Early Years News – September 24
September 4, 2024
For the attention of Solihull Early Years and Childcare leads
We have new team members joining the early years team. Good luck to Shinade who is on maternity leave. We welcome Karen, Peter and Sarah to the team with Jenna to join us soon.
Training from Early Years and Childcare > new offer now available
We have now shared our training courses and recorded briefings on solgrid. This includes:
- Mix and mingle EEF events-The meetings will give us the chance to share information about EEF with you and to invite some local authority teams to match the themes you requested …. as well as opportunities to sob, rob, talk
Wednesday 23rd October 4.30-6pm The Loft [above Asda} North Solihull B37 5TN
or
Wednesday 6th November 4.30-6pm Solihull Council House B91 3PX
To book >>>https://forms.office.com/e/wELenU5sLP?origin=lprLink
- EYFS training 1/9/24 – https://www.solgrid.org.uk/eyc/training/ey-settings-pvi-training/the-early-years-foundation-stage-eyfs/
- Solihull Safeguarding Partnership training – 2 sessions 18.9.24 is session 1. – https://www.solgrid.org.uk/eyc/news/solihull-safeguarding-children-partnership-evening-module-1-early-help/
- Makaton baby signing– 1.10.24+ [3 sessions]- https://www.solgrid.org.uk/eyc/send/send-training-support/makaton-baby-signing/
- SENCo briefing– working with other agencies> 11.11.24 https://www.solgrid.org.uk/eyc/send/send-training-support/senco-briefing/
- Childminder Network 14.11.24 – https://www.solgrid.org.uk/eyc/training/childminder-training/childminder-network-meeting/
- Dominic Gunn Self-regulation and play (A neuro-scientific perspective) Tuesday 15th October 2024- https://www.solgrid.org.uk/eyc/training/special-events/
- Healthy movers physical activity training – 16.10.2024- https://www.solgrid.org.uk/eyc/wp-content/uploads/sites/31/2024/08/Health-Movers-flyer-October-2024.pdf
- Safeguarding awareness training– 27.11.24- https://www.solgrid.org.uk/eyc/training/safeguarding-training/8210-2/
- Solihull Music Service offer of free training – 30 minutes in every setting
- Dingley’s Promise new modules out soon and ‘shorts’ available through the Childcare Works Hub.
- HEART Midlands EY Stronger Practice Hub Autumn Newsletter (mailchi.mp)
Early Years Inclusion Fund -website move
https://www.solgrid.org.uk/eyc/eef/early-years-inclusion-funding-for-early-education-funded-children/ is the new location for EYIF information [dates, application, flowchart etc]
Ofsted grades
Ofsted will no longer provide a single overall grade of effectiveness when inspecting state schools. Early Years provision in maintained schools and academies for children aged 2 and above are included in this change. Other settings inspected by Ofsted, including early years providers, are set to follow soon. Individual grades will continue to be awarded. Have a look at our summary of recent early years Ofsted’s in Solihull. How would you demonstrate these actions do not apply in your setting?
https://www.solgrid.org.uk/eyc/resources/ofstedanddfe/ -Ofsted evaluation summary
DfE announcements
You may have seen the press notices celebrating the further extension of the early education entitlement and promotion of wrap around. Stronger Practice Hubs programme is now extended to at least March 2025. There is a good collection of training opportunities available through HEART and the West Midlands Hub [information attached] We encourage you to sign up to their e mail.
DfE also announced that in September 2024 they would be publishing additional resources for early years educators aimed at supporting children with developmental differences and special educational needs and disabilities. These resources are a new free online module that will be added to DfE’s Early years child development training and Early Years SEND assessment guidance and resources which will be available on the Help for Early Years Providers platform.
Information for Parents
To help spread the word to parents and encourage the take-up of new places DfE have updated the following parent facing resources:
· the Childcare Choices website has been updated with information about the programme. This includes guidance on how a parent should be able to use their right to request childcare if the local offer does not meet their needs, and information on the ability to use Tax-Free Childcare and Universal Credit Childcare to pay for wraparound if eligible.
· the Education Hub blog is soon to be updated with information about the programme.
Do Something Big campaign inc update to Find a Job
The Department has re-launched their early years and childcare recruitment campaign, titled ‘Do Something BIG, Work with Small . As part of this, a new Education and Childcare Jobs category will be replacing the existing Education Jobs category on Find a Job, where employers in wraparound and early years will be able to advertise any available positions on the site.
Please post any relevant vacancies to the Education and Childcare Jobs advert category and, if appropriate for the role, include Wraparound Childcare in the job title. To access the webpage, please use the following link: https://www.gov.uk/find-a-job.
New workforce toolkit
To help employers with workforce recruitment and retention, DfE have developed a new wraparound workforce toolkit. This document is a useful guide to recruiting and retaining the wraparound workforce for Local Authorities, schools, PVIs and childminders. The toolkit is separated into 5 sections: Identifying and attracting people to wraparound childcare, advertising wraparound childcare roles, interviewing wraparound childcare candidates, onboarding wraparound childcare staff, and retaining and supporting wraparound childcare staff. The toolkit can be found at https://childcareworks.org.uk/, or via the following link: Wraparound Childcare: Recruiting and retaining your workforce (childcareworks.org.uk).
Case studies
To further support DfE in the workforce recruitment drive, they are looking for wraparound providers or schools who would be willing to share their experiences as an employer or employee in wraparound childcare with DWP and any job seekers. We are especially interested in those aged over 50. For those who would like to get in touch, please contact Storm Ryan at storm.ryan@education.gov.uk.
Sorry for the long post with a snapshot of the Early Years and Childcare news. Have a great week. Today is National Wildlife Day so take the opportunity to be outside 😊. Next Monday is Emergency Services Day https://www.999day.org.uk/about/ or 999 day. So, a good opportunity to celebrate those who help us.