Early Years and Childcare Service Bulletin
Early Years and Childcare
Service Bulletin
Edition No 43
Document Details:
Status: V43
Date: March 2016
Document Location:
https://www.worcestershire.gov.uk/info/20155/early_years_and_childcare/967/bulletins_forums_and_ne
twork_meetings
Contact: Claire Bond - [email protected]
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Early Years and Childcare Service Bulletin
Contents
Early Years and Childcare Service Bulletin ................................................................................................
Edition No 43 .............................................................................................................................................
Contents .............................................................................................................................................. 2
Staffing changes: good bye and good luck ........................................................................................... 3
Annual nursery survey 2016 - England ................................................................................................ 5
2016 childcare survey .......................................................................................................................... 5
Early language development and children’s primary school attainment................................................ 6
Baseline Assessments ......................................................................................................................... 7
MBE for Services to Early Years .......................................................................................................... 7
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Early Years and Childcare Service Bulletin
Staffing changes: good bye and good luck
As you may be aware there are a number of staffing changes taking place over the next couple of weeks
within the Early Years and Childcare Service. We have already said good bye to Inclusion Support
Advisers Jessica Harris, Margaret Thomson and Jane Parsons along with Improvement Adviser Sarah
Williams.
The following Improvement Advisers will be leaving before Easter: Louise Morton, Kate Taylor, Katherine
Rose-Datson, Carly Kendrick, Karen Glazier, Julie Nugent and Dawn Hawker. Jacqui Towers will be
leaving the inclusion team along with Nursery Education Funding Outreach Worker Leigh Davis and the
Early Years and Childcare Manager Cath Ellicott.
We wish everyone who is leaving good luck for the future and thank them for their hard work and
commitment over the years.
From 1st April 2016 the following staff will continue to support and advice settings and schools:
Early Years Team: 01905 678134
Role
Name
Email
School Effectiveness Lead
Catherine
Crooks
[email protected]
Early Years Lead
Alison
Newman
[email protected]
Early Years Improvement Adviser
Sam Barrett
[email protected]
Early Years Improvement Adviser
Sam Ditchburn
[email protected]
Early Years Improvement Adviser
Sharron
Lannie
[email protected]
Early Years Improvement Adviser
Wendy Bevan
[email protected]
Early Years Nursery Education Funding Team: 01905 678136
Role
Name
Email
Nursery Education Funding Project
Manager/Business Support Officer
Catherine
Shotton
[email protected]
Nursery Education Funding Project
Manager
Nicola Burford
[email protected]
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Early Years and Childcare Service Bulletin
The following colleagues will support early years provision run under the auspices of School
Governing Bodies:
Role
Name
Email
Early Years Learning and Teaching
Adviser
Caroline Green
Not currently available
Early Years Learning and Teaching
Adviser
Jane Oswell
[email protected]
Early Years Learning and Teaching
Adviser
Leigh Tudgay
Not currently available
Early Years Learning and Teaching
Adviser
Gill Deakin
[email protected]
Early Years Learning and Teaching
Adviser
Sam Massey
[email protected]
Early Years Inclusion Team: 01905 678135
Role
Name
Email
Early Years Inclusion Co-Ordinator
(Specialist Guidance & Assessment)
Becky White
[email protected]
Area SENCO (Special Educational
Needs Co-ordinator)
Caroline Britton
[email protected]
Area SENCO (Special Educational
Needs Co-ordinator)
Sharon Andrews
[email protected]
Area SENCO (Special Educational
Needs Co-ordinator)
Deborah Carter
[email protected]
Area SENCO (Special Educational
Needs Co-ordinator)
Fiona Burrows
[email protected]
SENCO Support Advisor
Michelle Tideswell
[email protected]
SENCO Support Advisor
Kelly Molnar
[email protected]
Not currently available
Early Years Training: 01905 678137
Role
Name
Email
Training Co-ordinator
Rachael Oakley
[email protected]
To book on PLD courses, please use the website www.worcestershire.gov.uk/pld and select "Early Years and
Childcare"
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Early Years and Childcare Service Bulletin
Annual nursery survey 2016 - England
The seventh annual survey by National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA) warns that fewer than half of
nurseries will be able to offer extended free childcare planned by the government. Early years education
for three- and four-year-olds is to be doubled from 15 to 30 hours for each week of term time. Pilots of
the scheme are due to begin in the autumn and a full rollout will follow in 2017, under new legislation
covered by the Childcare Bill. However, the NDNA says that underfunding of the scheme means many
nurseries in England will struggle to provide the extended free care for pre-school children. The survey
found that found only 45 per cent of the 485 nurseries questioned said they were likely to extend the
number of free hours on offer. Nurseries said they were currently managing to offer 15 hours of free
childcare a week by plugging the shortfall in government funding. In practice, this meant parents paid a
higher rate for the hours their child spent in nursery above 15 hours. The average nursery had to absorb
a loss of about £34,000 a year due to the funding gap, with 89% of nurseries making a loss on free
places. The report makes a number of recommendations which include:

Ring fencing the early years block within schools funding so it can only be spent on the
free childcare offer

Ensure the new national funding formulas for schools and early years fund local
authorities on a consistent level per child

Cap local authority top-slicing at a minimal fixed rate nationally to maximise the amount of
funding that reaches
In Worcestershire the majority of the Early Years Funding is allocated to early years settings. The
funding level remains low in the authority. It is hoped there will be increased funding levels from
September 2017, as part of National Funding Review.
See the full report here:
http://www.ndna.org.uk/NDNA/All_About_Us/Surveys/Annual_Nursery_Survey_2016.aspx
2016 childcare survey
This year’s Family and Childcare Trust survey shows that nurseries have resisted fee increases for the
first time in eight years, amid fears they will price parents out of the market. However, government
reforms to wages and pensions will raise the staff bill and contribute to financial pressures on
childcare providers in the near future and the report warns that the freeze is not sustainable in the long
term. In addition, new funding arrangements for free early education are failing to meet the full cost in
some areas, forcing childcare providers to raise the amount they charge for additional hours.
The report also shows that more local authorities reported gaps for free early education places for three
and four-year-olds. It advises that if they do not receive early education, they are likely to be further
disadvantaged when they start school and it is calling on the government to address the low uptake of
free early education among three-year-olds as an immediate priority. The report says that the free place
entitlement should be made a legal right and nurseries should be subject to an admissions code.
See the full report here:
http://www.familyandchildcaretrust.org/sites/default/files/Childcare%20cost%20survey%202016%20FIN
AL%20VERSION.pdf
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Early Years and Childcare Service Bulletin
Early language development and children’s primary school
attainment
This study by Save the Children suggests that children with poor language skills at age five are
significantly more likely to struggle with maths and English at age 11. It analysed the progress of 5,000
children using data from the Millennium Cohort Study and the National Pupil Database in England.
Findings show that 21% of pupils who struggled with language as they began school, failed to meet the
expected standard in their Sats in maths at age 11 and 23% failed to meet the expected standard in
English. The analysis also looked at the impact of language skills on children’s attainment when other
factors, such as children’s experience of poverty, their parents’ education and their previous attainment,
were taken into consideration. Critically this showed that even when other factors are considered,
children who struggle with their language skills at age five are much less likely to meet the expected
standard in English and maths by the end of primary school. There is strong evidence that high-quality
early education and childcare can help boost the early language skills of young children, especially those
from disadvantaged backgrounds. This research re-emphasises the need to invest in good quality early
years services and support for parents, so that every child has the basic skills they need to succeed at
school. See the full report here:
http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/sites/default/files/images/early_language_development_briefing_pape
r.pdf
Tender for Early Years Specialist Language provision in Worcestershire
Worcestershire County Council is inviting tenders from organisations to manage and operate Early Years Specialist
Language provision for children aged 3-5 years old, in each district of Worcestershire from September 2016.
Tenders are invited from any suitable provider, who can meet the requirements set out in the Service Specification.
The full Tender documentation and Service Specification is available on the Worcestershire County Council Web
Tender Portal
https://e-services.worcestershire.gov.uk/etendering/ now.
These new arrangements for the Early Years Specialist Language provision will be a positive change for children
and families as they will be able to access provision in their locality, with shorter waiting times and better
availability. This will ensure children with complex language needs are given the opportunity to access specialist
and intensive developmental language support that will support their readiness for school and contribute to their
ability to achieve their full potential.
The contract will commence on the 1st of September 2016 for a period of 36 months to the 31st August 2019.
An open meeting for prospective Tenderers will be held at County Hall, Wednesday 23rd March 2016 at 16:00pm
in the Kidderminster Room. At this meeting Council Officers will give a verbal response to all questions that have
been submitted and to any questions raised at the meeting. Although questions will be accepted on the day, it
would be helpful to have received questions in writing beforehand to ensure that the Officers are able to give a full
response.
Tenderers requiring additional assistance, over and above the standard question and answer process, should send
requests to [email protected] in the first instance.
The closing date and time for receipt of completed tenders is Friday 22nd April 2016 at 4pm.
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Early Years and Childcare Service Bulletin
Baseline Assessments
As evidence grows showing commercial baseline assessments as children start school to be
unnecessary, unreliable and wasteful, an alliance of major early years organizations’ is gearing up to
focus attention on why the policy should be scrapped. The ‘Better Without Baseline’ campaign has
published a pack detailing arguments and evidence in opposition to the government’s plans.
The campaign pack describes four core reasons to oppose the baseline assessments, saying they are
an invalid way to hold primary schools to account, are detrimental to children, are an unjustifiable waste
of time and money at a time of austerity, and that the approach has been tried and abandoned in the
past.
The first published study by the ATL (Association of Teachers and Lecturers) and NUT (National Union
of Teachers) revealed that schools and children have already been negatively impacted. Over 90% of
the teachers surveyed felt that Baseline Assessment was not an accurate and fair way of assessing
children and 85% believed that it was unnecessary and had increased their workload.
The Better Without Baseline campaign is calling for the support of education professionals, parents and
teachers in challenging policymaking that fails to respond to the recommendations of democratic
consultation, and that prioritises school accountability over the best interests of the child. For more
information go to:
www.betterwithoutbaseline.org.uk
MBE for Services to Early Years
Congratulations to Alice Bennett, proprietor of
Madresfield Early Years Centre and the Worcester Early
Years Centre who was recently awarded the MBE for
services to early years.
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Early Years and Childcare Service Bulletin
Early Years and Childcare Service
Helpline (Team Number)
01905 678134
Email
[email protected]
Website
www.worcestershire.gov.uk/eycs
Learning and Teacher Advisers
Sam Massey
Caroline Green
[email protected]
[email protected]
Jane Oswell
Leigh Tudgay
[email protected]
[email protected]
Gill Deakin
[email protected]
Early Years Improvement Team
Alison Newman (Early
[email protected]
Years Lead)
Sam Barrett
[email protected]
Sam Ditchburn
[email protected]
Sharon Lannie
[email protected]
Wendy Bevan
[email protected]
NEF / 2yr Funding Team: Team Number : 01905 678136
Nicky Burford
Cath Shotton
Claire Bond
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
Direct
Not Assigned
Not currently
available
01905 678240
Not currently
available
Mobile
07889591610
07885977792
Direct
Not Assigned
Mobile
07889414658
01905 678314
01905 678250
01905 678251
01905 678249
07894258648
07889202083
Not Assigned
Not Assigned
01905 678248
01905 678242
01905 678227
07891807103
07889591849
2yr admin
Two year old funding email: [email protected]
Changes to provider details
Email
[email protected]
Phone
01905 728523 / 765459
Nursery Education Funding (NEF) 3 & 4 year olds
Phone: 01905 844494 / 844450 (payment and online Portal only)
Early Years Training : Team Number : 01905 678137
01905 678311
[email protected]
Training Co-ordinator
To book on PLD courses, please use the website www.worcestershire.gov.uk/pld and select "Early Years and Childcare"
Terms and conditions - www.worcestershire.gov.uk/earlyyearstraining
Bookings / other enquiries via email - [email protected]
Website - www.worcestershire.gov.uk/earlyyearstraining
Rachael Oakley
Inclusion Team – Helpline 01905 678135
Helpline (Team Number) 01905 678135
Becky White (Inclusion
[email protected]
Team Lead)
Caroline Britton
[email protected]
Deb Carter
[email protected]
Fiona Burrows
[email protected]
Kelly Molnar
Michelle Tideswell
Sharon Andrews
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
Access Centre (Children's Services Social Care) for Practitioners use
Mon – Fri 8.30am – 5.00pm
01905 768054
Evenings and weekends
01905 768020
Early Help Hub for Providers
Helpline
01905 822666
Website
www.earlyhelphub.co.uk
Email
[email protected]
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01905 678175
07885 977954
01905 678253
01905 678255
Not currently
available
01905 678256
01905 678244
01905 678252
07885 977538
07764 805122
07885 977442
07885 977742
07885 977158