Newsletter for Early Years and Childcare providers in West Sussex
#15/2025 - Wednesday 16 April 2025
This week's newsletter includes:
- Starting school places
- Help us shape early years services - deadline approaching
- Early Years Funded Entitlement for Working Families codes - new online request for support form
- Improved way to submit Disability Access Fund evidence
- New Local Authority Designated Officer portal for referrals
- New Ofsted blog post
- Early Years Training
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Latest Ofsted news and updates here.
Families who applied for a school place for their child before the deadline will be notified of their offer today. We recommend that you speak with all parents and carers of children due to start school in September 2025 to find out where they have been offered and if they are accepting it. This will help you plan for each child's transition to school. Families who have not been notified, may not have applied for a place, or may have applied after the deadline. Places offered to those who applied after the deadline are made later than those for families who applied on time.
The next step in supporting children with their transition to school is to speak with the schools involved and share an overview of the children due to attend. Attending transition events is a good way to meet with several schools in one place. If you have not yet booked on, or need to attend additional events, please visit the Services for Education training and events web page and search "transition".
To support consistent information sharing, please use the transition event record template. We recommend organising the forms so that children moving to each school are grouped together. The form can then be given to the school at the end of your discussion. The transition events provide an opportunity to give a brief overview of all children who are moving on, helping to identify children who will need further discussion and support to ensure a successful transition. It is not possible, or appropriate, to go into detail about individual children's needs at this point. For more information about the transition process and transition events, please see our early years transition web page.
In newsletter #13/2025, we let you know about our Early Years services survey. We are inviting parents and carers to complete a short survey about their experience of using early years services. Their feedback will help us understand what support is working well and what needs improvement. It will also help us track progress in 2027 to see how services have developed.
The survey closes on Wednesday 30 April and we would really appreciate your help in sharing it with parents and carers in your setting. This flyer can be printed and displayed in your setting, or shared in your digital communications.
Thank you for your support.
We have developed a new form to support you with EYFE for Working Families eligibility code issues. This new form can be found on our working families eligibility checker web page in the section 'Still having issues with the code?'. If you have used the online eligibility checker and followed the help guides available to check the validity of the code, you should complete this form to request support in the following scenarios:
- you need help determining if the eligibility code is valid for the upcoming term
- you are unable to submit an EYFE for Working Families code as part of your headcount claim but believe the code should be valid
- a parent has provided you with exceptional circumstances for missing the Department for Education’s termly application or reconfirmation deadline
- the parent has provided you with evidence that they applied/reconfirmed on time but the code is not valid and the eligibility code’s start date is between 1-14 January, April or September. For eligibility codes with a start date after this range you will need to signpost parents to the HMRC compensation route
- you would like to make an appeal against a previous decision
The new online form will ensure we have all the information we require to enable us to deal with your code issue as quickly and efficiently as possible. Once submitted, we will endeavour to provide a decision within 10 working days and will respond directly to the email address you provide on the form.
For further information on how to check a code is valid for the summer term please refer to the "Early Years Funded Entitlement for Working Families - summer term 2025 code" article in newsletter #12/2025.
For DAF claims made from the summer term onwards, please submit your evidence via the new electronic form which is available at the bottom of our DAF web page.
We have introduced this form, which replaces the previous requirement to email evidence for a number of reasons:
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more secure - this form is a secure method of sharing data which contains a family's sensitive data. It will stop the potential to send the evidence to an incorrect email address
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time saving - as the form has prompts for all the information required, it means that we will be able to process your claim reducing the need to come back to you and chase for missing evidence
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allows for additional information to be given - in some cases, the evidence may not meet the standard requirements as set out below. With this form, it now gives you the opportunity to include additional information so that we may take it into consideration when processing the application.
For any providers that have already submitted evidence for a summer term claim, there is no need to re-submit your evidence through this form, and we will begin processing your claims next week.
Please be reminded that if you are wishing to claim a DAF payment for a child this term, the child's Parent Declaration form must be on the current April 2025 - March 2026 version. The form must be signed by both parents and provider by no later than Headcount Day which is 8 May 2025.
If an out of date or incomplete version of the Parent Declaration form is sent as part of a claim, the claim will be declined, but you will be able to submit the correct paperwork the following term. If you send in the evidence before 8 May 2025, we will aim to check the evidence and give you the opportunity to rectify issues before the end of headcount week. If issues are resolved, we will be able to approve your claim and add the awarded DAF claim to your actuals payment.
LADO are changing the way people need to report any concerns they have about any person working or volunteering with children in West Sussex.
From 1 May 2025 all referrals will need to be made via an Online Portal when you have a concern about an adult working or volunteering with children who may have:
- behaved in a way that has harmed, or may have harmed a child
- possibly committed a criminal offence against or related to a child
- behaved towards a child or children in a way that indicates they may pose a risk of harm to children
- behaved in a way which raises concerns as to their suitability to work with children
The change in reporting arrangements is being made to ensure LADO can safeguard more children and manage referrals coming into the service in the most effective way. Email referrals will not be accepted from 1 May 2025.
"How we look at the use of Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP) in our inspections of early years settings” has just been published on the Ofsted: early years blog. You can read the new blog post here.
With the new 2025/26 training programme and brochure released there is a variety of courses available for you and your staff.
With summer term always being a busy period for new starters joining settings, we have two essential courses below for those that are new to an early years and childcare setting. To book, 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
- 18 April - spring term Sufficiency deadline
- 21 April to 16 May - portal open for summer term actuals
- 8 May - summer term headcount day
- w/c 2 June - summer 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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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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#14/2025 (Business Focus - Updated Childcare Sufficiency Assessment; Ofsted consultation on inspections - have you had your say?; Are you prepared for the new climate change requirements?; Free safeguarding training; Early Years Training)
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#13/2025 (Childcare Expansion capital grant funding – applications open for further projects; Specialist Advisory Teachers for Early Years SEND Transition (EYSATs); Department for Education's (DfE) invitation to the South-East region Roadshow in Brighton; Operation Encompass update; Help us shape Early Years services; Free toilet training posters and handouts; Early Years Training)
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#12/2025 (Deadline approaching - Early Years Funded Entitlement summer term 2025 estimates; Deadline approaching - Early Years Funded Entitlement for Working Families - summer term 2025 code; The Department for Education frequently asked questions guidance about charging; Ofsted Education Inspection Framework and the Early Years Foundation Stage statutory framework; Early years qualifications – new check service; New Ofsted webinar; Transition events; BBC Tiny Happy People survey; Early Years Training)
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#11/2025 (Safeguarding Focus - Safer recruitment for staff from overseas and those who have lived abroad; Recording attendance of children and visitors; Reminder - Provider Declaration 2025/26; New resource to support setting's Early Years Pupil Premium spending; Reminder - Operation Encompass briefings; World Oral Health Day – new resources to download and share; 'Little Moments Together' campaign ;Pelvic floor exercises for new parents)
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#10/2025 (Early Years Funded Entitlement summer 2025 term estimates now open; Operation Encompass information; New careers in early years and childcare website; Ordinarily Available Inclusive Practice copies posted to you; National Professional Qualification in Early Years Leadership; SEND and Inclusion Newsletter - Spring 2025; Early Years Training)
Early Years and Childcare newsletter web page.
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