Newsletter for Early Years and Childcare providers in West Sussex
#20/2024 - Wednesday 15 May 2024
This week's newsletter includes:
- Business focus - Free business planning courses
- Online Provider Portal downtime
- Termly Provider Update
- Final reminder - Wraparound Programme Funding
- Reminder - Consultation on an experience-based route for Early Years practitioners
- Coping with a Crying Baby and Safer Sleep - Free webinar
- Childminding Week 2024
- National Numeracy Day 2024
- New module available - Effective curriculum and assessment
- Virtual school newsletter
- Early Years Training
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To support you around the expansion of funded childcare, you may find it useful to access a series of free business and management courses. The courses have been developed by the NDNA and provide introductions to some of the key skills required to run an effective childcare business. These online courses are self-led e-learning modules and are free for NDNA members and non-members.
Please be advised that the Online Provider Portal will be unavailable Tuesday 21 May 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.
Have you submitted a Termly Provider Update form lately? We ask Early Years and Childcare providers to complete a provider update form once a term, which amounts to three times a year. The update form is submitted via the Online Provider Portal. The reasons we ask for these updates once per term:
- Families use our website and call us for help to find childcare that meets their needs. Up to date information regarding your provision is important so parents can clearly understand what you offer and what childcare spaces you have available.
- The information you provide could become out of date. It is important you review the information we hold on your provision regularly, to ensure accurate information is displayed on our website.
- If your information is out of date new Early Years and Childcare provision may open in your area unnecessarily. We use your provider and vacancy information to help identify if new Early Years provision is required.
By submitting a Termly Provider Update you are receiving free advertising for your business on our Family Information Service website, which receives thousands of views per month. If you do not update your details we will remove you from the public list on our website and you could be missing out on free promotion for your business.
In the special newsletter shared on Friday 26 April and newsletter #18/2024 we let providers know the Expression of Interest (EOI) form for Wraparound Childcare Funding opened. The deadline to submit the EOI is Friday 17th May 2024. Visit the Wraparound Childcare Programme Funding - EOI web page for more information and to complete an EOI.
The Department for Education have launched a consultation seeking views on an experience-based route for Early Years practitioners. The experience-based route would apply to practitioners in group-based and school-based providers only. Under the new proposals, Early Years managers would assess their staff’s knowledge, skills and experience against the level 3 Early Years Educator criteria. The consultation closes on Monday 20 May 2024.
The Child Death Review Nurse team have launched Safer Sleep training for all professionals who work with or come into contact with parent/carers who are pregnant or care for a young baby. This free virtual webinar aims to provide you with an awareness of safer sleeping messages and how you can support parents/carers in conversations around safer sleeping and coping with crying babies. The next available dates for this course are as follows:
- Monday 27 June - 9.30am to 11.30am
- Wednesday 17 July - 1.00pm to 3.00pm
- Friday 23 August - 10.30am to 12.30pm
For more information and to book your place visit the 'Safer Sleeping for Babies and Coping with a Crying Baby' course page on the Learning and Development Gateway.
Saturday 11 May to Friday 17 May is Childminding Week 2024. Childminders are devoted, skilled professionals who make a difference to children's lives. They serve as caregivers, educators, and leaders, offering support to families of all backgrounds, including the most vulnerable.
We want to take a moment to thank all of our Childminders in West Sussex for all the hard work they do and the vital role they play in children's lives. Ofsted Chief Inspector, Sir Martyn Oliver, has also recorded a video message thanking all Childminders for the amazing work they do. You can view this video on Ofsted's Childcare Registration Facebook page.
National Numeracy Day 2024 is Monday 22 May. National Numeracy have some age appropriate resources and activity ideas for children aged 3 to 11, which can be found in their online hub. But remember, you do not always need to plan sit down activities to support children's mathematical skills. You should make the most of opportunities for maths in all that the children do. This means taking advantage of opportunities to use numbers where they naturally arise. You could:
- show children the clock, talk about the hands moving and point out key times in the day, for example ‘it is lunch time’,
- sing and say number rhymes which count forwards and backwards with the children. Using real objects alongside these rhymes supports children's understanding,
- look for numbers in the environment and in books so children become familiar with numerals, plan activities that help children understand what the numerals represent,
- talk about sizes for outdoor clothing 'who has the biggest wellies' or ‘I wonder what size these wellies are? How can we find out?’, and
- discuss sequencing and routines ‘now we are going to read a story, soon it will be going home time’.
You can help younger children from birth to 3 years old start to learn about numbers in several ways:
- play finger rhymes that use numbers like ‘Round and round the garden’ or ‘Two little dicky birds’,
- draw attention to changes in amounts, for example, by adding more bricks to a tower. Use words like ‘lots’ or ‘more’,
- develop counting skills, children under 2 could be making sounds, pointing or saying some numbers in sequence. Suggestions: count fingers and toes, stairs, toys, food items,
- if children are saying one number word for each object, it is not always necessary to correct them if they skip a number, and
- help children to count numbers using objects. For example, move a piece of apple to one side once they have counted it.
Visit GOV.UK for more ideas, including free online training, on how to support children's mathematical development. The Education Endowment Foundation have also created a guidance report and a summary of recommendations poster for improving mathematics in the Early Years and Key Stage 1. These resources could be used to support Continual Professional Development in your setting, or for yourself.
"Module 7 – Effective curriculum and assessment" of the Department for Education's early years child development training is now available. This module covers:
- effective implementation of the Early Years Foundation Stage learning and development and assessment requirements,
- planning and implementing your curriculum effectively,
- using non-statutory guidance to inform curriculum planning and implementation,
- carrying out effective, purposeful observation and assessment in your early years context, and
- how different factors can impact on curriculum success, especially the practitioner’s role, the approach to teaching and the setting’s culture and environment.
The Virtual School have launched the Virtual School newsletter. It contains information about the work of the Virtual School and links to their training and events offer. Please remember that the training and events are all free for West Sussex education providers, including Early Years and Childcare providers. The newsletter will be published at the start of each term. There is no need to subscribe as we will make sure we include the latest edition in this weekly newsletter.
This week is Mental Health Awareness Week and we are focusing on leadership courses that look at how to make the workplace a supportive and positive environment for all. These courses are part of our subsidised ‘Expansion Support Offer’ making them only £10 per person.
Visit the Learning and Development Gateway to book your course. 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
- 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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#19/2024 (Summer Term 2024 Headcount submissions close this Friday; Update on the Expansion of Childcare; Contact number for FE Finance; Advertise your job vacancies on the West Sussex County Council website; Tools for Schools website migration; Wraparound Programme Funding; Final reminder - Childminder consultation; Consultation - Experienced based route for Early Years practitioners; Free Communication Friendly Spaces event; Early Years Training)
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#18/2024 (Wraparound Programme Funding - Expression of Interest; Ofsted Big conversation; Starting school vaccinations; Reminder - Childminder recruitment and retention consultation; Early Years Training)
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#17/2024 (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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#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)
Early Years and Childcare newsletter web page.
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