Newsletter for Early Years and Childcare providers in West Sussex
#41/2024 - Wednesday 9 October 2024
This week's newsletter includes:
- Starting school applications
- Transition events
- Advertise and update your childcare vacancies
- Early years SEND assessment guidance and resources
- New training module available - supporting individual differences and needs
- New Ofsted blog post
- Early Years Training
Difficulty viewing this bulletin? Click here to view in your browser.
Latest Ofsted news and updates here.
The school applications process is now open for families with children born between 1 September 2020 and 31 August 2021, who are due to start school in September 2025.
You should have received a pack of starting school leaflets and a poster to your setting. The poster should be displayed within your setting and the leaflets should be distributed to the families of children who are due to start school in September 2025. If you require additional copies of the poster or leaflet, please print them using these PDFs.
You may have some parents/carers who are unsure if they want their child to start school in September. Please talk to these families about the potential benefits and risks of delaying their child’s start to school. They must also understand that they still need to apply for a school place, even if they do not want their child to start school in September. Applying allows parents/carers to discuss the options available to them with the admissions team. SENDIAS also offer useful information, advice and guidance on school admissions for children with SEND. You may want to share the SENDIAS admissions poster with families, so they can receive further support.
All families with a child due to start school in September 2025 must apply for a school place before 15 January 2025.
The dates for next year's transition events are now available on our transition events web page. We are currently prioritising schools booking their places but booking is also open to early years and childcare providers. You can book your place via West Sussex Services for Education by clicking the relevant booking link in the transition event 2025 list. You should make a note of the dates and plan to attend the relevant events to support the children in your setting.
We ask early years and childcare providers to complete a provider update form once a term, but you can complete this form more regularly to ensure your vacancy information is up to date. The updated form is submitted via the Online Provider Portal.
It is important to keep your vacancies up to date because:
- 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 vacancies you have available.
- As part of our Extra Help to Find Childcare service we will contact providers with available vacancies. We may contact you unnecessarily if your vacancy information is incorrect.
- 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.
Our Family Information Service website receives thousands of views per month. To ensure we are displaying the most up to date and accurate information for your business, ensure you complete the provider update form at least once a term.
New SEND guidance is now available to help early years and childcare providers to identify and support children who may have emerging SEND needs. The guidance has been developed by Dingley’s Promise in collaboration with the Department for Education. It also links directly to areas of need highlighted in the Early Years Foundation Stage statutory framework. The practical resources have been created to support a child-centred, strengths-based approach to assessing children’s needs.
The guidance includes advice on assessment, tools and downloadable resources to support early educators in:
- assessing what children with SEND can do,
- capturing children's voice,
- setting SMART targets for progress and learning, and
- achievement play plans (SAPPs) to capture a child’s long-term goals and needs.
“Module 8 – Supporting individual differences and needs” of the Department for Education’s early years child development training is now available. This module covers:
- an introduction to special educational needs and disabilities legislation and guidance, and how it applies to educational practice,
- the impact of knowledge and learning gaps on children’s development and what action to take, including making a referral when needed, and
- the importance of your role in supporting children’s individual differences and needs, how to create an inclusive environment and build effective partnerships.
Sign in to your account to continue the training. If you require further help, contact child-development.training@education.gov.uk.
"Who needs to submit an EY2 form, and tips for completing it” has just been published on the Ofsted: early years blog. In the blog post, Ofsted sets out who needs to submit an EY2 form, and provides tips on completing it. You can read the new blog post here.
We are excited to share with you three courses coming up this autumn. To book a course, click the course name below. You can also visit Services for Education and search for a range of courses.
If you experience any issues when booking your course, please email early.years.training@westsussex.gov.uk.
Useful information
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.
We’re committed to providing excellent support to all providers we engage with. Please take a moment to complete our Early Years and Childcare Provider Feedback Survey and let us know about your experiences. Your feedback will help us improve our service and better support settings like yours. You can visit the web page or scan the QR code.
|
-
#40/2024 (Business focus: Have you ever thought about employing an apprentice?; UK Health Security Agency Outbreak Packs for Education Settings; Supporting physical development in the early years; Promoting careers in early years and childcare at local job fairs; Early years provider business opportunity; Kent Early Years Stronger Practice Hub newsletter - September 2024; Presentations for early years practitioners; Early Years Training)
-
#39/2024 (Safeguarding focus – Lockdown processes; Autumn term 2024 Headcount submissions close this Friday; Autumn term Post Headcount Exceptional Payment requests for eligible Working Families of children aged 9 months to 2 years old; Ofsted Outcomes; October childcare job fair, Horsham – only a few stalls left; Kent Early Years Stronger Practice Hub newsletter - September 2024; Oral Health Training; National Professional Qualification in Early Years Leadership; Early Years Training – Phonics)
-
#38/2024 (Updates to our phone system - possible longer call wait times; Early Years Funded Entitlement (EYFE) for 2 year olds; Starting school applications; New Public Mental Health Needs Assessment 2024; Early Years Training
-
#37/2024 (Early Years and Childcare Advisors corrected contact information for support; Job centre support with recruitment; Childcare job fair in Horsham in October – meet job seekers; Wellbeing and Exercise in Pregnancy Programme; National Professional Qualification for Early Years Leadership (NPQEYL); Autumn early years and childcare networks; Early Years Training)
-
#36/2024 (Business focus - Marketing your early years and childcare business; Early Years Funded Entitlement autumn term Actuals - now open; Early Years Funded Entitlements for Working Families; Claiming Disability Access fund; Early Years Funded Entitlement leaflet for parents and carers - digital copies available; Setting support phone line reminder; Fire safety training; Oral health pilot; PACEY Childcare and Early Years Awards 2024; Early Years and Childcare 2024/25 Training and Events Brochure)
Early Years and Childcare newsletter web page.
|
