#36/2025 - Wednesday 10 September 2025
This week's newsletter includes:
- Starting school applications
- New opportunity to join our Provider Forum
- SEND updates - new online Child Development Centre referral form
- Response to community impact from national and local protests
- Grow, Learn and Flourish West Sussex Teaching School Hub – September 2025 newsletter
- Congratulations
- Early Years Training
Difficulty viewing this bulletin? Click here to view in your browser.
Latest Ofsted news and updates here.
All children born between 1 September 2021 and 31 August 2022 are due to start school in September 2026 and families will be starting to consider the school that they would like their child to attend.
At the beginning of October, settings will receive a pack of starting school leaflets and a poster from the school admissions team. The poster should be displayed within your setting for parents to read and the leaflets should be distributed to the families who will be applying for a school place this year. Parents will be able to apply for a school place from Monday 6 October 2025 until Thursday 15 January 2026. Please talk to the parents of children in your setting due to start school in September 2026 to make sure that they understand the process and complete their applications on time.
If a family asks a question about the school admissions process that you cannot answer, please signpost them to the starting school places web page. They can also contact the Pupil Admissions Team by email at admissions.north@westsussex.gov.uk or admissions.south@westsussex.gov.uk, or by phone on 033 301 42903.
Following feedback from early years settings and discussion with the Healthy Child Programme, the online starting school questionnaire will no longer be used. A printable copy of the questionnaire will continue to be available on our supporting families web page for any settings that wish to use it.
Early years settings should continue to monitor children’s progress, and work with parents, to identify any concerns that could impact on children making a positive start to school. Where additional support needs are identified, practitioners should speak to the child’s parents/carers and plan for the additional support that is required. This may include referrals to outside agencies with parental permission. The Healthy Child Programme can be contacted by phone 01273 242004 or by email sc-tr.wsxhcpduty@nhs.net.
Practitioners may also refer families to appropriate advice and guidance for parents including:
The Provider Forum began in 2023, previously named the Childcare Expansion Provider Forum. It had a specific focus on the expansion of childcare following the introduction of the new Working Families entitlements. This academic year we will be extending the forum's focus to include all relevant topics and developments in early years, including The Best Start in Life. The forum will now be known as the ‘Provider Forum’.
The forum’s support and insights have helped us improve how we communicate with families. They have also guided updates to our website for early years and childcare settings, and helped us understand workforce challenges and how we can help.
The input from the forum has also helped develop some key processes, including:
- the introduction of monthly payments
- the introduction of the removal of post-headcount exceptional reasons being required for 9 month olds from autumn term 2025
- an online parent declaration due to be piloted in the autumn term.
Ensuring that early years settings are involved and informed is a top priority for us. It helps us stay responsive, collaborative and effective in our work to support early years settings in West Sussex. We are pleased to extend our Provider Forum and invite new members to apply. More information about this opportunity and how to apply is available in the Provider Forum Early Years Invitation.
The Child Development Centre (CDC) referral form has been updated. The revised form supports referrals for children of all ages, both pre-school and school age, and is for use by professionals referring to the services. This is now available, including guidance, on the NHS Sussex Community web page.
The form has been redesigned to streamline the referral process and improve the quality of information collected. It now includes more open questions to help better understand the individual needs of each child. Providing detailed and accurate information in the referral form is essential in supporting diagnostic and care pathways. Should you need any support when completing this referral form, please contact the appropriate CDC.
Please note this does not include children living in the Worthing area. Any development concern for these children should be raised with the child's health visitor.
Following enquiries from schools regarding flags and protest related tensions, nationally and locally, West Sussex County Council (WSCC) would like to share reporting mechanisms and resources to assist in conversations with parents and children.
Please remind staff and parents at your setting that abuse based on race, faith, disability, sexual orientation or gender identity, may constitute a hate incident or crime and should be reported online via the hate incident and crime reporting form. These incidents can be reported whether you are a witness, victim or third party. This will enable a victim to access free and confidential help from Victim Support if they wish.
Community tension (unrest that threatens the peace and stability in all or part of a community) can be reported via WSCC’s community tensions form. Reporting tensions allows for monitoring, which may be shared with our key partner agencies.
The Grow, Learn and Flourish West Sussex Teaching School Hub have put together a September 25 Newsletter for the start of the new academic year, including several important updates and actions with regards to Initial Teacher Training, Early Career Teacher Entitlement and National Professional Qualifications.
This newsletter and previous newsletters can be found on the GLFTSH.org web page.
We would like to say congratulations to Susan Rutledge who has received her third consecutive Outstanding Ofsted rating as a childminder. Well done to you on this achievement.
Inspiring and engaging age and stage appropriate learning environments are important for early development. To deepen your understanding, we have 2 courses coming up that could support your 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
- 1 September to 26 September - portal open for autumn term actuals
- 18 September - autumn term headcount day
- w/c 20 October - autumn term actuals payments due
- 2 January 2026 - autumn term sufficiency deadline
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.
 |
|
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. |
-
#35/2025 (Business Focus - Funded course to support your childcare business; Autumn term 2025 actuals claims - action required; Online Provider Portal training - available to book now; Best Start in Life replaces Childcare Choices; Safeguarding in out-of-school settings; Free potty training webinar for parents/carers; Training opportunity with Ben Kingston-Hughes)
-
#34/2025 (Safeguarding Focus - Neglect guidance; Congratulations to Welcome House Day Nursery; Supervised toothbrushing; Free toilet training posters and handouts; Early Years Training)
-
#33/2025 (Warning - Online Provider Portal downtime; Early years expansion and budget grant payments; Early Years Funded Entitlement for Working Families eligibility codes; Increasing awareness of the 2 year health and development review; Access to urgent NHS dental care; Online Provider Portal Training; Funded Level 3 Specialist in Special Educational Needs Co-Ordinator qualification; Kent and Beyond Early Years Stronger Practice Hub; Early Years Training)
-
#32/2025 (Business Focus - Wrapround Programme Funding Grant; Reminder - Early Years Funded Entitlement autumn 2025 term estimates close this week; Online Provider Portal training - now available to book; Warning - Online Provider Portal downtime; It is never too late to have vaccinations; Early Years Training; Nominate a colleague for a King’s Birthday Honour)
-
#31/2025 ('Activate' - a new physical activity campaign; Winners of the early years and childcare workforce review prize draw; Skills Bootcamps to boost careers and recruitment across West Sussex; Leading excellence in early years: quality first teaching - application deadline extended; Early Years Training – new date added)
Early Years and Childcare newsletter web page.
|
