Newsletter for Early Years and Childcare providers in West Sussex
#7/2025 - Wednesday 18 February 2025
This week's newsletter includes:
- Safeguarding Focus: Updated safeguarding letter for parents and carers
- Advanced warning - Online Provider Portal downtime
- Changes to the setting support phone line
- Early Years Funded Entitlement - Indicative Budget report
- When do you need to notify Ofsted?
- Champions of childhood: Celebrating early years heroes conference 2025 - meet our workshop leader
- Specialist Advisory Teachers for Early Years SEND Transition (EYSAT’S)
- Fire Safety Training
- Early Years Training
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Latest Ofsted news and updates here.
The safeguarding letter, that is to be shared with parents/carers at your setting, has been updated for 2025. The letter can be found on our legislation and regulation web page. The letter:
- outlines the importance of Ofsted regulations,
- explains how Ofsted ensure that the services you offer meet statutory requirements, and
- informs parents about your role in safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children whilst in your care.
We ask that you share this document with all parents/carers in your setting so that they are aware of the safeguarding processes in place and who to contact should they have any concerns.
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Please be advised that the Online Provider Portal will be unavailable for viewing or submitting forms on Wednesday 26 February, however you can still access the funding area. It will be completely unavailable on Thursday 27 February due to essential maintenance and we expect it to return to normal on Friday 28 February.
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.
To allow more calls to be answered and complex inclusion cases to receive more appropriate support, we are making some changes to the setting support phone line. From Monday 24 February, the setting support phone line will now be open from 12.00pm to 4.00pm where both Early Years and Childcare Advisors (EYCA) and Mentors will be available to take your call.
The remit of the phone line is changing too. Moving forward, the setting support phone line will accept calls and provide advice for:
- universal inclusion support,
- whole setting inclusion support, and
- support for low level emerging needs.
Please email the relevant SEND and Inclusion email address if you require support for:
- a child with complex needs,
- requesting EYCA/Mentor support, and
- queries for ongoing EYCA/Mentor support.
The email addresses are:
EYCSEND.South@westsussex.gov.uk
EYCSEND.North@westsussex.gov.uk
Please remember that the setting support phone line is for inclusion only and does not discuss safeguarding, business, Ofsted or funding concerns.
In March, your new Indicative Budget report will be made available on the Online Provider Portal (OPP) for 2025/26. In preparation for this you may wish to download a copy of your previous Indicative Budget report for 2024/25, as this will no longer be available after 28 February 2025.
How do I access last years Indicative Budget report?
To keep your financial data secure, you can only access your personalised Indicative Budget via the secure OPP. To run your report, please follow the steps in the help guide. Please note, your Indicative Budget report is only populated if you had funded children in the 2023/24 financial year.
We will communicate in a future newsletter to let you know when your new Indicative Budget for 2025/26 is available to view and download.
If you have any queries, please email free.entitlement@westsussex.gov.uk.
Last year Ofsted received 11,100 notifications from 7,850 providers. They have found they are often notified about incidents they do not necessarily need to know about. They have developed a blog post that outlines the types of information they need to know about. This is to help you understand when it is appropriate to notify them. You can read the full blog post here.
We are pleased to welcome Nicola Burke at our upcoming conference in March. Nicola is an educator, researcher, author and qualified Personal and Professional Performance Coach. Nicola’s practice enables the creation of respectful, kind, and compassionate spaces which bring out the best in people. She specialises in supporting leaders and teams to communicate and collaborate effectively. Nicola’s workshop will focus on fostering kindness, compassion, and self-compassion within the workplace, to build a cohesive and connected team.
Unfortunately, we have had to cancel the conference day on Saturday 8 March due to low numbers. However, we still have a full day of learning, networking and fun available on Friday 7 March.
Please see the conference brochure for more information and the schedule.
To book your place, click on the booking link below:
West Sussex Early Years and Childcare Conference 2025 (South) – Friday 7 March – Field Place, Worthing, BN13 1NP - 9.00am to 3.30pm - £75 per person.
If you experience any issues when booking your place, please email: early.years.training@westsussex.gov.uk.
The EYSAT’s are currently preparing to support 2025 school starters who have special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) with their transition. If you have already sent a referral for a child, an EYSAT will make contact with you after the February half-term break. If you are planning to refer a child, please can you ensure you do the following:
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download the referral form which is available from the EYSAT web page (ensure you have the most up-to-date version), and
- complete the form electronically and email it to eysatreferrals@westsussex.gov.uk (they cannot accept handwritten forms).
On the EYSAT web page, you can find a range of resources to help with the school transition for children with SEND, including Supported Transition Meeting Plans, referral guidance and links to useful websites.
To find out more about the service and ask any questions, please email eysatreferrals@westsussex.gov.uk. You can also contact an EYSAT using their contact details are on the web page.
West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service’s newly updated Fire Safety courses offer every participant the opportunity to hear real-life case studies. They also discuss potential scenarios and use some of the most common types of extinguishers on a live, controlled fire. Courses available:
Course are held at fire stations around the county and can be booked via the website or West Sussex Services for Education
For more information, contact them by phone 0330 222 4658 or email frsct@westsussex.gov.uk.
Please see the two courses below that focus on the topic of enhancing your staff and settings provision and practice. 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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06/2025 (Early Help Focus - Early Help service SEND events; Childcare Expansion Capital Grant Funding - deadline approaching; Business opportunity in Walberton - reminder; Wraparound Childcare Funding Grant - spring term 2025; New Early Years Funded Entitlement web pages for parents/carers; Champions of childhood: Celebrating early years heroes conference 2025; National Professional Qualifications information; New toilet training guidance; Network presentations; Early Years Training)
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#5/2025 (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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#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)
Early Years and Childcare newsletter web page.
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