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Foundation Years September Bulletin | |
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Stronger Practice Hubs Programme extended until March 2025 | |
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The Department recently announced an extension of the Early Years Stronger Practice Hubs programme until at least March 2025.
The programme supports early years educators, including those in deprived areas, to improve the quality of their practice by sharing evidence informed approaches through established local networks.
There are 18 Hubs in total with 2 in each region. If you haven’t already done so, do reach out to your local Hub to find out what support is on offer and join their network.
Details of all the Hubs can be found at www.strongerpracticehubs.org.uk/hubs along with more information about the programme. | |
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New SEND Early years child development training module available now | |
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The Early years child development training is an online programme that is free to access. It has been designed by early years professionals to help early years educators strengthen their knowledge and understanding of child development.
Module 8: Supporting individual differences and needs now available and covers: - an introduction to special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) legislation and guidance, and how it applies to education practice
- the impact of knowledge and learning gaps on children’s development and what action to take, including making a referral when needed
- the importance of your role in supporting children’s individual differences and needs, how to create an inclusive environment and build effective partnerships
This new module is now available along with 7 other modules focusing on key areas of child development. You can complete the modules in any order, at any time. Sign in to the training and visit the My modules page to access this new module. If you haven’t yet accessed the training, you can register by visiting Early years child development training. | |
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Early Years SEND assessment guidance and resources | |
The new DfE Early Years SEND assessment guidance and resources, developed by Dingley’s Promise, are now available on the Help for Early Years Providers platform. They have been created to support a child-centred, strengths-based approach to assessing children’s needs and sharing their progress and learning with parents, carers and professionals.
There is practical advice on assessment, alongside tools and downloadable resources to support you in assessing what children with SEND can do, capturing their voice, and setting targets for progress and learning.
The guidance and resources follow the SEND Code of Practice and align with Early Years Foundation Stage assessment policy. They use best practices and evidence-based methods to provide you with practical advice to meet the needs of children with SEND in your care.
Catherine McLeod, CEO of Dingley's Promise -“This assessment toolkit was developed for the Department for Education in partnership with a range of settings, local authorities, and early years experts. We hope that every local authority and setting will adopt this process, so that children, families, and practitioners will be confident that needs are being identified and met as early as possible, regardless of where they live in the country”. | |
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Removal of single headline grades for schools and implications for early years settings | |
Effective immediately, Ofsted will no longer provide a single overall grade of effectiveness when inspecting state schools. State schools will still receive sub-judgements across different areas of school life. Early Years provision in maintained schools and academies for children aged 2 and above, and Maintained Nursery Schools are included in this change.
The government is committed to replacing single headline grades in all the remits that Ofsted inspects in time, including the entirety of the Early Years sector. This will include considering how this impacts CMA inspections. Until this change is made, all early years settings registered on the Early Years Register, including childminders and private, voluntary and independent providers will continue to receive a single headline grade of overall effectiveness alongside the sub judgements. There will also be no change to Childminder Agency (CMA) inspections at this time. | |
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Our response to the Big Listen | |
On Tuesday 3 September we published our response to the Big Listen. The report summarises what we heard from the sector and sets out the actions that we will take in response.
For early years we will: -
reform our early years inspection and regulatory framework - introduce report cards
- launch the Ofsted Academy to improve training for inspectors
- support the government’s plans to meet demand for childcare places
- continue to share our insights to drive improvements in the early years sector
- have a single point of contact for early years within Ofsted.
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Updates to the Early Years Inspection Handbook | |
On Monday 9 September we published some minor changes to the early years inspection handbook. These changes support inspectors to consider the context the provider is operating in. You can read about the changes here .
We have not made any changes to our inspection methodology. | |
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EEF calls on early years educators to complete their annual survey | |
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The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) are calling on early years settings to share your experiences and expertise by taking part in their annual sector survey.
The survey is open to educators across England and will help build an accurate picture of the challenges, priorities and needs of different education settings across the country. The insights gained will help the EEF to refine their resources, like the Early Years Evidence Store, to better fit your needs and understand which areas of your work could be better supported by evidence-informed resources.
The survey should only take 10 minutes to complete and will be open until the end of September.
At the end of the survey, there is also the option to join their evidence user community, the ‘EEF Exchange’. By joining, you could get advance access to EEF publications and invites to focus groups in exchange for financial compensation. | |
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An additional 800 nurseries to benefit from free Maths Champions programme | |
NDNA is recruiting 800 more nurseries across England to take part in its Maths Champions professional development programme, which supports educators’ confidence in maths and subsequently children’s learning and outcomes.
The programme has been evaluated by Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) recently. It found that children who participated in Maths Champions made on average three months’ additional progress in maths and language development. Those on EYPP made on average an additional six months’ progress.
EEF is supporting the Maths Champions programme through the DfE Accelerator Fund. To find out more about the programme visit our Maths Champions page. Why not come along to one of our information sessions before signing up? EEF Accelerator Fund Maths Champions Expression of Interest (zohopublic.eu). | |
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Learn more about the impact of A Better Start | |
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On 26 June, the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) held the second in a series of events presenting the findings from the national evaluation of A Better Start.
You can watch a recording of the event as well as finding answers to questions submitted during the webinar here: https://natcen.ac.uk/icymi-2nd-annual-abs-webinar
NatCen and partners from the National Children’s Bureau (NCB), Research in Practice, RSM and the University of Sussex, have been commissioned to carry out the evaluation, which began in 2021 and will continue until 2026. | |
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Registration opens for Blackpool Better Start's annual conference | |
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This November, the Blackpool Better Start annual virtual conference will focus on not only what's been done, but how it's been done.
They say "it takes a village to raise a child" and at this event, an exciting agenda will set out how that "village" - the workforce, the systems and the evidence - was challenged to change the way babies, young children and families are supported.
You can register here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/more-than-a-village-tickets-940249279907?aff=oddtdtcreator.
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LEAP exceeds its own expectations | |
The Lambeth Early Action Partnership (LEAP) celebrated its remarkable achievements over the last ten years at a special event Lambeth Assembly Hall on September 11.
Over the lifetime of LEAP programme, a total of 15,374 families have been reached, exceeding its original aim to reach more than 10,000 families, and feedback from families about LEAP services has been extremely positive. This latest data, published in LEAP’s second Annual Learning Report, provides a deeper understanding of the patterns of reach and engagement between families and LEAP services.
Find out more here: https://story-of-leap.leaplambeth.org.uk/reports/leap-annual-learning-report-2022-2023-landing-page/. | | | |
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Early Years SEND Partnership Training and Seminars | |
With the start of the new academic year, the EYSEND Partnership are offering free training and seminars for early years educators and parents/carers. You can access all training and events through our training calendar. Some of these include: - Home Learning Environment webinar for parents/carers (21st Nov). Hosted by the Early Childhood Unit, this webinar focuses on early literacy. Click here to book.
- Bespoke training workshops to help educators support children’s communication skills. Hosted by Speech and Language UK, this training is suitable for Family Hub teams, and those who provide support to families. Click here to book. There is also training available on supporting social communication.
- Ordinarily Available Provision in the Early Years (24th Nov). Hosted by the Council for Disabled Children, this seminar does a deep dive into what ‘ordinarily available provision’ means. Open to practitioners and parents/carers. Click here to book.
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Inclusive Strategies for Empowering Neurodivergent Nursery Staff | |
Owner and manager of Happy Bunnies Nursery School, Robert Fox, emphasises the importance of recognising and supporting the neurodivergent workforce in today’s ever-evolving nursery environments. Fostering an inclusive atmosphere not only benefits employees but enhances the quality of care for children.
Training programmes can equip employees with the knowledge to appreciate diverse cognitive styles and communication methods, creating a culture of empathy and support.
Flexible work schedules or remote working can accommodate different needs, whilst quiet spaces for breaks can minimise sensory overload and improve focus.
Encouraging open discussions about individual needs promotes collaboration and understanding. Regular check-ins can facilitate this dialogue, allowing for necessary adjustments.
By implementing these strategies, nurseries can empower neurodivergent employees, ultimately benefiting the entire team and the children in their care.
Some recommended links to support training and developing understanding of neurodiversity are: Child Mind Institute Autism Education Trust Neurodiversity Hub | |
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Foundation Years is funded by the Department for Education and brought to you by Begin Bright. |
Our mailing address is: foundationyears@beginbright.com | | | |
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