Newsletter for Early Years and Childcare providers in West Sussex
#17/2024 - Wednesday 24 April 2024
This week's newsletter includes:
- Safeguarding focus - Unregulated medical treatment for children
- Online Provider Portal downtime
- Help us to help you - eligibility code queries
- Fire safety in Early Years and Childcare settings
- Transition Events
- Early Years Foundation Stage consultation - Safeguarding requirements
- Early Years Training
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We have been made aware of a situation that is happening in some areas of the country that concerns children's safety. There are reported cases of a doctor from Bangladesh coming to the UK at the end of April to provide a ‘treatment’ and 'cure' for autism. This is an illegal and invasive medical procedure. This situation is currently isolated to Newham, and the Police are aware. We have made our Local Authority Designated Officer and Safeguarding teams aware and it is important we are vigilant. Asian communities and families in Crawley could be at particular risk.
We have also been made aware of children who have gone back to their home country for ‘treatment’ for their Special Educational Needs. If you become aware of families accessing any medical treatment that you believe may not be legitimate and could cause harm to a child, you must use professional curiosity to find out more and alert the Integrated Front Door.
If you have families with children who have a diagnosis of autism, or who are on the assessment pathway, you may find it useful to share one of the Understanding Autism and Social Communication Needs for Bilingual Families videos. The videos are designed to support families to understand autism and social communication needs, and the support available to them.
Please be advised that the Online Provider Portal will be unavailable Thursday 25 April from 6.00pm to 10.00pm whilst essential maintenance is taking place. Please note, parents and carers will not be able to submit 2 year old Local Authority Issued Early Years Funded Entitlement applications and our Family Information Service website will also be unavailable to the public.
As providers start to submit their Summer Term Headcount claims, we are seeing a number of emails coming into the team regarding Working Families eligibility codes.
So that we deal with your query effectively, please ensure that your email contains the following details:
- Child name
- Child Date of Birth
- Parent name
- Parent National Insurance number
- Eligibility code
These queries should be emailed to free.entitlement@westsussex.gov.uk
The Early Years Foundation Stage states that providers must ensure that their premises are safe. The statutory framework states:
3.64 Providers must ensure that their premises, including overall floor space and outdoor spaces, are fit for purpose and suitable for the age of children cared for and the activities provided on the premises. Providers must comply with requirements of health and safety legislation, including fire safety and hygiene requirements.
3.65 Providers must take reasonable steps to ensure the safety of children, staff, and others on the premises in the case of fire or any other emergency. Providers must have:
- An emergency evacuation procedure.
- Appropriate fire detection and control equipment (for example, fire alarms, smoke detectors, fire blankets and/or fire extinguishers) which is in working order.
- Fire exits must be clearly identifiable, and fire doors free of obstruction and easily opened from the inside.
In order to ensure all staff are confident and understand the settings fire evacuation procedure, you should carry out regular fire evacuation practices at different times of the day - for example during sleep times. This will ensure that procedures are appropriate and meet the needs of staff and children, enabling them to get out of the building quickly and safely when needed. For non-mobile children and adults with specific needs that may impact their ability to evacuate quickly, you must risk assess and plan for how they will be supported in different evacuation scenarios.
Fire Risk Consultancy Services have created a list of ten tips for Fire Safety in the Nursery and Childcare Sector which you may find helpful when planning and reviewing your fire safety procedures.
It is important to involve all staff in keeping the environment safe throughout the day so that they can identify potential risks and either take immediate actions or highlight to others who can remove or minimise the risk. You can also involve children when assessing risk in your setting, as this can support them to develop an awareness of risk and how to keep themselves safe.
This year's Transition Events begin next week, it is important that you arrive to the Transition Events with completed paperwork to share with schools. We recommend that you create a copy of the Transition Event Record for each school, so you can record your conversations at the event and leave with them after your discussion. Please ensure that you use the updated Transition Event Record, which was updated this year based on feedback from schools and providers. You can find guidance about the transition process, including information to support you in completing the paperwork, on the transition guidance web page.
Early Years and Childcare Advisors (EYCAs) will be collecting information about:
- children receiving a targeted transition,
- children referred to the Early Years Transition Teachers, and
- Gypsy, Traveller, Roma, Showmen and Boater (GTRSB) children.
We will be collecting this information so we can share it with the relevant teams to ensure additional support is provided in school. Please make sure you provide EYCAs with the information at the Transition Event, this can be done by creating a separate list with the child's details, or by sharing a copy of the documents you have filled in for the schools.
We have also created a code of conduct to support all providers and schools in understanding the Transition Events and the expectations that make the process successful. 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 list of schools and providers who booked on to a Transition Event before 18 April details which schools and providers are attending each event. Please check the list to make sure you are meeting with all of the schools that you need to see.
The Department for Education are seeking views on their proposals to strengthen the safeguarding requirements within the statutory framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage. Visit the GOV.UK web page to find out more and have your say. The consultation closes at 11:59pm on 17 June 2024.
We are excited to announce a variety of new training courses for the summer term. These range from courses on behaviour, baby room basics, leadership, the essentials of the Early Years Foundation Stage and the outdoors. These are bookable on the Learning and Development Gateway and can be found by searching key words relevant to the course, for example ‘behaviour’ or ‘baby’. We are shining a spotlight on three of our newly released courses below.
Please remember that you are required to book a space first on Learning and Development Gateway and then pay via the payment steps and link, which are shown on the course page. Your space is not confirmed until both booking and payment are completed. If you experience any issues when booking your course, please email early.years.training@westsussex.gov.uk.
Useful information
- 15 Apr - Portal opened 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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#16/2024 (Early Years Funded Entitlement Summer Term Actuals; Validating 2 year old working families eligibility codes; Early Years Funded Entitlement leaflets for parents; Claiming Disability Access Fund (DAF); Transition Events; Department for Education Roadshow - new date; Oral Health in Early Years pilot programme; Brilliant Babies to Terrific Toddlers - A Tool for Reflection; Early Years Training)
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#15/2024 (Business focus - Sign up to offer Tax-Free Childcare; Validating 2 year old working families codes; Reminder - Childminder recruitment and retention consultation; Kent Early Years Stronger Practice Hub newsletter and new supportive document for providers; Early Years Training)
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#14/2024 (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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#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)
Early Years and Childcare newsletter web page.
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