News items: News items

Early Years Minister, Caroline Dinenage, confirms revised statutory guidance in the Spring

Wed, 01 Mar 2017 09:29:30 +0000

As expected, a revision to the statutory guidance will be issued this year to take into account the new paediatric first aid requirements and Safeguarding advice. There will also be a new model agreement for Local Authorities. Although issued in Spring, both documents will not come into effect until September 2017. The Pre-school Learning Alliance announced this on their Twitter page

National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) release draft guidelines regarding “soft” signs of abuse

Wed, 01 Mar 2017 09:28:12 +0000

The consultation is open until 19th April 2017 and as early years professionals we should take the time to respond. You can open the consultation documents from here

Campaigners report DfE to competitions authority over childcare 'price fixing'

Thu, 23 Feb 2017 13:47:59 +0000

CYPNOW is today reporting that the 'Champagne Nurseries for Lemonade Funding' group has reported the DfE to the Competition and Markets Authority complaining that many childcare providers will be forced to close because the money offered by the government for the 30 hours of care is not enough to cover the true cost. You can read the report here. The 30 hours funding is being discussed on this current thread.

'It’s time we gave the early years teachers the status, funding and tools they deserve'

Thu, 23 Feb 2017 13:47:06 +0000

James Bowen, writing in the TES says "If ministers want to close the disadvantage gap, they need to properly fund early years". You can read James' article here and discuss it on this thread.

Save the Children report

Wed, 22 Feb 2017 11:13:22 +0000

Save the Children are campaigning "for an early years teacher in every nursery in England – focusing first on the poorest areas that need this support the most" you can read their report here and comment on this thread.

Early Years Minister insists settings should charge for 'extras' as part of 30 hours funding

Mon, 20 Feb 2017 16:09:07 +0000

In a meeting with early years providers, Caroline Dinenage has reminded business owners that they should ensure that they charge for any extra services provided as part of their 30 hours 'offer' this will include any food, nappies, wipes or extra activities such as music or yoga. Whilst providers understand this, they are not allowed to make the paying for these 'additional' things a condition of the 30 hours place. Voices in the sector suggest that to use the term 'free' in relation to the offer is misleading to parents if providers are going to need to charge extra to make the 30 hours scheme workable. You can read comment from the sector here and here.

The Centre for Economic Performance (London School of Economics and Political Science) has today released their discussion paper:

Fri, 17 Feb 2017 10:05:40 +0000

Quality in Early Years Settings and Children’s School Achievement. The main findings were that "although children’s outcomes are related to the nursery they attend, which nurseries are good cannot be predicted by staff qualifications and OfSTED ratings; the measures of quality that Government has focused on." You can discuss the paper on this thread.

DfE release Deloitte data

Mon, 13 Feb 2017 15:52:15 +0000

Further to the Pre-school Learning Alliance's (PLA) freedom of information request (which was granted back in November) Deloitte have released the data upon which the 'cost of childcare' report was based. Neil Leitch of PLA has expressed his disappointment saying "we have a piece of research based on a very small, non-random sample of providers who have been presented with a set of very broad, poorly-worded questions asking them to estimate their delivery costs, with no specific guidance as to what these estimates should include. How can anyone in government think that this as an adequate approach to information-gathering? It's little wonder that it took over a year and the intervention of the ICO for the Department to release this data" You can examine the data yourself from here. You can discuss the data on this thread.

'No shortcuts, quality and the free childcare extension' survey

Fri, 10 Feb 2017 13:07:22 +0000

More than half of the local authorities surveyed by Family and Childcare Trust (FACT) are unsure they will have enough availability to double funded hours. The survey, was sent to all Local Authorities who would be implementing the 30 hours in their area. 112 local authorities responded out of 152 eligible. Of the 112, over half (54%) said they did not know if they would have enough childcare available for eligible pre-schoolers using the 30 hours. A third (33%) said that there would be sufficient places, while a further 13% said there would not be enough. More than two-thirds (67%) said they thought some childcare providers in their area would not offer the entitlement to 30 free hours of care. You can read the full BBC news report here and the NDNA press release here

'The Wright Stuff' programme

Fri, 10 Feb 2017 13:06:37 +0000

The 30 hours debate was further fuelled this week when Matthew Wright discussed it on 'The Wright Stuff'. The antagonistic debate created much anger and upset amongst the early years sector, particularly Wright's comment that childminders and nurseries were "(running) into the sunset with bags of taxpayers’ cash." The programme prompted robust comments from both the NDNA and the PLA. You can read in Nursery World what Purmina Tanuku of NDNA and Neil Leitch of PLA said in their responses.

Nursery World masterclass

Wed, 08 Feb 2017 14:09:43 +0000

On Friday 3rd February FSF were at the Nursery World show in London attending the 'self-regulation masterclass'. The first two speakers, Clancy Blair and C.Cybele Raver are extremely eminent psychologists working in the field of self-regulation in young children. The third speaker was Dr Julian Grenier, ‎Headteacher at Sheringham Nursery School and Children's Centre. You can read the notes from the lectures and access Dr Grenier's PowerPoint presentation in this thread

Tulip Siddiq steps down as shadow early years minister

Mon, 06 Feb 2017 16:58:07 +0000

The MP quit in response to Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn's confirmation that Labour MPs would be expected to back the upcoming Article 50 bill, which will trigger the UK's exit from the EU, in parliament. Tulip will remain as MP for Hampstead and Kilburn. FSF met with Tulip late last year when she was speaking at the petitions committee debate about parents' access to free childcare hours. We were developing a good working relationship and we hope we will be able to do similarly with the next post holder. Nursery World magazine have written at length about Tulip's departure from her early years role. You can read their article here: Tulip Siddiq quits as shadow early years minister

Government announces a further four trial areas for 30 hours free childcare

Mon, 06 Feb 2017 16:57:24 +0000

The additional 4 four local authorities brings the total number of early implementers to 12. Hopefully the information gained from these trial providers will help inform and educate settings and parents when the full roll out occurs in September. You can read the PLA press release here and the Nursery World comment here. We are discussing the 30 hours funding on the forum: 30 hour funding and how to offer it

Ofsted trial new Facebook page for childminder registrations

Tue, 31 Jan 2017 11:51:28 +0000

The page, designed to help childminders navigate the application and registration process, has been launched as a 3 month trial. Links to useful documents and frequently asked questions are all addressed on the page. You can access the trial page from here. Nursery World have written about the trial here. If you are a childminder we'd like to hear your thoughts on this forum thread.

Headteachers' union review group calls for reintroduction of baseline assessment

Wed, 25 Jan 2017 10:55:55 +0000

The headteachers' union NAHT review group has called for the abolition of tests at the end of KS1 and has asked that the baseline assessment be reintroduced in Reception classes. Their view is that there is too much testing in KS1 and that a single, effective baseline using teachers' professional observations was a better bench mark for progress at the end of KS2 than the formal assessments at the end of Year 2. You can read the report in TES here and the PLA comment here. If you would like to share your views then our forum thread can be found here.

Keeping children safe in education and Ofsted’s role

Wed, 25 Jan 2017 10:55:15 +0000

Sean Harford's blog clarifies inspectors' expectations when they are looking at safeguarding in schools and early years settings. Read his blog and access additional documents from here.

Government underestimates eligibility for 30 hour offer

Wed, 25 Jan 2017 10:54:30 +0000

Research conducted by Ceeda and commissioned by PLA has highlighted serious miscalculations in the DfE's predicted figures regarding the number of children that will be seeking to claim 30 hours free childcare from September 2017. You can read the research here, the BBC news report here and talk about it on our forum thread here

Speech and language review underway

Fri, 20 Jan 2017 11:55:22 +0000

10 years on from the Bercow review a new inquiry is underway following up the findings regarding children's language and communication skills. The Royal College of Speech and Language is working together with the I CAN charity (who developed the 'Chatter Matters' programme) to examine the success, or otherwise, of the recommendations put forward 10 years ago. You can read the I CAN announcement here.

NDNA annual survey

Thu, 19 Jan 2017 15:12:36 +0000

The NDNA have released their annual survey about the state of the EY sector. The NDNA are great advocates for providers and so completing their survey accurately and honestly makes it easier for them to represent the sector comprehensively. The deadline for completion is 4pm on Wednesday 8th February. Access the survey here.

Childcare funding 'will create 9,000 places'

Thu, 19 Jan 2017 15:11:54 +0000

The government has announced the successful bidders for the capital funding attached to the 30 hour provision. There will be 6 focus areas to begin with and then there are other additional Local Authorities who will receive funding to enable their areas to provide sufficient places for the 30 hour roll out from September 2017. You can read the DfE announcement here and follow the FSF discussion thread here.

DfE commits to children's centres consultation

Wed, 11 Jan 2017 11:45:13 +0000

Children and Young People Now (CYP) have been told that "the children's centres consultation is still going ahead, and is likely to launch in early 2017 as a departmental priority, separate of the social justice green paper". You can read their report from here.

The report following the 'Cutting Red Tape' review has been published

Fri, 30 Dec 2016 11:14:44 +0000

The report summarises the responses sent by various sector contributors and lists the findings clearly. The findings include Provider difficulties with the Ofsted registration and inspection processes, changes to statutory requirements, the impact of local authority changes and the ongoing difficulties regarding sustainability that Providers face. The Government has responded, promising action to address the key findings. You can read the report from this link. Cutting Red Tape Review report. You can comment on the report on this forum thread

Response to Ofsted's annual report

Tue, 20 Dec 2016 16:34:39 +0000

Sir Michael Wilshaw's final annual report has been released and the sector has had a chance to digest the contents. Gill Jones HMI has spoken to Nursery World to explain and clarify the findings as they relate to Early Years. There are several notable points to consider. You can read Gill's piece for Nursery World here and you can read Sir Michael's report in full from here.

National body calls for investment in early years education to increase social mobility

Tue, 20 Dec 2016 16:33:32 +0000

The National Association of Headteachers(NAHT) has called for a reallocation of funds from the government's grammar school plans towards investment in early years. The NAHT state that investment in early years has more impact on social mobility than investment in grammar schools. The Observer (Saturday 10th December) published a lengthy article explaining why investment in early years is crucial. You can read the full article here.

EYFSP handbook for 2017 updated

Mon, 12 Dec 2016 10:14:40 +0000

The handbook has been updated with further information for local authorities. You can download the updated document and associated papers from here.