their codes; Checking Early Years Funded Entitlement (EYFE) codes; Advanced Warning - Online Provider Portal downtime; Network meeting presentations; New Ofsted early years blog post - Ofsted priorities for the early years sector; Early Years Training; Lose weight for free)
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#09/2024 (Safeguarding focus - Free county lines video and resource pack; Early Years Funded Entitlement - Provider Declaration; Online Provider Portal downtime; Ofsted inspections - Support from the Early Years and Childcare team; New resource to support practitioners with Early Years Foundation Stage assessment; Kent Early Years Stronger Practice Hub newsletter - February 2024; Early Years Training)
Early Years and Childcare newsletter web page.
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