Welcome to the final FSF newsletter of this academic year. We, at FSF HQ, wish you a well earned summer break if you are having one, and a trouble-free, weather blessed summer if you are not! This half term has seen a run of exceptionally hot weather, hopefully your end of term parties and sports days haven't been too badly affected. The forums have been busy, as usual, with a wide range of topics being discussed and questions being raised. Since the last newsletter was published the GDPR has come into effect. If you are still looking for some advice or template resources then our GDPR thread will help. We have also been busily posting resources provided by our generous members in our library, you can access that here. If you would like to upload resources to our collection you can do it yourself, or you can send them to me rebecca@eyfs.info and I will do it for you! If the seemingly never ending 'to do' list is getting on top of you you might find a friendly chat in our 'it's Friday!' thread provides a little respite.
We work hard at FSF to bring you the latest news and developments in our sector. This 1/2 term we have highlighted the following for you: The team at Ceeda (research organisation) have calculated a £500 million shortfall in early years funding, the Pre-school Learning Alliance held their Minds Matter conference at the beginning of June - the FSF were please to be invited and to write up the day. We were able to bring you the detail for the proposed baseline assessment in Reception and also the reponse from BERA which was highly sceptical. There is new guidance too for local authorities regarding the provision of early education and childcare. We have also brought you the announced amendments to the disqualification arrangments for childcare staff working in settings. Our very excellent members are also very prompt at making sure new information is shared across the forum: Revised ELGs and EYFP pilots.
We will be jointly hosting the APPG for Childcare and Early Education lobby day at Westminster, on Wednesday 18th July. This is an opportunity for providers and MPs to talk together about the state of the sector and discuss ways forward for everyone. We are taking several forum members with us, child minders, a nursery owner, a nursery business manager as well as some FSF staff who will be representing the views of our forum. We will report back once the day is completed - if you are interested in being invited to attend such events please drop me an email and I'll make sure you are invited next time.
LA Scheme
We'd like to welcome back members from the following authority, which has renewed their LA subscription. Members from this authority need do nothing; their individual accounts will automatically be re-subscribed:
For their 12th year – Brighton & Hove
New Content
Jenny Barber wrote for us this half term 'Shake up! Refresh! How to reflect and move your setting on...'. Jenny's article encourages us to consider how we make changes to our provision that are necessary, understood and consistently implemented by our staff teams. Elizabeth Jarman also contributed this half term with an article: Visiting Settings and Schools: A Fresh Pair of Eyes!. Elizabeth reminds us to look at our setting as others see it - daily exposure to the setting stops you being able to see what needs to change and what could be improved.
This half term we have reviewed the following books which were recommended to us by Anni McTavish. You can read the review of 'The Lion inside' here and read about 'Super Daisy and the peril of Planet Pea' here.
We have kept our courses and events page full with some excellent online courses provided by the team at Mindstretchers
From The Forum
How to turn from a committee run provision to a CIC
We'd like to welcome back members from the following authority, which has renewed their LA subscription. Members from this authority need do nothing; their individual accounts will automatically be re-subscribed:
For their 12th year – Brighton & Hove
Jenny Barber wrote for us this half term 'Shake up! Refresh! How to reflect and move your setting on...'. Jenny's article encourages us to consider how we make changes to our provision that are necessary, understood and consistently implemented by our staff teams. Elizabeth Jarman also contributed this half term with an article: Visiting Settings and Schools: A Fresh Pair of Eyes!. Elizabeth reminds us to look at our setting as others see it - daily exposure to the setting stops you being able to see what needs to change and what could be improved.
This half term we have reviewed the following books which were recommended to us by Anni McTavish. You can read the review of 'The Lion inside' here and read about 'Super Daisy and the peril of Planet Pea' here.
We have kept our courses and events page full with some excellent online courses provided by the team at Mindstretchers
From The Forum How to turn from a committee run provision to a CIC
We are a committee run provision struggling along and now need to look at an alternative....Cic looks like an option does anyone know anything about it......
COSHH data sheets
Here's a question ...
For (donkey's) years we have collected, updated, audited, reviewed our COSHH data sheets to ensure that we have a sheet for pretty much everything a child might ingest by accident. When I recently renewed my first aid quailfication the paramedic who was running the course was utterly amazed that we still did this. She told me that the ambulance service have access to the full COSHH database and so if a child ingested something and we phoned an ambulance they would look it up anyway and wouldn't need the sheet we have (so carefully) prepared. I assume that means that hospitals do the same - so why am I doing this? I've checked the Statutory Framework and it doesn't say it ... is it a health and safety requirement?
I have found this which tells us of the legal requirement to control the substances themselves and ensure the working environment is safe - doesn't say about keeping a log or data sheets.
Does anyone know?
Level 3 Early Years SENCO qualification
Does anyone know when this qualification will become available and if so with whom? Thanks
Transporting
We have a little boy in our setting that is obsessed with a toy wheelbarrow. He chooses it everyday, if he cannot find it he will ask an adult for it. He puts things in it, usually his toy George pig or other items he finds on his travels. How can i extend this?
Moving to school site
Has anybody else moved their pre-school from a village hall to a school site and succeeded? We are a small village pre school that has run from the village hall for the last 40 years but have struggled for children. I think we have exhausted all the children in the village who have been through me in the past so are relying on children from the outlying villages and towns. As a consequence of this the village school is really struggling. We are sending them 2 children this year and they will have only 4 in reception for September and 7 in Year 1. They are a junior school so only go up to Y2. In the past they haven't wanted much to do with us as we had asked a long time ago if we could merge and they said no. Come to now and the lack of children and I was asked today if I thought it was a good idea that we are merging. Now, I didn't know anything about this and said so! Quick backtrack to say it was only an idea but what a good idea.
Is it though? It would mean our own building which would not be a packaway as we are at the moment. They say they wouldn't interfere but would they?
Can you please let me know if you have done this and have you benefited massively or has it been a nightmare.
Thanks
Putting a Tender together
Does anyone have experience of putting a tender together for a new setting? What does it entail?
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