Newsletter for Early Years and Childcare providers in West Sussex
#32/2024 - Wednesday 7 August 2024
This week's newsletter includes:
- Business focus - Maintaining quality early years and childcare provision in the face of workforce challenges
- Setting support phoneline - downtime and changes to operating hours
- European Early Childhood Education Research Association conference 2024 - Brighton
- Brighton and Hove childminder conference - November 2024
- Childcare Expansion Forum - opportunity to join
- Making Every Contact Count training
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We recognise the current challenges that many early years and childcare providers face when recruiting and retaining quality staff.
Ofsted have recently published a new blog post on maintaining quality early years provision in the face of workforce challenges. It highlights:
- some of the ways workforce challenges are evident when they are inspecting,
- what providers are doing to mitigate some of these negative impacts, and
- the importance of continued good leadership and management in times of high staff turnover.
In response to these challenges in West Sussex, we are pleased to announce the appointment of Lisa Guy, our new Early Years and Childcare Team Manager, who will lead on Workforce Development. Lisa will be working with internal and external partners to develop a workforce strategy that supports the sector to maintain a highly qualified workforce with desirable career pathways.
The aim is to have a positive impact on the recruitment and quality of staff and to improve retention across the sector. We will work towards having enough suitably qualified staff to deliver high quality provision. This will help us:
- improve outcomes for children,
- narrow the attainment gap, and
- enable the delivery of the expanded Early Years Funded Entitlement and wraparound childcare.
Please note the setting support phone line will not be available on Tuesday 13 August 2024. It will be open again on Thursday 15 August 2024 as normal.
Please be aware that from the 3 September 2024 we will be amending the opening hours of the setting support phone line. The phone line will only be available on Tuesday's 1.00pm to 4.00pm.
The EECERA annual conference is the largest early years research conference in Europe, regularly attracting more than 900 researcher delegates from all over the world. The EECERA conference is hosted in a different European city each year by a local university or early years network. This year the event is to be hosted at the University of Brighton from 3 to 6 September 2024.
Further information:
Brighton and Hove early years and childcare (EYC) team have organised the Childminder Conference - Raising The Profile which will take place on Saturday 9 November 2024 from 9.30am to 2.30pm at Hove Town Hall. This is a free event with speakers including:
- Early Years inspirational speaker Marlis Juerging-Coles for a joyous session of empowerment and soulfire.
- Award winning children’s author and top class storyteller, Neil Griffiths, who has an international reputation for entertaining and inspiring.
- PACEY associate Rebecca Martland, for a refreshing insight into how we can shape up on our financial wellbeing as money really does matter.
The Brighton and Hove EYC team have opened the invitation to East and West Sussex Ofsted registered childminders. For more information and to book tickets, please go to the website.
In newsletter #28/2024 shared with you on 10 July 2024, we let you know about the opportunity to join the Childcare Expansion Provider Forum. You can read the Childcare Expansion Provider Forum Invitation to find out more and email an Expression of Interest form to free.entitlement@westsussex.gov.uk. Applications will be closing this Friday 9 August 2024 at 11.59pm.
MECC is a type of training designed to support the delivery of basic health and wellbeing conversations. It uses evidence-based behaviour change theory and techniques to support you in having short conversations about health topics. These topics include:
- smoking,
- drinking (alcohol),
- healthy diet and weight,
- physical activity, and
- mental health.
We have a number of workshops available for you to sign up to and receive MECC training. There is also an e-Learning module that provides the foundations of the MECC approach, this must be completed ahead of attending a workshop. The next available workshop dates are:
- 9 September 2024 (face-to-face) - 10.00am to 1.00pm - Field Place, Worthing, BN13 1PR.
- 15 October 2024 (face-to-face) - 10.00am to 1.00pm - County Hall North, Horsham, RH12 1AB.
- 15 November 2024 (webinar) - 10.00am to 1.00pm.
You can sign up for a MECC workshop via the Learning and Development Gateway.
Useful information
- 30 Aug - Sufficiency deadline for summer term
- 02 Sep - Portal scheduled to open for autumn term actuals
- 19 Sept - Autumn term headcount day
- 27 Sept - Portal closes for autumn term actuals
- w/c 21 Oct - Autumn 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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#31/2024 (Safeguarding focus - Emotional abuse - childhood verbal abuse; Reminder to have your say on Early Years Funded Entitlement payments; Advanced warning - Online Provider Portal downtime; Check Early Years Funded Entitlement codes for working families; Childcare Expansion Forum - opportunity to join; Free training from Kent Early Years Stronger Practice Hub)
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#30/2024 (Online Provider Portal downtime; Reminder to have your say on Early Years Funded Entitlement payments; Reporting changes to your Ofsted registration; Ofsted Early Years and Childcare Enforcement policy updates; Ofsted News e-magazine; Kent Early Years Stronger Practice hub newsletter - July 2024)
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#29/2024 (National Wraparound Childcare Programme Update; Letter from Sussex Police regarding FGM/C; Early years and childcare training booking portal now live; National Professional Qualification for Early Years Leadership; SEND and inclusion newsletter; Summer reading challenge)
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#28/2024 (Recruitment and support - advertise your job vacancies; Early years training moving to new platform - final reminder; Reminder to have your say on EYFE payments; Childcare expansion forum - opportunity to join; Early years training)
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#27/2024 (Updated safeguarding letter for parents/carers; Early Years Funded Entitlements - parental leave; Early Years Funded Entitlements for working families temporary codes; Action required - checking codes for Early Years Funded Entitlements for working families; Childcare Expansion Forum updates; Spring term network presentations; Early Years Training moving to a new platform; Early Years Training)
Early Years and Childcare newsletter web page.
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