#5/2026 - Monday 12 October 2026
This newsletter includes:
- Free Breakfast Club programme - looking ahead
- Early years SEND continuing professional development programme - free training opportunity
- Level 3 Diploma in Playwork – expression of interest
- Tell us which schools you support
- Reminder to submit your termly sufficiency update
- Changes to the early years foundation stage from 1 September 2026: suitable people
- Updated school-age childcare guidance: allergy safety
- Food from home arrangements and Early Years Funded Entitlements
- Save the date - West Sussex School-age Childcare Conference
- Department for Education and NSPCC early years safeguarding training
- Safer recruitment considerations and the disclosure and barring service
- Advertise your job vacancies
- Podcast from Ofsted available
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The national Free Breakfast Club programme continues to expand, and all primary schools will eventually be expected to offer a free breakfast club.
West Sussex County Council is working with schools to help them prepare for future rollout and understand what this may mean for their setting.
During this term, Early Years and Childcare Advisors will be contacting all primary schools to discuss current before-school provision, offer support and advice, and share information about the programme. Schools can also access the Department for Education's Free Breakfast Clubs Toolkit for practical guidance and resources.
For Private, Voluntary and Independent providers currently delivering breakfast, wraparound or before-school provision alongside a school, now is a good time to begin conversations with your school partners about the future Free Breakfast Club programme. Providers may wish to consider how existing provision could be adapted, how responsibilities might be shared, and what future delivery arrangements could mean for their service, staffing and partnership working.
For further information or to discuss your current arrangements, please contact the Early Years and Childcare Team at schoolage.childcare@westsussex.gov.uk.
Families First CIC and Dingley's Promise are inviting early years educators to join a meeting to learn more about the new Department for Education funded early years SEND CPD programme. The free programme offers over 20 hours of flexible, self-paced online learning to help practitioners strengthen inclusive practice and improve outcomes for children with SEND. It is open to practitioners, SENCOs, childminders, room leaders and managers working with children aged 0 to 4 years.
During the meeting, educators will find out what the training covers, how to access the programme, and what additional support is available from Families First CIC and Dingley's Promise. There will also be an opportunity to explore how the training can support inclusive practice across settings, ask questions and connect with other educators. The meeting takes place on Wednesday 14 October from 6.30pm to 7.30pm. There is no need to register, simply join using the meeting details below.
Microsoft Teams meeting
Join: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/3562177327380740?p=sGi3nQfPOAlDk95ngr
Meeting ID: 356 217 732 738 074 0
Passcode: uw2yi2ew
We are exploring the potential delivery of a Level 3 Diploma in Playwork for staff working in school-age childcare and play settings across West Sussex.
This qualification can support practitioners to deepen their understanding of playwork principles, enhance the quality of provision, and develop their professional skills.
To help us understand the level of interest and shape any future delivery, we would be grateful if you could complete this short survey. Your responses will help us explore the feasibility of a programme and design it around the needs of providers and their teams.
Thank you for taking a few minutes to share your views.
As part of your termly provider update, which is submitted on the Online Provider Portal, we ask all childcare providers, including schools delivering their own before and after-school care, to tell us which schools they support.
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. Completing this section helps us understand the reach of your provision and ensures parents and carers can easily identify suitable childcare options.
 While providers support schools in different ways, this information remains important for everyone:
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childminders may collect children from school and provide care in their own home
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wraparound childcare providers may operate on a school site and collect children directly from classrooms
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off-site providers may collect children from one or more schools before returning to their setting
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schools running their own wraparound provision should also complete this section to show the childcare they provide for their pupils
Whilst completing the termly provider update form, please also check that your:
- opening times are accurate
- number of places available is current
- vacancy information reflects your current offer
Why it matters
By ensuring your details are accurate, you help us to:
- provide accurate information to parents and carers searching for childcare
- increase the visibility of your provision to local families
- monitor and develop wraparound childcare provision across schools and communities
- build a clearer picture of local childcare needs and availability
- help us better understand local childcare demand and sufficiency across West Sussex
Action required
Please review and update your information as part of your next termly provider update. In particular, ensure you have:
- added all schools your provision supports
- updated your opening times
- confirmed your available places and current vacancies
- completed your termly sufficiency data
We are also reviewing the termly provider update process and recognise that the current form does not provide detailed guidance on recording school links and wraparound support. We will share further updates as improvements are made.
Thank you for helping us maintain an accurate picture of childcare and wraparound provision across West Sussex.
A termly sufficiency update is mandatory for all early years and childcare providers including before and after school clubs, breakfast clubs and holiday playschemes.
Sufficiency information refers to information on the number of places your setting can offer and information on current vacancies. This supports us in our planning to ensure that families in West Sussex can access the childcare that they need and to identify where there may be gaps in provision so we can work to address these as needed.
Step by step guidance on submitting your Sufficiency information on the Online Provider Portal can be found here. We have also created a guidance video which you can view if you require further guidance on how to submit. Once you have completed your first return, you can copy previous data and simply update any changes, making future submissions quick and easy.
By submitting accurate information each term, you contribute to a county-wide picture of childcare demand and availability, helping to create a sustainable childcare market that supports both providers and families across West Sussex.
In newsletter #28/2026 we told you about changes to the EYFS frameworks for group and school-based providers and for childminders. From 1 September, providers must tell staff and prospective staff that they must disclose any information which may affect their suitability to work with children including, but not limited to, arrests, charges, convictions, cautions, court orders, reprimands and warnings (whether received before or during their employment at the setting).
The NSPCC provides examples of self-disclosure forms. The second example on the template is the example you can adapt and use, as it has been designed for roles that involve regulated activity with children and require an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.
Providers must not allow individuals to begin working or volunteering at the setting until they have received the applicant’s enhanced criminal records and barred list check, and they are satisfied the applicant is suitable to work with children. Providers must not allow anyone whose suitability has not been checked, to have unsupervised contact with children being cared for.
Because the definition of regulated activity has been changed and the supervision exemption removed, all volunteers, even when supervised, will require an Enhanced DBS check with children's barred list information if the activity:
- takes place on more than 3 days within a 30 day period or,
- involves overnight activity
Further guidance can be found on our Staff suitability web page and Staff recruitment web page.
The Department for Education has updated the Delivering school-age childcare provision: non-statutory guidance for schools and trusts, to strengthen the information on allergy safety in before-school and after-school childcare.
The updated Food and Nutrition section makes clear that schools’ arrangements for supporting pupils with allergies apply to SAC, including provision delivered by an external provider. Schools should ensure staff delivering food provision are included in allergy awareness training, are familiar with the school’s allergy safety policy, understand how to recognise and respond to allergic reactions and anaphylaxis, and have access to appropriate medical equipment.
Following enquiries from providers and parents, and in response to updates to the Department for Education's Early Education and Childcare Statutory Guidance (April 2026), we would like to remind providers to review their food from home policies to ensure families can access EYFE without being required to pay for meals provided by the setting.
Where a setting charges for meals provided by the setting, parents must be offered a reasonable alternative if they choose not to purchase them.
For the purposes of delivering funded entitlements, West Sussex County Council considers a reasonable alternative to be one that:
- does not place an additional financial burden on parents
- is practical, simple and safe for the child, parent and provider
- does not reduce the child's access to, or quality of, their early education experience
When reviewing food from home policies, providers should be mindful that a reasonable alternative would not generally include requiring parents to:
- provide food that exactly replicates the setting's recipes or menu
- supply detailed ingredient lists beyond information necessary to support allergen management
- purchase specific food containers or equipment
- deliver meals at set times during the day
- obtain food hygiene qualifications
Providers may continue to promote healthy eating, share menus and nutritional guidance, and work with families to support balanced packed lunches. Where concerns arise regarding food brought from home, we encourage settings to take a collaborative approach with parents to find practical solutions that support the child's wellbeing, without the need to place unreasonable conditions on what parents are able to provide.
We encourage all providers to review their policies and parent communications to ensure they remain compliant with statutory guidance and the requirements of the EYFE Provider Declaration.
We are delighted to announce our first SAC Conference, taking place on Saturday 27 February 2027 at Ashington Village Hall.
The conference will bring together colleagues from across the SAC sector, including schools, Private Voluntary and Independent settings, childminders, holiday clubs and Holiday Activities and Food programme providers.
The day will feature a keynote speaker alongside workshops covering key topics including SEND, safeguarding and business development.
Lunch will be provided and admission is free.
Whether you are an established provider or exploring opportunities to expand your SAC offer, this will be a fantastic opportunity to network, share practice and access valuable support and information.
Booking details will be included in the November SAC newsletter. In the meantime, please save the date in your diary.
The DfE has launched an online early years safeguarding training package, developed in collaboration with the NSPCC. This training covers sections 1 and 2 of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) statutory framework’s safeguarding training annex, which all early years educators must be trained in line with every 2 years. The training is free to access for all early years educators including childminders and reception staff.
A link to the training can be found on the landing page of the EYFS.
On behalf of the West Sussex Local Authority Designated Officer, we would like to draw your attention to some important considerations regarding safer recruitment practices and the DBS Update Service. This follows the identification of a situation where an individual in a position of trust was able to move between roles using the DBS Update Service, despite relevant information not having been updated on their existing certificate.
For those subscribed to the DBS Update Service, it is important to note that checks against information other than convictions are not updated continuously. The DBS advises that these checks are typically refreshed every nine months and will only be conducted at the same level as the original DBS certificate. In contrast, information relating to convictions is updated on a weekly basis.
It remains at an organisation's discretion whether to accept an existing DBS certificate that is subscribed to the Update Service or to request a new DBS check as part of the recruitment process.
From a safeguarding perspective, it is essential that organisations are aware of the limitations of the Update Service and ensure that safer recruitment procedures remain robust. This includes communicating these considerations to those responsible for recruiting individuals into positions of trust, particularly where reliance may be placed on the Update Service rather than obtaining a new Enhanced DBS check.
It is also important to recognise that there are differences between the various levels of DBS checks referenced below, and these should be carefully considered when making recruitment decisions.
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.
Ofsted has published a 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.
Useful information
- 31 December - autumn term deadline
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:
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04/2026 (Safeguarding Focus - Switched on to privacy: resources for early years, school-age childcare and out-of-school settings; Reporting serious childcare incidents within 14 days; Strengthening Safeguarding Practices; Sensory toolkit; Business support tools for providers; Updates for Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) providers; Ofsted Blog for Holiday Providers; Save the date - West Sussex School-age Childcare Conference; Tell us which schools you support; Setting support phone line; Free breakfast clubs; Early Years Training (EYT))
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03/2026 - (New Quality Framework to support high quality wraparound practice; Recruiting and retaining your school age childcare workforce; Reporting serious childcare incidents within 14 days; Safeguarding guidance for providers; Safeguarding E-learning for out of school settings; Local Authority Designated Officer contact details; Qualifications and training; Managing transition toolkits; Making the most of digital tools – Childcare Works; Updates for Holiday Activities and Food providers; Promoting Healthy Smiles in Early Years and Wraparound Care; BrightBites – free oral health sessions for settings; Network dates; Out of school alliance membership; Early Years Training)
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02/2026 (Employment Rights Act 2025 - What providers need to know; Out of School Alliance - free membership offer; Tell us which schools you provide pick up and drop off for; New training to help every child and young person thrive; Parental conduct; Tax Free Childcare; Kent and Beyond Stronger Practice Hub: summer term training and networks)
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01/2026 (Wraparound Programme Funding – Management Information spring return; Wraparound Childcare Parent Survey; Wraparound Childcare Programme funding – deadline; Holiday Activity and Food programme - expression of interest ; Out of School Provider Training Opportunities; Out of School Networks; Use your free, funded Paediatric First Aid place - reminder; Why a SEND information report matters; Weekly online safeguarding drop-in sessions; Making a safeguarding referral; Setting Support phone line; Childcare Works - free resources)
Early Years and Childcare newsletter web page.
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