#43/2025 - Wednesday 29 October 2025
This week's newsletter includes:
- The Free entitlement email address will soon be changing
- Home-based Childcare Awards 2025 – nominations now open
- Maths Champions - professional development programme
- Changes to Ofsted inspections - Ofsted webinars recordings
- Free resources for early years and wrapround providers
- Early Years Training
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Latest Ofsted news and updates here.
As part of the government’s childcare expansion we changed the name of the offers from Free Entitlement to Early Years Funded Entitlement (EYFE). To ensure information now reflects this change we are currently renaming our Free Entitlement email address to EYFE. You may soon start receiving emails from this new address but please be assured that these messages will be from the Early Years Funding Team.
Please do not use the new email address yet. We will confirm in a future newsletter when it is ready to use. Once it is live, any emails sent to the old address will be automatically forwarded to the new one.
We are also updating the email address used by the FE Finance Team, who may contact you about headcount queries in future terms. This will change to EYFE Finance Team for the same reason as above. As before, you should only reply to this email address if the EYFE Finance Team contacts you directly. For all other queries, please use the new EYFE email address once we confirm it is live.
The nominations for the Coram PACEY Home-based Childcare Awards are now open. Being a part of the Home-based Childcare Awards is a chance to be recognised, valued and heard for the incredible work that is done in providing home-based childcare. The categories are as follows:
- Childminder of the year
- Nanny of the year
- Childminding Assistant of the year
- Wrapround business of the year
- Longevity award
- Community hero
To find out more and enter, please visit the Home-Based Childcare Awards 2025 – Coram PACEY web page. Due to the nature of the questions asked, each person must complete their own application. You cannot nominate someone else.
Entries will close at 11.59pm on 10 November 2025. Submissions will be shortlisted by the Coram PACEY team. Winners will then be decided by a judging panel and announced publicly on Coram PACEY social media channels at the beginning of December.
The Department for Education is funding free access to Maths Champions as part of its Best Start in Life Strategy. Maths Champions is a one year professional development programme proven to help educators boost young children’s mathematical development.
Why Maths Champions matters
High quality maths learning in the early years lays the foundation for later success in school. Children in participating settings that took part in Maths Champions made the equivalent of 3 additional months’ progress in both mathematics and language compared with those in non-participating settings. The benefits were especially strong for children receiving the Early Years Pupil Premium, helping to eliminate gaps in learning from the very start.
Programme features
If your setting takes part, you will:
- receive support to complete an audit and action plan, identifying ways to improve the mathematical learning environment and staff confidence
- review and reflect on current practice, and create and deliver a tailored action plan
- access ongoing one-to-one support from an early years expert to support maths practice across your whole setting.
The programme is open to PVI settings, nursery classes in schools, and maintained nursery schools where 3 and 4 year olds attend for at least 15 hours a week. Recruitment is open to start training this academic year, and places are filling fast. Eligible settings can find out more by completing a short expression of interest form.
As you will be aware, Ofsted’s new Education Inspection Framework comes into effect from 10 November 2025. These changes will impact all registered early years settings.
We have already shared key updates with you, but we want to share recent webinar recordings published by Ofsted. These recordings explain the changes and what they mean for your setting.
Childcare Works has gathered a set of free resources for early years and wraparound providers. These include a presentation called Effective Transitions, which looks at ways to support children with SEND during transitions, especially in wraparound settings.
There is also a video called Strategies. It focuses on practical approaches for supporting children with SEND, such as home visits, social stories, visual timetables and sustained shared thinking.
Additional SEND and Inclusive Practice resources can be found in this section on their web page SEND and Inclusive Practice - childcareworks.org.uk.
Over the past year, we have run a number of phonics related courses under our course title ‘Phonics Foundations’. The October course, our most recent date, was nearly full and received positive feedback. Below is the last ‘Phonics Foundations’ course scheduled for 2025. 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
- 7 November - Inclusion Funding deadline for autumn term 2025
- 12 November - PHEP temporary flexibility submission deadline
- 19 November - Portal open for settings to submit estimates for spring term
- 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.
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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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#42/2025 (Safeguarding Focus)Safeguarding Month 2025 and upcoming special safeguarding course; Early Years Funded Entitlements for 9 months plus, 2, 3 and 4 year olds – autumn term payments; New Ofsted Inspection Framework - Volunteers Needed; Business opportunity - West Green Primary School; New Making Every Contact Count vaccination training – supporting early years conversations; Information for Childminders; Chichester College Early Years Drop In Session; Congratulations; Early Years Training
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#41/2025 (Early Help Focus) West Sussex Family Hubs: fun, friendly family spaces; October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month; Publication of Statutory Notices - West Sussex Special Schools; Early Years Pupil Premium - Share your experiences; Slides from the recent network meetings; Early years apprenticeships exploration webinar; The Department for Education needs your help understanding how you check qualifications; What’s new from the West Sussex Virtual School?; Early Years Training
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#40/2025 (Business Focus - Stay informed about your business rates; Starting school applications; Keeping your data safe; Protecting children from flu this winter; Information for Childminders; Last chance to secure a funded National Professional Qualification (NPQ) this academic year; National Education Nature Park; Congratulations; SEND and Inclusion Newsletter; Early Years Training
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#39/2025 (Update on autumn term flexibility for 2 year olds starting after headcount; New childminder start-up grant scheme; Pre-entry Inclusion Funding requests – guidance and deadline reminder; Termly Provider Update; Childminder virtual network; Using paracetamol during pregnancy guidance; Updated childhood vaccination schedule; DadPad - supporting new dads in your setting; Early Years Training
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#38/2025 (Autumn term Early Years Funded Entitlement actuals – deadline this Friday; Ofsted Big Conversation; New strategy to improve West Sussex residents’ health and wellbeing; Help keep children safe from falls; Early Years Training)
Early Years and Childcare newsletter web page.
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