#1/2026 - Wednesday 1 January 2026
This week's newsletter includes:
- Spring term 2026 census and actuals claims - action required
- Starting School Applications – one week to go
- Early years qualification requirements and standards: minor changes
- Checking qualifications are full and relevant
- Update to Portage referral criteria
- Share your experience as an Early Years Teacher
- Important changes to the childhood vaccination schedule
- Supervised toothbrushing programme
- Kent and Beyond Stronger Practice Hub updates
- Early Years Training
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Latest Ofsted news and updates here.
Welcome back to 2026. We hope you were able to have some time to relax over the Christmas and New Year period and thank all of you who were working hard to provide childcare to those parents who needed it. We look forward to continuing to keep you informed, for the busy year ahead, through our regular newsletters.
The Online Provider Portal (OPP) is now open for you to submit your census and your Early Years Funded Entitlement (EYFE) claims for the 9 month plus, 2 year old and 3 and 4 year old age groups.
Key dates:
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Headcount day - Thursday 15 January 2026
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Deadline for submissions - Friday 30 January 2026 at 11.59pm
The census is now required termly and is found in the new My Details section of your Online Provider Portal account. You will be unable to submit your actuals until you have completed your census.
We have created new video guides to help you complete the termly census and your actuals:
These video guides can also be found on our How to claim child-level funding (actuals) web page, along with the following guidance documents:
- Introductory guide and census - how to access and complete the census form, how to access the OPP actuals, and how to remove child records for children you will no longer claim for
- Existing children - how to claim for existing children
- New children - how to add children to your headcount
- Post-submission guidance - information on queries you may receive from the Early Years Funding Team following your submission, and how to view a summary of your funding claims for the term.
The only change to actuals this term is for children who have a SEN COP Stage set to ‘SEN Support’ or anything other than ‘No Special Educational Need’. You will need to specify a 'SEN Primary Special Need', and there is also the option to add a secondary special need.
For providers with no outstanding queries:
- if you are signed up to receive 2 payments per term, your spring term actuals payment is due to be received week commencing 23 February 2026
- if you receive monthly payments, your spring term actuals payment is also due to be received week commencing 23 February
If there are any outstanding queries, we will contact you to resolve them.
The deadline for applying for a school place is Thursday 15 January 2026 for all children born between 1 September 2021 and 31 August 2022. Applying for a school place after the deadline will mean that the application is considered after those submitted on time. This can reduce the likelihood of families being offered their preferred school.
Please make sure that the families who should be applying for a school place for their child, are aware of the deadline and complete their application on time. This is especially important for:
- families whose child has just started attending your setting
- families who may find it difficult to read the information provided
To apply for a school place, or for more information on applying, please signpost parents to www.westsussex.gov.uk/admissions. They should also read the starting school booklet and the application checklist.
You may have some parents who have a child in this age range who are unsure if they want their child to start school in September. Please talk to these families about the potential benefits and risks of delaying their child’s start, and make sure they understand that they still need to apply for a school place. If they decide not to take up the place, they can decline it.
As you are aware, we are no longer carrying out the Starting School Questionnaire in early years settings, but we encourage you to continue to work with families to identify any additional support needed to enable children to make a positive start to their school journey.
The Early years qualifications requirements and standards include minor changes effective from 1 January 2026. One key update is to the Experience-based route eligibility criteria, reflecting changes in the Ofsted inspection framework.
The Department for Education's check an early years qualification service is now open for practitioners to use as well as managers. This quick and easy service will confirm if a qualification is full and relevant.
You will need the following information before you use the service:
- where the qualification was awarded
- the date the qualification was started
- the date the qualification was awarded
- the level of the qualification
- the awarding organisation.
The Portage referral criteria has been updated, and a new leaflet is now available. Please check this leaflet to ensure you have the most up-to-date referral guidance.
Foundation Years are looking to speak with Early Years Teachers who have either Early Years Teacher Status, Early Years Professional Status or Qualified Teacher Status and are working in an early years setting. They want to hear about the experiences and challenges Early Years Teachers face in their role.
Foundation Years are asking for one hour of your time to talk about your experiences and to help them review some service ideas.
If you are interested, please fill in this short form and Foundation Years will be in touch with more details.
To thank you for your time a £50 voucher will be awarded.
From January 2026 the vaccination schedule for children in England has changed. The updates are designed to give children the best protection at the right time and help prevent serious illnesses. For full details, read the official UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) blog post.
What is changing?
- 1-year appointment – the vaccine that protects against Hib and meningitis C (Hib/MenC, Menitorix) will no longer be given at this visit.
- 12 and 16 weeks – the second dose of the meningitis B vaccine (MenB) will now be given at 12 weeks. The first dose of the pneumococcal vaccine (PCV13) will move to 16 weeks.
- New 18-month appointment – children born on or after 1 July 2024 will have a new visit at 18 months for a booster of the 6-in-1 vaccine and the second dose of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine (MMR).
- New combined vaccine – from January 2026, a combined vaccine for measles, mumps, rubella and chickenpox (MMRV) will replace the current measles, mumps and rubella vaccine (MMR).
You can share these changes with parents during conversations and signpost them to reliable information such as the UKHSA official blog post, the NHS vaccination schedule web page, and the GOV.UK briefing and letter from UKHSA and NHS England.
You can reassure parents that they will be contacted by their GP or health visitor if their child needs an appointment. If parents know their child is due vaccinations and they have not been contacted, they can speak to their GP practice to book the appointment.
In March 2025 the government announced a fully funded supervised toothbrushing programme. This voluntary programme is available in targeted early years settings, including nurseries, reception classes and childminders.
You can find out more and how to sign up to the local programme here.
Kent and Beyond Stronger Practice Hub are hosting free webinars on Understanding the revised Ofsted framework.
Each 45 minute online webinar will focus on one area of the early years sector:
- Thursday 15 January 2026 at 3.30pm - schools
- Thursday 19 March 2026 at 7.00pm - nurseries
- Tuesday 24 March 2026 at 7.00pm - childminders
For more information and to book your place, please see this flyer.
The December newsletter from our Stronger Practice Hub can be found here.
Submitting Actuals Claims and Census Details webinar
In newsletter #48/2025, we informed you that in 2026, the annual Early Years Census in January for the Department for Education is changing to a termly return. To help with this change, we are pleased to announce that we are running more Online Provider Portal Training: Submitting Actuals Claims and Census Details. Webinar sessions are now open for booking. Please click on the relevant date below to book your place:
We strongly recommend that you book onto one of these sessions, or set aside time to read the new updated guidance when it is available.
Further information and guidance will be communicated via the Early Years Funding newsletter due to be emailed on 12 January 2026.
Useful information
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:
It is important you follow the correct steps and notify the relevant teams and professionals if your setting needs to close.
Contact your local setting support team and visit our closing your early years and childcare setting web page for step by step support.
We share a weekly Jobs in Early Years and Childcare bulletin with members of the public. You can find guidance and a template for submitting your job adverts to this bulletin on our advertise early years and childcare jobs web page. You will also find useful guidance on advertising your job vacancies on other platforms.
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#50/2025 (Safeguarding focus - New weekly online safeguarding drop-in sessions; Christmas and New Year opening times; Submitting Actuals Claims and Census details webinar; Starting school applications; Recent updates to Ofsted guidance; Vaccine hesitancy e-module now live; New disability guidance and training; Designated Safeguarding Lead networks 2026 - secure your space; Keynote speaker confirmed for West Sussex Early Years Education and Childcare Conference 2026; Cyber Security: ministerial letter to small businesses; Childcare Works - free resources; Early Years Training)
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#49/2025 (Early Years Funded Entitlement spring term estimates - deadline this Friday; Spring headcount date; Checking eligibility for Early Years Funded Entitlement for Working Families; Ofsted regulation changes; Newly Qualified Starters Programme; Tax-Free Childcare; Disclosure and Barring Service campaign: understanding the legal duty to refer; Kent and Beyond Stronger Practice Hub newsletter; SEND and Inclusion Newsletter; Early Years Training)
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#48/2025 (Business Focus; Warning - Online Provider Portal downtime; Important: Changes to Early Years Census Processes (EYFE providers only); Apply to become an Early Years Stronger Practice Hub; Reminder of upcoming Early Education and Childcare Statutory Requirements – from January 2026; Updates from the Education Endowment Foundation; Tax-Free Childcare; Paediatric Oral Health Access and Prevention Programme; Could you offer work experience placements?; Kent and Beyond Stronger Practice Hub newsletter; Spring Early Years Foundation Stage leaders networks – secure your space; Early Years Training)
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#47/2025 (Warning - Online Provider Portal downtime; Early Years Funded Entitlement - spring term 2026 estimates open; Early Years Funded Entitlement for working families eligibility codes; Early Years Funded Entitlement number of weeks in spring term; Starting school applications; Admissions consultation; Updated children's vaccine schedule resources; Kent & Beyond Early Years Stronger Practice Hub Webinars; Have your say on the future of local government in West Sussex; Early Years Training)
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#46/2025 (Safeguarding Focus - Lockdown processes; References; Safeguarding and child protection refresher and Designated Safeguarding Lead training; Early Years Funded Entitlement - spring term 2025 estimates now open; Starting school applications help from the Ethnic Minority and Traveller Achievement Service; Best Start in Life – supporting parents from pregnancy to childcare; You are invited - strengthening support for families event; Supervised toothbrushing champions; SENCO/INCO network meeting slides; Sustainability Support for Education free email series; Early Years Training)
Early Years and Childcare newsletter web page.
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