Newsletter for Early Years and Childcare providers in West Sussex
#48/2024 - Wednesday 27 November 2024
This week's newsletter includes:
- Business focus - management and leadership courses
- Early Years Funded Entitlement (EYFE) spring term 2025 estimates - final reminder
- Offering Early Years Funded Entitlement from January 2025
- Early Years Funded Entitlement - checking Working Families codes workshop
- Wraparound Childcare Funding Programme - 2024 deadline
- Starting school applications
- Creating accessible spaces for children with cerebral palsy
- Infection prevention
- Wellbeing and Exercise in Pregnancy Programme social media launch
- Early Years Training
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Latest Ofsted news and updates here.
Managers and leaders, your staff are an integral part of your setting. They ensure children are engaged, safe and happy. The also ensure parents/carers are informed about their child’s progress and feel confident leaving them in your care. We offer online, interactive training to support staff retention and manager upskilling for £10 per person.
Leadership and Management: Staff supervision as required by the Early Years Foundation Stage - gain skills and confidence to conduct useful and supportive supervisions. Learn how to develop staff, improve the quality of children's experience and maintain vigilance in safeguarding.
- Thursday 6 February – 9.30am to 12.30pm
Leadership and Management: Supporting staff wellbeing - delivered by an expert wellbeing education consultant, you will explore how to support yourself and others at work. You will also explore what wellbeing looks like and utilise tools and ideas to support, challenge and encourage others in relation to wellbeing practices.
- Thursday 13 February - 9.30am to 12.30pm
This is a final reminder that The Online Provider Portal (OPP) is open for you to submit your spring term 2025 estimates for all EYFE including the new 9 month old offer.
- Headcount day for spring term 2025 is Thursday 16 January 2025.
- The deadline for estimate submissions is Friday 29 November 2024.
- Payments are scheduled to be received by providers who have no outstanding queries regarding their estimate figures week commencing Monday 9 December 2024.
If, after viewing the guidance available on our website you require further support, in the first instance please email free.entitlement@westsussex.gov.uk, or phone the Family Information Service on 01243 777807. Please note that late estimates may not be accepted after Friday 29 November 2024 so please ensure that you meet the deadline.
Do you want to begin offering EYFE for the first time in the upcoming spring term 2025? Or do you already offer EYFE, but wish to amend your offer (this includes what times you offer EYFE hours and what age groups you offer it to)? If so, please visit westsussex.gov.uk/offerEYFE for further information on how to sign up or amend your EYFE offer.
We recommend signing up to offer EYFE, or amending your offer, as soon as possible. If your application is received too late, we cannot guarantee that you will be paid EYFE funding for spring term 2025. If you already offer EYFE and do not wish to change your offer, no further action is needed.
The Early Years Funding team will be offering online training sessions to support providers in checking the validity of EYFE for Working Families eligibility codes using the OPP in December. See newsletter #46/2024 to book and for further details.
There is still time to apply for the wraparound childcare funding this year. The next deadline for funding applications is Thursday 12 December. The different types of expansion which can be considered as part of the Wraparound Childcare Programme provision are:
- Expanded places – the addition of places to existing provision that already meets the wraparound definition.
- Expanded hours – the creation of additional hours, or days, to an existing provision to meet the wraparound definition.
- Expanded provision – the addition of before or after-school provision to an existing provider to meet the wraparound definition.
- Creation of places – the creation of new wraparound places as part of the creation of a new wraparound provision.
Please refer to the Wraparound Childcare Programme Funding web page for further information or contact the setting support mailbox for your area, email addresses are listed at the bottom of this newsletter.
Please ensure families in your setting are aware that they must complete a school application, by Wednesday 15 January 2025. Children born between 1 September 2020 and 31 August 2021 are eligible to start school next September. This is for children due to start in reception, at primary or infant school, in September 2025. This will enable their application to be considered in the first round of school allocation.
As you are aware, we are no longer carrying out the Starting School Questionnaire in early years and childcare settings. However, we encourage you to continue to work with families to identify any additional support needed to enable children to make a positive start to school.
If a family has questions about the school admissions process that you cannot answer, please refer to the information on the website or contact the Pupil Admissions team.
National Association for Special Educational Needs (NASEN) have published an article on creating accessible nursery environments for children with cerebral palsy. The article gives good advice on steps that all early years and childcare providers can take to adapt environments to better serve children with cerebral palsy. These steps may also benefit other children in your setting.
Babies have immature immune systems. Even infections that are considered "mild" in older children and adults can be life-threatening for babies. One of the reasons that babies are more vulnerable to infections is that they have not been exposed to some common viruses. As they grow and get bigger, their immune systems will have had a chance to develop and will be more able to cope when they are exposed to bacteria, viruses and other germs. Please carefully read and share these resources from The Lullaby Trust with parents/carers and staff in your setting.
WEPP provides free online resources and information for pregnancy and postnatal care. It is available to use during pregnancy and after childbirth. They have recently launched a new Facebook page and Instagram page where they will share exercise videos and useful information to support individuals during pregnancy and beyond.
Please share the WEPP online resource and social media pages with families and staff in your setting who may find it helpful.
Please see our upcoming safeguarding courses that still have spaces available. We have also added an extra date in January for the "Safeguarding and child protection for the Designated Person in early years settings" course due to increased demand. To book a course, click the course name below. You can also visit our booking portal West Sussex Services for Education and select your required course.
If you experience any issues when booking your course, please email early.years.training@westsussex.gov.uk.
Useful information
- 20 Nov - Portal scheduled to open for spring term estimates
- 29 Nov - Portal closes for spring term estimates
- w/c 9 Dec - Spring term estimates payments due
- 16 Jan 2025 - Spring term headcount day
All private, voluntary and independent early years and childcare providers who currently offer EYFE must complete the Stage Two survey. We are currently awaiting responses from 32% of providers. Early Years and Childcare Advisers will be in contact with these providers to offer further guidance and support if needed to complete the survey. The deadline for completing the survey is 11:59 pm on Sunday 8 December.
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.
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#47/2024 (Safeguarding focus - Why language matters - criminal child exploitation, Safeguarding special newsletter, Early Years Funded Entitlement spring term 2025 estimates now open, Early Years Funded Entitlement for Working Families - spring term code deadline, Early Years and Childcare expansion - funding timeline of events, Autumn Budget 2024, Kent Early Years Stronger Practice Hub November newsletter, Early Years Training)
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#46/2024 (Working families eligibility codes - Online Provider Portal webinars; Post Headcount Exceptional Payment requests for eligible working families of children aged 9 months to 2 years - final reminder; Early Years Funded Entitlement Payment consultation - Stage Two mandatory survey; New childminder category - childminders without domestic premises; Updated Ofsted poster for parents; Do you love working in early years and childcare? We need your help; Oral health support; Early Years Training)
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#45/2024 (Wraparound childcare grant funding reminder; Spring term National Professional Qualification Early Years Leadership news; Hampshire County Council Inclusion Conference 2025; Information Commissioner's Office tool to develop bespoke privacy notices; Ofsted videos for early years providers; West Sussex Safeguarding Children Partnership newsletter October 2024; Early Years Training)
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#44/2024 (Business focus: E-learning business support; The West Sussex Safeguarding Children Partnership: invitation to November Partnership Group meeting; Brighton and Hove childminder conference - November 2024; Childcare Works Hub; Early years provider business opportunity; Early Years Training)
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#43/2024 (Early Years Funded Entitlement - autumn term actuals payments; Autumn term Post Headcount Exceptional Payment requests for children aged 9 months to 2 years; Inclusion/Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator networks autumn 2024; Updated childhood immunisation web page; Early years and childcare workforce steering group; Passionate and inspiring leaders wanted for a project in secondary schools; Changes to the Early Years Foundation Stage statutory framework; Update - Ofsted Big Listen)
Early Years and Childcare newsletter web page.
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