Newsletter for Early Years and Childcare providers in West Sussex
#16/2025 - Wednesday 16 April 2025
This week's newsletter includes:
- Safeguarding Focus - Use of socket covers
- Final reminder - Ofsted consultation on inspections
- Spring term 2025 actuals claims - action required
- Chronology training - Train the Trainer
- Early Years Training
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Latest Ofsted news and updates here.
Use of socket covers
We would like to remind all settings that socket covers should not be used. Although they are often sold as a safety product, socket covers can actually increase risk by interfering with the built-in safety mechanisms of modern plug sockets.
To help keep children safe:
- avoid using socket covers entirely
- organise rooms to limit children’s access to sockets and electrical cables
- complete regular risk assessments to ensure safety measures are in place
- talk to children, in an age-appropriate way, about not playing with sockets or cables and using electrical appliances safely
For more information, including a helpful video, you can read this article from Which? explaining why socket covers should be avoided.
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In newsletter #5/2025 we let you know that Ofsted had launched their consultation on proposed changes to the way they inspect education providers. The consultation closes at 11.59pm on 28 April 2025.
As early years and childcare providers it is important you have your say. If you have not already completed the survey visit GOV.UK to make sure your voice is heard. Please also share this consultation with parents/carers in your setting so that Ofsted can gather a wide range of views and opinions.
The Online Provider Portal is now open for you to submit your Early Years Funded Entitlement (EYFE) claims for the '9 month plus', '2 year old' and '3 and 4 year old' terms.
Key dates:
- Headcount day: Thursday 8 May 2025
- Deadline for submissions: Friday 16 May 2025 at 11.59pm
To support your claim, please see our 'information to consider when submitting summer term 2025 actuals claims' document. For a step-by-step guide on how to claim, please refer to the 'How to claim child-level funding (actuals)' help guide on our web page.
For providers with no outstanding queries, payments will be released week commencing 9 June 2025. Payments are released by the Early Years Funding team during this week. They can then take three to five working days to show in your bank account. For example, if your payment is released by us on Wednesday 11 June 2025 it may not appear in your bank account until 16 to 18 June 2025, taking the weekend into consideration. If there are any outstanding queries, we will contact you to resolve them.
The West Sussex Safeguarding Children Partnership has teamed up with a neglect subject specialist to deliver face to face ‘Train the Trainer’ sessions. The workshop is for staff who will be responsible for training members of their team in how to create effective chronologies so that they can ensure the lived experiences of the children they support. There is an expectation that any learners who attend the training will return to their setting and use the materials provided to train colleagues. Each session is free to attend.
This training will enable you to:
- give clarity to what a chronology is in the context of your setting
- explain why a chronology is important in helping to bring children’s lived experiences to life
- share the information from this training with colleagues in your setting to ensure chronologies are effective and used appropriately
Dates of this training:
- 13 June 2025
- 25 September 2025
- 18 December 2025
You can book your place by visiting West Sussex Learning Pool. If you do not have a Learning Pool account, you can request an account here.
With the new 2025/26 training programme released earlier this month, there is a variety of courses available for you and your staff. Some of our summer courses are already fully booked. The brochure can be found here.
Last year, we introduced courses focused on autism and social communication, and they were very popular. We are bringing them back this year and have also added a new third course called ‘Practical strategies to support autism and social communication differences in the early years (EY)’.
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
- 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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15/2025 (Starting school places; Help us shape early years services - deadline approaching; Early Years Funded Entitlement for Working Families codes – new online request for support request; 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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#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)
Early Years and Childcare newsletter web page.
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