#26/2026 - Wednesday 1 July 2026
This week's newsletter includes:
- Service update: council-wide IT and phone line issues
- Congratulations to Church Lane Nursery
- Early Years Funded Entitlement - autumn term 2026 estimates now open
- Free supervised toothbrushing scheme
- Support families to keep children protected – childhood vaccinations
- Early Years Training
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Latest Ofsted news and updates here.
We are currently experiencing intermittent IT issues across West Sussex County Council services. This is affecting some of our websites and our customer service centre phonelines. While phone lines remain open, you may notice longer wait times than usual.
At times, the automated message may quote very long wait times, such as up to 300 minutes. These times may not reflect the actual wait and can be caused by IT interruptions affecting staff availability at that moment.
Our Family Information Service (FIS) Specialist Team also has limited access to some background systems. This may reduce our ability to respond to more complex queries in full. However, we will continue to support you as far as possible and provide the best information we can.
To help manage demand, please only contact us by phone if your query is urgent. You can still contact us by email using the relevant details on our . We hope normal service will resume as soon as possible. We will provide an update when normal service resumes via a special newsletter. We apologise for any inconvenience and thank you for your patience.
We would like to offer our congratulations to the Church Lane Nursery team for becoming the Silver Winners of the Early Years Team of the Year in the Pearsons National Teaching Awards.
You can read more about their award here. We are pleased that you have been acknowledged for all you do each day to create an inclusive, nurturing environment for children in your setting.
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The Online Provider Portal is now open for you to submit your autumn term estimates for EYFE for 9 month olds, 2, 3 and 4 year olds.
Key dates:
- headcount day for autumn term is Thursday 17 September 2026
- the deadline for autumn term estimate submissions is Friday 14 August 2026
- payments are scheduled to be received by providers who have no outstanding queries regarding their estimate figures week commencing Monday 24 August 2026. Please refer to our how providers receive funding payments web page for further information.
Please be aware, payments can take up to 3 to 5 working days to be processed by your bank. This means payments may not appear in your bank account until the end of the week.
When submitting estimates, the number of 2 year old EYFE for Working Families and Early Learning for 2 year olds (LA Issued) hours is a combined figure.
Providers who have chosen to receive monthly payments, must submit Estimates to receive payments for September, October and November. Providers who do not submit Estimates will only receive an Actuals payment in week commencing Monday 23 November 2026.
If after viewing the guidance available on our website, you require further support, please email eyfe@westsussex.gov.uk, or phone the Family Information Service on 01243 777807.
Early education providers and schools can access a free supervised toothbrushing scheme for children aged 3 to 5 years old.
The fully funded programme provides each child with a toothbrush and toothpaste each term, along with hygienic storage racks, and take-home packs twice a year.
As part of the scheme, children are encouraged to brush their own teeth daily as a group activity within your setting, staff are not required to brush children’s teeth for them. Supervised toothbrushing is intended to be a supportive, enjoyable child-led activity. You can watch a short video of the scheme in action on Youtube.
The aim of the scheme is to build positive oral health habits, especially for children who may not regularly brush their teeth at home.
To find out more or get started, please contact the Oral Health Promotion Team, Special Care Dental Service via:
Childhood vaccinations play a vital role in protecting children from serious illness. There are 6 routine vaccination appointments in total – 3 before a child turns one and 3 after.
You can support families by sharing clear, consistent messages and reminding them when vaccinations are due. Please encourage parents and carers to check the vaccination schedule and find out more on the West Sussex County Council Childhood Immunisations web page.
The summer term is a great opportunity to review your provision, curriculum and planning for the 2026/27 academic year. We are offering a range of courses to support high quality provision for you and your staff.
Below are 4 courses from our training programme that focus on this area.
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
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.
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.
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#25/2026 (Safeguarding Focus; Childhood immunisations reminder; Starting school with West Sussex libraries; Tax-Free Childcare; Supporting Traveller Families to Access Early Education; Apprenticeships funding update - changes for August 2026; Early Years Training)
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#24/2026 (Good Level of Development Focus - National Year of Reading 'Go All In'; Advanced warning - Online Provider Portal downtime; Transitions - effective information sharing for children moving on; Early education partnership funding - applications now open; West Sussex, Brighton and Hove Careers Hub summer conference - July 2026; School-based Nursery Capital Grant update; Leading Excellence in Early Years: Quality First Teaching; Read to the Beat this summer; Slides from recent network meetings)
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#23/2026 (Business Focus - supporting the Early Years workforce; Operation Encompass - reminder for settings; Virtual School support with transitions and training opportunities; Childminder assistants - where to start with recruitment; Webinar - creating a reading‑rich culture; National Year of Reading; Early Years SENCO Level 3; Training opportunity in the Arun Area; Update from Kent and Beyond Early Years Stronger Practice Hub; Early Years Training)
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#22/2026 (Deadline approaching - Thriving in Education grant; Safer sleep guidance for early education and childcare settings; Early Years Funded Entitlements for 9 months plus, 2, 3 and 4 year olds – summer term payments; Expression of interest - Level 3 SENCO award in south of the county; National Professional Qualification Autumn 2026 update; GLF West Sussex Teaching School Hub – May 2026 newsletter; Free resource - Early Years Sustainability and Climate Change Audit; New guidance to help children starting school; Early Education Training)
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#21/2026 (Inclusive Early Years Fund 2026/27; Early education training - paediatric first aid summer dates; Our fully funded bursary for a Level 3 Diploma for Working in the Early Years sector means you can start at any time; NCFE CACHE Level 3 Technical Occupational Entry for the Early Years Workforce; Support your practice with free early years child development training; Thriving in Education grant reminder; Ofsted blog post for childminders; Stronger Practice newsletter)
Early Years and Childcare newsletter web page.
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