Newsletter for Out of School providers in West Sussex
#6/2025 - Monday 17 November 2025
This newsletter includes:
- Wraparound Programme Funding – Management Information autumn return
- Wraparound Childcare Programme Funding - final deadline
- Tell us which schools you support
- Leases and licenses
- Wraparound Childcare Toolkit
- Setting Support phone line
- Careers in early years and childcare website
- Out of School (Wraparound Childcare) Impact Survey
- Out of School Networks
- Use your free, funded Paediatric First Aid place - reminder
- Out of School provider training opportunities
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The Wraparound Programme Management Information (MI) return is now open for autumn term 2025. All providers who have received funding from Local Authorities on or before Friday 14 November 2025 are required to complete the survey with details of your wraparound provision. If you have received funding but have not yet made any changes to your provision, there is an opportunity to report this in the survey.
What do I need to do?
Please have the following information available to submit your MI return:
- session start and end times
- the maximum number of places available
- how many attendees you have, and how many attendees have SEND
- the number of staff present in each session
- any fees for parent/carers
For question six, please use the All schools list to indicate which school your provision serves. You should copy the name and URN combination to ensure your provision is linked back to the correct school. If you serve more than one school, you must submit a separate form for each school.
The survey must be completed in one sitting, you cannot save the form to return to later.
What are the key dates?
We are monitoring the week of Monday 10 November to Friday 14 November, this is called the reporting week. Funded providers must complete the MI survey for this reporting week. The survey must be completed by Friday 21 November.
For more information, please read the letter to wraparound childcare providers from the Department for Education.
Following the successful creation of over 2500 places, the Wraparound Childcare Programme is heading towards its final deadline. Monday 23 February 2026 will be the last opportunity to apply for a share of the £4.8 million awarded to West Sussex to support the creation of over 3000 wraparound places.
For more information, please contact the wraparound team at wraparound.childcare@westsussex.gov.uk or visit the Wraparound Childcare Programme Funding web page.
Wraparound childcare is essential for families, and keeping your information up to date helps everyone. On page 5 of 7 of the termly provider update form, there is an option to indicate which schools you pick up from or drop off to. This is a key part of advertising what you offer because, even if you are based on a school site, it makes it clear to us and parents/carers which schools your setting supports. If you are a school that provides its own before and after-school care, you still need to complete this section.
We know settings support schools in different ways. Childminders often provide care in their own home and physically drop off and collect children from school. Before and after-school care providers may operate on the school site and collect children from classrooms, or they may be based off-site and collect children from the school before returning to their own setting. That is why it is important for us to understand how you support schools in your local area.
It is also important to ensure your opening times are up to date to reflect your full offer.
By clearly listing the schools you support and ensuring your information is up to date, you help us:
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track and monitor wraparound provision for each school
- provide accurate advice to parents/carers looking for childcare that can drop off or collect from their child’s school
- support your business by making your services visible to families who need them.
Please make sure this information is up to date by reviewing your termly update form in the Online Provider Portal. Keeping this information accurate helps parents make informed choices and ensures we have a clear picture of wraparound provision across all schools.
We are currently reviewing our termly provider update form and appreciate that it does not currently provide specific guidance on listing schools or detailing your wraparound support. We are working to improve this and will share updates as soon as changes are in place.
It is necessary for Private, Voluntary and Independent provision on school sites to have a West Sussex County Council (WSCC) lease or license in place before wraparound care can commence. Agreeing a service contract with a provider is not necessarily the same as agreeing that a provider can occupy WSCC owned school premises. Any maintained or voluntarily aided school that you are working with, must contact the West Sussex Estates team as soon as possible. A voluntary aided school will also need to contact their diocese for advice. An academy will make their own arrangements via their business support teams.
The Estates team role is to ensure any occupation is appropriately documented with a lease, license or at the very minimum a hiring agreement. This depends on the extent of use and in particular whether any use is exclusive. Exclusive use can bring with it implied occupation rights, which if not legally documented can be difficult to terminate should there be a need to.
During any tendering process, please remind schools to complete a Preliminary Enquiry Form with as much detail as possible so that the Estates team can carry out an assessment. Forms and initial enquiries can be sent to childcare.estates@westsussex.gov.uk. The Estates and Legal teams need a minimum of a terms notice to deal with such enquiries.
Have you explored the Childcare Works Wraparound Childcare Toolkit yet? It is designed to support childcare providers at every stage of running their business, and brings together expert guidance in one place.
To support the different needs of providers, Childcare Works have included information in a range of formats such as:
- guides
- learning
- toolkits
- templates
- articles
- case studies
- and much more
The free content can be sorted by topic or business stage to help you find the information you are looking for.
All our early years and childcare providers are able to access the West Sussex Setting Support phone line.
The telephone number is 01243 777807 and when you call, please specify you are calling for the Setting Support phone line. The line is available every Tuesday from 12.00 to 4.00pm. Calls will not be taken outside of these times.
The aim of the phone line is to:
- provide advice and guidance to enhance overall inclusion
- promote reflective practice and identify areas of needs within the setting/wraparound provision
- ensure early intervention, advice and guidance is available when settings need it most
- ensure settings have a good understanding of Ordinarily Available Inclusive Practice
- create actions to support settings to enhance provision and practice
- ensure settings have strategies in place to support children effectively
- refer for further support if SEND/individualised support is identified
For more information please visit the Setting Support phone line webpage.
Have you seen our careers in early years and childcare website? It has useful resources and information for people who are searching for a career in early years and childcare.
If you have any job vacancies you would like us to share on your behalf, please submit them to us. You can find the guidance and template for submitting job vacancies on our information for childcare providers website.
The recruiting and retaining your workforce guide is a useful resource to support the recruitment and retention of your staff.
In the new year, we will be launching an Out of School (Wraparound Childcare) Impact Survey. This survey will help us understand:
- how wraparound care is benefiting and meeting the needs of parents and carers in West Sussex
- what wraparound care enables families to do and how children benefit
- why some families may not be using wraparound care and what barriers exist
We will share full details with you in January. Your support in circulating the survey to families in your setting will be invaluable in helping us gather meaningful insights.
We have a range of networks designed for Out of School providers. These are termly and are free to attend but you must secure your space via the booking portal. The networks provide an opportunity for wraparound leaders to hear about the latest local and national news and discuss current and pertinent issues with other local providers and West Sussex staff members, who run the sessions. The networks cover all elements, including business and welfare as well as implementing high quality provision.
To book, either click the course listed below or you can visit our booking portal West Sussex Services for Education and select your required course.
To support the EYFS Safeguarding Reforms, we are funding one free Paediatric First Aid training place for wraparound care providers. To qualify for a free place, you must offer food or monitor children while eating and have Reception children on role. There is one free place available per location you operate, to be booked and taken before 31 March 2026.
Paediatric First Aid courses are offered across multiple venues. Spaces are limited and can be booked on the Services for Education website. Remaining scheduled places are available between January and March 2026.
If you experience any issues when booking a course or are unsure whether you have a free place available, please email early.years.training@westsussex.gov.uk.
We have a number of courses specifically designed for out of school providers and their staff. These range from a 2-part course on how to be a reflective playworker, through to promoting positive behaviour within your setting. To book, either click the course listed below or you can visit our booking portal West Sussex Services for Education and select your required course.
We also have a range of other training opportunities and courses that are available for Out of School providers to attend. These can be found in our training and events brochure.
Useful information
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:
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:
- 21 November 2025 - deadline to complete the Wraparound Programme Funding Management information autumn return survey
- 2 January 2026 - autumn term sufficiency deadline
- 23 February 2026 - applications for Wraparound Childcare Funding close
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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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05/2025 (Wraparound Programme Funding Grant; Monitoring visits; Wraparound Childcare Programme Funding – Management Information autumn 2025; New networks for Designated Safeguarding Leads; Early Years Training - free paediatric first aid training; Out of School providers networks and training; Out of School Alliance - one year free membership; Are you interested in a Level 2 Playwork Apprenticeship?; Termly Provider Update; Careers in early years and childcare website)
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04/2025 (National Wraparound Childcare Programme Grant Funding; Monitoring visits; Management information survey - grant funded providers only; Working together to safeguard children - update; Out of School Alliance - one year free membership; Careers in early years and childcare website; Early Years Training – funding for one free paediatric first aid training per setting)
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03/2025 (National Wraparound Childcare Programme Grant Funding; Childcare Expansion Capital Grant Funding – applications open for further projects; Leases and Licenses; Careers in early years and childcare website; Out of School Alliance - one year free membership; National Wraparound Childcare Programme - information for maintained schools and academy trusts; Supporting wraparound providers to provide inclusive provision; Training opportunities for wraparound and out of school providers)
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02/2025 (National Wraparound Childcare Programme Grant Funding - deadline extended; Inclusive practice in wraparound provision; Wraparound Childcare Toolkit)
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01/2025 (Childcare Expansion Capital Grant Funding – applications open for further projects; Wraparound Childcare Funding Grant - spring term 2025; Childcare Works provider toolkit launch; West Sussex Early Years and Childcare Conference 2025: Champions of Childhood – Celebrating Early Years Heroes; Early Years Training)
Early Years and Childcare newsletter web page.
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