#31/2026 - Wednesday 12 August 2026
This week's newsletter includes:
- Moderate air pollution alert and amber heat-health alert
- Early Years Funded Entitlement autumn term estimates - submissions close Friday
- Paying your annual fee with Ofsted
- Sussex Child Death Overview Panel (CDOP) report
- West Sussex Neglect Strategy 2024 to 2029
- What have we learned about children born during the pandemic
- Celebrating good practice
- New Podcast from Ofsted available
- July update from the Kent and Beyond Stronger Practice Hub
- Making Every Contact Count vaccination training – supporting early years conversations
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Latest Ofsted news and updates here.
A moderate air pollution alert is in effect for Wednesday 12 and Thursday 13 August. It is advised that adults and children with lung problems, and adults with heart problems, who experience symptoms, should consider reducing strenuous physical activity, particularly outdoors. For updates to the air pollution forecast, you can take a look at the pollution forecast on the Defra UK web page.
An amber heat-health alert is also in effect across the South East from 9.00am on Tuesday 11 August until 9.00pm on Friday 14 August. Settings should continue to follow the practical advice in our previous while taking extra care of children and adults who may be more vulnerable to the heat.
The Online Provider Portal is still open for you to submit your Early Years Funded Entitlement autumn term estimates for the 9 months plus, 2 Year Old and 3 and 4 Year Old age groups: www.westsussex.gov.uk/eycportal.
Key dates:
- headcount day for autumn term is 17 September 2026
- the deadline for estimate submissions is 11.59pm 14 August 2026
- payments are scheduled to be received by providers week commencing 24 August 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.
When you apply to register with Ofsted as a childcare provider, you will need to pay an application fee. You must then pay an annual registration fee once they approve your application. Ofsted has published a new blog post, Paying your annual fee: what you need to know, to support settings.
If you do not pay your annual fee, Ofsted will issue you with a Notice of Intention (NOI) to cancel your registration. If you still do not pay your annual fee, you will then be issued with a Notice of Decision (NOD) to cancel your registration.
The Family Information Service is informed by Ofsted when these notices are issued, but we do not receive a copy of the invoice or notice. We will email you if we are informed that an NOI has been issued for your setting. This can be easily resolved by paying your annual fee as soon as possible.
If we are informed that an NOD has been issued for your setting, your local Setting Support Team for Quality and Sufficiency will attempt to contact you. If you receive an NOD, this means Ofsted is taking steps to cancel your registration due to non-payment of fees. At this stage, you would need to visit the How to appeal: guidance for childcare providers page on GOV.UK and complete an appeal to the First-tier Tribunal (Care Standards).
When the Family Information Service receives these notifications, settings sometimes tell us that they did not receive any previous correspondence from Ofsted. We often find this is because settings have not kept their details up to date with Ofsted.
It is important that you keep your information up to date with Ofsted to ensure you do not miss important notifications. You can find out more about how to update your details by visiting the Report changes to registered people in your nursery or other daycare page on GOV.UK.
The Sussex CDOP will soon be sharing their 2025/26 annual report.
This will be the CDOP’s seventh annual report since they started to cover the whole of Sussex. The report covers the period from April 2025 to March 2026 and highlights the key learning themes identified over the year.
A free webinar will take place on Monday 21 September, from 12.00pm to 1.00pm with Richard Hamlin, Pan-Sussex Independent CDOP chair, presenting the key findings from the report.
Please book your place on the Ticket Source website.
Protecting children from abuse and neglect is everyone's responsibility. The West Sussex Neglect Strategy 2024 to 2029 sets out how partner agencies across West Sussex will work together to identify and respond to neglect at the earliest opportunity.
Its aim is to ensure that children and young people living in neglectful circumstances receive timely support, experience no unnecessary delay in intervention, and receive a consistent response from services when action is needed to keep them safe.
By working together and applying a shared approach, we can improve the early identification of neglect, reduce its impact, and help ensure that every child has the opportunity to thrive in a safe and nurturing environment. For more information, please read the full strategy.
Researchers from the Division of Language and Communication Science at City St George’s, University of London have been exploring the experiences and developmental outcomes of children born during the COVID-19 lockdown through the Born In Covid Year - Core Lockdown Effects (BICYCLE) Study.
We would like to congratulate Little Barn Owls Forest School Nursery on the outcome of their recent Ofsted inspection.
The setting received 3 "exceptional" ratings for Achievement, Curriculum and Teaching and Leadership and Governance.
Congratulations to the whole team for all your hard work and dedication to support all children to experience high quality and inclusive provision.
Ofsted has published a new podcast, 'Out of school childcare: after school clubs, holiday clubs and more', where the team talk to Dan and Craig, who both run out of school sports and holiday clubs in the state and independent sector.
After school, wraparound and holiday schemes are more popular than ever. Listen to the podcast to find out more about how Ofsted inspect and make sure that children are safe, enjoying themselves and are well cared for in these types of settings.
Eighteen Early Years Stronger Practice hubs have recently been recruited. The South East now has 3 hubs: Kent and Beyond (which West Sussex remains part of), Thames Valley and Solent, and the new Surrey and Hampshire hub, which is launching in the autumn term.
All hubs have been recruiting for Early Years Learning Leads and Early Years Stronger Practice Advisors to work alongside their existing hub teams. These new roles will provide targeted support for:
- personal, social and emotional development
- mathematics
- language
- continuing professional development and training
You can find support and resources on the Early Years Stronger Practice Hubs website.
West Sussex County Council’s Public Health team has released some new dates to deliver Making Every Contact Count vaccination training. The training supports staff, including those in early years, to have positive and informed conversations with families about vaccination.
The training:
- helps staff feel more confident and equipped to talk about vaccination
- provides practical tools to address questions and concerns
- supports tackling vaccine hesitancy and improving uptake through everyday conversations
- is suitable for both clinical and non‑clinical staff
Sessions are available online. Please read the flyer for upcoming dates and book your place via the Learning and Development Gateway.
Useful information
- w/c 24 August - autumn term estimate payments due to settings
- 31 August - deadline for parents to reconfirm/apply for their Working Family Eligibility codes to use for the autumn term
- 31 August - summer term sufficiency deadline
- 31 August - summer term termly childcare provider update deadline
- 1 September - portal opens for settings to submit actuals for autumn term
- 17 September - autumn term headcount day
- w/c 21 September - autumn term monthly estimate payments due to settings
- 22 September - portal closes for settings to submit actuals for autumn term
- 1 October - Department for Education census day for autumn term
- w/c 19 October - autumn 26 actuals due to settings who are paid twice termly
- w/c 26 October - monthly estimate payment due
- w/c 23 November - actuals payment due for settings who are paid monthly
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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#30/2026 (Safeguarding focus – Department for Education and National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children early years safeguarding training; Emerging safeguarding consideration: tracking and recording devices; Amber heat health-alert; Safer sleep product guidance; Early Years Training)
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#29/2026 (Remittance advice update; New Early Years Teacher Degree Apprenticeship; Why vaccination matters; Signpost families to the Best Start in Life website; Early Years Training)
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#28/2026 (Good Level of Development Focus - mathematical development; Changes to the early years foundation stage statutory framework; Service update: West Sussex County Council phone line issues; Early years funding consultation 2026; Have your say on early years teaching reforms; Regulated activity: removal of the supervision exemption from 1 September 2026; Priority Services Register – support for families and staff; Business support tools for providers; Watch the webinar: bringing a reading-rich culture to life; Good news to share from the 2026 Annual Literacy Survey; SEND and Inclusion newsletter; Early Years Training)
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#27/2026 (Update to weather heat alert for early education and childcare; Connect with the Family Information Service and your local Best Start Family Hub on Instagram; Changes to the way you request funding after headcount; Have your say on the Competition and Markets Authority Childcare Services review; Watch the webinar: how new government funded training can help you support SEND in your setting; Free online early years child development training; National Programme Qualifications update; Childminding UK - have you read their blog?; Kent and Beyond Early Years Stronger Practice Hub; Early Years Training)
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#26/2026 (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)
Early Years and Childcare newsletter web page.
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