Newsletter for Early Years and Childcare providers in West Sussex
#25/2025 - Wednesday 25 June 2025
This week's newsletter includes:
- Safeguarding Focus - Pan Sussex Safeguarding and Child Protection Procedures website has moved
- Supporting you through difficult situations
- Help families have their say on the childcare funding expansion
- Sufficiency update for the summer term
- Celebrating the success of our early years superheroes
- National Professional Qualification in Early Years Leadership (NPQEYL) autumn 2025 update
- Thriving in Education offer for early years
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Latest Ofsted news and updates here.
A reminder that from 1 April 2025, the Pan Sussex Safeguarding and Child Protection Policies and Procedures website moved to a new provider, Policy Partner Project. Pan Sussex policies can now be found here.
Please ensure you:
- share this message with staff in your setting and include in training
- favourite the new web link and remove any favourites containing the previous host, Phew in the web link
- encourage colleagues to register for updates to Pan Sussex policies
- consider including a hyperlink to the new website in your email signature.
The new provider, Policy Partner Project, has extensive experience working with local authority social care services and safeguarding boards, and they have been expanding into children’s safeguarding. The transition to this new platform is based on feedback from previous surveys regarding accessibility and search functionality.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact BHSCP@brighton-hove.gov.uk.
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Working in an early years setting brings many rewarding moments, but there are times when difficult situations arise that can be challenging to navigate. While many of these situations are resolved internally, some can become more visible within the community or online.
This guidance has been created to support settings in managing such circumstances with care, professionalism and sensitivity. It also offers advice on how to respond appropriately when you become aware of issues affecting other settings.
We encourage you to familiarise yourself with the guidance and to share it with your team.
Last month, we launched a survey for families in West Sussex who have accessed the Early Years Funded Entitlement for Working Families since its introduction in April 2024. The survey will help us gather honest feedback on how the funding has supported them.
Your role in helping us spread the word to the families in your settings is invaluable. Every response helps us build a clearer picture of the impact and make sure families’ voices are heard.
Here is what families are saying so far:
- “We can both work, whereas before one of us needed to be a stay-at-home parent.”
- “It’s helped my child develop new friendships… and helped me feel confident at work. I’m now pursuing management training.”
- “My child is learning essential skills like turn-taking and making friends.”
- “I have been able to access extra hours and see my child thrive.”
The survey is anonymous and takes around 10 minutes to complete. The survey closes on Tuesday 22 July 2025 at 5.00pm.
We have provided some suggested wording that you can use to share the survey link with your families through your newsletters, parent apps, emails, or noticeboards. There is also a poster with a QR code if you have room in your setting.
Thank you in advance for helping us reach more families.
This is a reminder to submit sufficiency information for your setting. The final submission deadline for the summer term is 29 August 2025.
Sufficiency information refers to information on the number of places your setting can offer and information on current vacancies. This supports us in our planning to ensure that families in West Sussex can access the childcare that they need and to identify where there may be gaps in provision so we can work to address these as needed.
We appreciate that it is not always easy to access emails during the day and so this term, we will also be sending reminders via text message for those providers where we have a mobile number listed.
The termly submission of sufficiency information is a requirement for all types of providers. Step by step guidance on submitting your Sufficiency information on the Online Provider Portal can be found here. We have also created a guidance video which you can view if you require further guidance on how to submit.
Early years practitioners are often unsung heroes who work tirelessly to support children and families. That is why it is important to take a moment and celebrate when some of these achievements are rewarded.
Sarah Burt, manager of Young Sussex Nursery in Shoreham since it opened in 1992, has been awarded the British Empire Medal in the recent King's Birthday Honours for her outstanding contribution to early years education. Congratulations, Sarah, on this amazing award.
We also want to celebrate the fantastic achievement of Toybox Day Nursery, who have received three consecutive Outstanding Ofsted ratings. A huge well done to the whole team.
Grow Learn Flourish (GLF) are still awaiting information about the funding of the NPQEYL for the next academic year, 2025/26. Any scholarship eligibility criteria will be confirmed on GOV.UK.
It is likely that there will only be one cohort next year, which will be in the autumn term. Therefore, we are expecting a higher demand for places. If you, or a colleague are interested in this program as a way to develop your knowledge and skills in your setting, we encourage you to find out more. Please visit the NPQEYL page on the GLF website and complete the Autumn 2025 Expression of Interest Form. Completing the form will enable GLF to make direct contact with those who are interested so they can support you in completing a quick application.
Thriving in Education is the West Sussex County Council offer to schools and colleges around whole school approaches to mental health and wellbeing.
In addition to the Staff wellbeing and Areas of learning information available on our website, Thriving in Education have information about support that is available to early years settings.
The Thriving in Education team are keen to develop and adapt more tools to support early years providers. If you are interested in getting involved in developing these, please email family.info.service@westsussex.gov.uk.
Useful information
- 30 June to 15 August - portal open for autumn term estimates
- 29 August - summer term Sufficiency deadline
- 1 September to 26 September - portal open for autumn term actuals
- 18 September - autumn term headcount day
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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#24/2025 (Warning - Online Provider Portal downtime; Right From the Start: West Sussex Early Years and Childcare Strategy update; New resources to share with parents; Boost your skills – visit our training and qualifications web pages; Early Years Training)
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#23/2025 (Business Focus - Workplace recycling – are you compliant?; Summer term Post Headcount Exceptional Payment for eligible working families of children aged 9 months to 2 years old – no exceptional reason needed; Advanced warning - Online Provider Portal downtime; Changes to Online Provider Portal login screen; Department for Education consultation – floor space requirements for children; Free Open University early years resources; Kent and Beyond Early Years Stronger Practice Hub; Early Years Training)
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#22/2025 (Early Help Focus - Early Help community outreach engagement; Warning - Online Provider Portal downtime; Wraparound Childcare Programme Funding and wraparound webinar; Working together to safeguard children - update; Check an early years qualification service – available now; New Early Education and Childcare Coalition survey; Free paediatric first aid training; Free nutrition webinars; Education Endowment Fund (EEF) opportunities; Early Years Training)
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#21/2025 (Safeguarding Focus - Pan Sussex Half Day Conference - Understanding Safeguarding Children in a Digital Age; Advanced warning - Online Provider Portal downtime ; Summer term Post Headcount Exceptional Payment (PHEP) flexibility for eligible working families of children aged 9 months to 2 years old; Updating your staff contact information; New Department for Education newsletter for early years providers; Anti-Racist Education Conference; Allergy Support for Schools and Early Years Providers; New Ofsted Blog; Early Years Training – Funding for one free Paediatric First Aid training per setting; Early Years Training)
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#20/2025 (Impact of childcare expansion survey; Jobs in Early Years and Childcare Newsletter; Children, Young People and Learning SEND and Inclusion Newsletter; West Sussex Safeguarding Children Partnership - free training; Fire Safety Training ;Early Years Training)
Early Years and Childcare newsletter web page.
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