Newsletter for Early Years and Childcare providers in West Sussex
#26/2025 - Wednesday 2 July 2025
This week's newsletter includes:
- Business Focus - Limiting place capacity
- Early Years Funded Entitlement - autumn term 2025 estimates now open
- Post Headcount Exceptional Payment forms for 9 months plus funding claims
- Department for Education consultation on floor space requirements - closing soon
- Celebrating success of our early years superheroes - Toybox Day Nursery
- Kent & Beyond Early Years Stronger Practice Hub newsletter
- Early Years Training
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Latest Ofsted news and updates here.
If you need to reduce the number of children you can care for, for example due to staffing shortages, it is essential that you have the correct policies in place to support you. Your policies must clearly outline the prioritisation criteria your setting follows for admissions and in circumstances when you may need to limit setting place capacity. Your admission criteria should be transparent and communicated clearly with parents.
All families should be treated fairly and have equal access to a place. When setting your admissions criteria, it is important to consider the impact on vulnerable children and consider family circumstances.
In circumstances where there is no other option but to restrict place capacity, settings may need to reduce funded hours and remind families that they can split funding with other settings. If you are unable to accommodate a family's full request for hours due to staffing, this must be managed in line with your clear admissions criteria. You must ensure that no child is excluded or at risk of being excluded without ensuring that all appropriate strategies are in place, parents are involved, and support has been requested from West Sussex County Council, as per the Early Years Funded Entitlement Provider Declaration 2.9.
Providers should signpost families to the Family Information Service should they need support to access childcare.
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The Online Provider Portal (OPP) is open for you to submit your autumn term estimates for EYFE for 9 month olds, 2, 3 and 4 year olds.
For information on the EYFE expansion and the maximum number of EYFE hours available from September 2025, please refer to our Special Newsletter sent on 30 June 2025. Please note that estimates for 2 year old EYFE for Working Families and Local Authority issued 2 year old EYFE will be a combined figure.
- Headcount Day for summer term is 18 September 2025.
- The deadline for autumn term estimate submissions is 15 August 2025.
- Payments are scheduled to be received by providers week commencing 25 August 2025.
For providers who have chosen to receive monthly payments, this is the same August payment date. Please remember that you will receive 23.3% of your estimate payment for the term, with the remainder of your estimate being paid in September and October as per the advertised monthly payment dates on our website.
If, after viewing the guidance available on our website you require further support, please email free.entitlement@westsussex.gov.uk, or phone the Family Information Service on 01243 777807.
Following feedback from providers, from September we will be removing the requirement for PHEPs submitted for the 9 months plus age group to have an exceptional reason for missing headcount day.
We will look to approve these requests as long as the child has a valid Early Years Funded Entitlement for Working Families code that was obtained before the termly cut off date. For September, this is by 31 August 2025.
We hope that this change may provide some flexibility to providers in how they organise their termly intake, and the settling in process for the youngest children in their care.
This change has been reflected in the Provider Declaration, as highlighted in our recent Special Newsletter.
In newsletter #19/2025 we shared that the DfE has launched a new consultation on Early Years Foundation Stage floor space requirements. The consultation takes into consideration indoor space requirements and whether or not free-flow outdoor areas should be included in floor space measurements for children aged 2 years and above.
The consultation asks respondents to share any alternative ideas on indoor space requirements. Respondents also have the option to state if they prefer the current floor space requirements to remain unchanged.
The consultation closes on 11 July 2025, with the government expected to provide a response in autumn 2025.
In newsletter #25/2025 we celebrated the success of some of our early years superheroes. One of those superheroes was Toybox Day Nursery in East Grinstead. We are delighted to share that Toybox Day Nursery has been officially awarded a fourth consecutive Outstanding Ofsted rating.
This outcome reflects the continued efforts of the team at Toybox Day Nursery in meeting Ofsted’s standards for early years provision. Congratulations to Sarah and the team for this great achievement.
The June edition of the K&BEYSPH newsletter is now available.
With the academic year coming to an end, it is a good time to start planning for September. You might be thinking about what to cover and include in your curriculum and provision for September and beyond. Below are three courses for the different ages and stages to support you with this.
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
- 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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#25/2025 (Safeguarding Focus - Pan Sussex Safeguarding and Child Protection Procedures website has moved; Help families have their say on the childcare expansion; Sufficiency update for the summer term; Celebrating 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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#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)
Early Years and Childcare newsletter web page.
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