Newsletter for Early Years and Childcare providers in West Sussex
#5/2025 - Wednesday 5 February 2025
This week's newsletter includes:
- Business Focus - Childcare Expansion Myth-buster
- Ofsted inspections - consultation launched
- New information for early years and childcare providers website - now available
- Recognise your apprentice by nominating them for our Exceptional Early Years Apprentice Award
- Right from the Start: West Sussex Early Years and Childcare Strategy – we need you!
- Introducing the new experience-based route for practitioners to count in ratio at level 3
- Deadline for Childminder Start-up Grant applications – reminder
- Early Years and Childcare Workforce Survey
- Champions of childhood: celebrating early years heroes conference 2025 - meet our workshop leader
- Early Years Training
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Latest Ofsted news and updates here.
Childcare Expansion Myth-buster
The Childcare Expansion 2024: Myth-buster has been developed to address common misconceptions providers have around the childcare expansion. Questions include:
- Will the funding rates cover my costs?
- Do I need to change my business model to participate?
- As a childminder, will I need to purchase lots of new equipment to deliver the expanded entitlements?
The visual resource has been produced by Childcare Works and shares information that can be downloaded, printed and shared with your staff. You can access this resource along with other useful tools and information on the Childcare Works Hub for Providers web page.
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Ofsted has launched a major consultation, seeking the views of parents, carers, professionals and learners, on a new approach to inspecting and reporting on education providers, from autumn 2025. You can read the full press release here. As early years and childcare providers it is important you share this consultation with parents/carers in your setting and complete the consultation yourselves.
This consultation closes at 11.59pm on 28 April 2025. You can complete the GOV.UK website here.
In newsletter #4/2025 we let you know our new information for early years and childcare providers website would be going live week commencing Monday 3 February. We are pleased to announce the website is now live and can be accessed by visiting www.westsussex.gov.uk/information-for-childcare-providers. We hope you find this new website a useful tool to support you in the daily running of your early years and childcare settings.
As this website has a new layout, we wanted to share some key web pages with you that you might have previously navigated to:
These may be pages you have navigated to before, but please explore the website and discover all the new content we have developed for you.
In newsletter #3/2025 we told you that we were looking for nominations for our Exceptional Early Years Apprentice Award. This is to recognise the incredible impact apprentices have on the early years sector.
There is still time to nominate your apprentice. Please tell us in less than 500 words what makes your apprentice exceptional. Remember to include:
- their name,
- the level of apprenticeship they are undertaking,
- your name, and
- the name of your setting.
Please send your nomination to Lisa.Guy@westsussex.gov.uk by 5.00pm on Wednesday 5 February 2025. Your apprentice could win up to the value of £56 to use on any of our early years training course/s (online and face to face), within the next year.
Right from the Start: West Sussex Early Years and Childcare Strategy has been developed to acknowledge the importance that the early years plays in establishing and embedding positive outcomes for children.
We are looking for an early years provider to join the working group, which will oversee progress and scrutinise the plan to ensure maximum impact, as well as identifying opportunities for collaboration.
For this working group to be impactful, representation from a range of partners is needed. We want to ensure the early years and childcare sector voice is heard and to make sure future planning reflects the needs of providers and families. The group will meet three times a year and the next meeting will take place on Thursday 27 March, 9.30 am to 11.30am at Worthing Fire Station, BN14 7RN.
Please email family.info.service@westsussex.gov.uk by Wednesday 26 February 2025 if you would like to be part of this group or would like further information.
The Department for Education (DfE) has shared non-statutory guidance about a new experience-based route for early years staff. This is not a qualification but will allow practitioners, if they meet the assessment criteria, to work in ratio at level 3.
The DfE aim to launch the route at the beginning of March 2025 when it publishes the new statutory framework for it in the Early years qualification requirements and standards.
For a breakdown of the key requirements for the new experience-based route, please refer to this document.
Early years providers can start assessing staff from March 2025, but it will not be possible for anyone to be included in staff:child ratios at level 3 until at least September 2025. This is because of the time required to complete the supervised practice (751 to 900 hours) and related changes to ratio requirements in the Early Years Foundation Stage statutory framework expected this September.
We would like to remind you of the application deadlines as we approach the final few months of the Childminder Start-up Grant Scheme.
New childminders who wish to apply for the grant will need to finalise their Ofsted or Childminder Agency (CMA) registration by 31 March 2025. The Department for Education (DfE) recognise that in some circumstances childminder registration may be delayed due to registration checks taking longer than expected. For this reason, an applicant who submits their registration to Ofsted or a CMA by 3 January 2025 will still be eligible to apply for the grant if completion of their registration is delayed beyond 31 March 2025. In these cases, the DfE will require Ofsted or CMAs to confirm that a registration has been delayed for these reasons.
Further information is available on the GOV.UK website.
On Wednesday 12 February, we will be publishing the link to the first of this years Early Years and Childcare Workforce Survey in this weekly newsletter.
This survey has been designed to help us understand what you need and how we can support you as a local authority. Your input to this survey is vital. Please save the date for when this survey is released, so you can have your say. This survey should take around 10 minutes to complete.
We are delighted to introduce Ruth Moyler, who will be delivering an inspiring workshop on the benefits of storytelling using real objects, at our upcoming West Sussex Early Years and Childcare Conference 2025. She is a former reception teacher and deputy head and has recently returned from working with refugees in Uganda.
Ruth is a strong advocate of creative practice to stretch children’s imaginations, build understanding and support communication skills. Ruth’s expertise and interest lies in experiential learning and how the handling of real objects can enhance children’s engagement and understanding. This unique and practical workshop makes use of accessible technology to explore children authoring and starring in their own storybooks.
The conference is suitable for childminders, all levels of practitioners from settings and teaching assistants and reception teachers. Book your space by clicking on the booking link below for your preferred date:
If you experience any issues when booking your place, please email: early.years.training@westsussex.gov.uk.
Throughout the training programme, we have a range of courses covering different aspects of phonics. Please see the two ‘Phonics Foundations’ courses below that are coming up this term. 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
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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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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#4/2025 (Safeguarding Focus: Let’s Talk PANTS with Pantosaurus!; New website for early years and childcare providers - final reminder; Champions of childhood: celebrating early years heroes conference 2025 - introducing our keynote speaker; Autumn Early Years and Childcare networks; Sustainability and climate change strategy for education; Resources available to help you at your setting)
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#3/2025 (Business Focus: National Apprenticeship Week - nominate your apprentice for an Exceptional Early Years Apprentice Award; Early Years Conference 2025 - book soon to avoid disappointment; Training required for settings with children aged under 2 years; Termly Provider Update; New website for early years and childcare providers - advance notice; Childcare Works launches Early Years Provider Toolkit; Department for Education (DfE) Early Years Provider Roadshows for 2025; National Professional Qualification for Early Years Leadership (NPQEYL); Early Years Training)
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#2/2025 (Starting school applications - deadline today; Spring term Early Years Funded Entitlement headcount and Early Years Census 2025 - deadline approaching; Early Years Funded Entitlement for Working Families - code issues resolved; Transition events 2025; Ofsted Early Years (EY) workshop for professionals; Wellbeing and Exercise in Pregnancy Programme - pregnancy and postnatal exercise; Free online festival for families; Race Equality Week 2025; Early Years Training)
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#1/2025 (Cold health alert extended into the weekend for the South East; Mandatory Early Years Census 2025 and spring term Actuals – action required; Childcare Expansion Capital Grant Funding - deadline approaching; Wraparound Childcare Funding Grant - spring term 2025; Annual Admissions Consultation 2026/27; Business opportunity in Walberton; Better Health Start for Life - Top Tips for Teeth; Maths Champions – professional development programme; Early Years Training)
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#51/2024 (Safeguarding focus: Making a referral to WORTH services; Photographing and filming children; West Sussex Early Years and Childcare Conference 2025: Champions of Childhood – Celebrating Early Years Heroes; Starting School Applications - one month to go; Virtual school support groups; The Wellbeing and Exercise in Pregnancy Programme - the benefits of yoga; Fire safety training for early years and childcare providers; Mental health first aid (adult) training)
Early Years and Childcare newsletter web page.
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