Sure Start Early Years and Childcare

1

• Sure Start Early Years and Childcare
• Norma Smeaton
• November 29, 2008

2
The Childcare Act 2006

• Addresses early years and childcare specifically
  and places responsibility for childcare provision
  with local authorities, charging them with
  raising quality, improving delivery and achieving
  better results.
• Local authorities are expected to work with
  public bodies, private companies and voluntary
  organisations to ensure that there is sufficient
  childcare available and that that is of the
  highest quality.
• They are also expected to make sure that parents'
  views are heard in the planning and delivery of
  new services, so that new childcare schemes and
  businesses in each area reflect the real needs of
  families.

3
Duties imposed on Local Authorities by the
Childcare Act 2006

• The outcomes duty
• The sufficiency duty
• The duty to provide information, advice and
  assistance
• In addition, the Act also seeks to reform the
  regulation of childcare through Ofsted.

4
The Outcomes Duty

• Imposed to improve the Every Child Matters
  outcomes for all children under 5 to improve
  their wellbeing and reduce inequalities in
  achievements by enabling them to access high
  quality early childhood services.
• Requires Local Authorities to work with partners
  in NHS, Jobcentre Plus and other statutory,
  maintained, private, voluntary and independent
  sectors

5
Childrens Centres

• Childrens centres are service hubs where
  children under five years old and their families
  can receive seamless, integrated services and
  information
• These services vary according to centre but may
  include
• Integrated early education and childcare - all
  centres will either offer early years provision
  on site or will have a link to another provider
  nearby.
• Support for parents e,g. on parenting, local
  childcare options and access to specialist
  services for families.
• Child and family health services - including
  health screening, ante natal support, health
  visitor services, smoking cessation and
  breast-feeding support etc.
• Helping parents into work - with links to the
  local Job Centre Plus and training opportunities
  that will lead to employment.

6

• Childrens Centres provide universal services
• however
• It is the duty of the Local Authority to identify
  and assist those parents who would not otherwise
  access the services on offer and encourage them
  to take up those services
• The emphasis on provision has to be narrowing the
  gap between the most disadvantaged children and
  the rest

7
Evaluation

• All Childrens Centres will be required to submit
  a Self Evaluation Form, detailing their
  performance against the targets set by DCSF
• The SEF leads to the Annual Conversation with
  the Local Authority from which actions may be
  identified and incorporated into a plan
• Continued funding will be dependent on
  satisfactory performance

8
Targets A Childrens Centre in every community
by 2010 i.e. 3,500 across the whole country

• In Warwickshire
• 13 Childrens Centres in phase 1, 2004-06
• 17 Childrens Centres in Phase 2 2006-08
• 10 Childrens Centres in Phase 3 2008-10
• The number of centres is determined by DCSF,
  based on an optimum number of 800 children in the
  target reach area of each centre

9
The Sufficiency Duty

• to secure provision that meets local needs, as
  far as is reasonably practicable, that would
  enable parents to work or undertake training that
  would allow them to return to work.
• to secure free early years provision (the free
  entitlement) for children from the term after
  their third birthday until he or she is of school
  age.
• to undertake a new sufficiency assessment, at
  least, every three years but to update the
  existing one annually.

10
The Flexible Free Entitlement to Nursery Education

• Current offer
• is 12.5 hours over 5 sessions per week, over 38
  weeks per year
• Where a child attends two PVI settings, the
  funding is split proportionately between them
• If a child attends a maintained setting and a PVI
  setting, all of the funding goes to the
  maintained setting

11

• Extended offer
• 15 hours per week over a minimum of 3 days per
  week, and a minimum of 38 weeks per year
• Minimum of 2 hours in a block per day
• Maximum of 10 hours per day (13 hours in total if
  taken over 2 days for more than 38 weeks)
• Maximum of 2 providers (except in exceptional
  circumstances)
• Funding will be split between providers,
  regardless of the type of setting

12
Timescales

• From September 2009 we must offer the FFE to our
  25 most disadvantaged families (approx 3,000
  children aged 3 and 4)
• From September 2010, the offer will apply to all
  children in the country in the eligible age group

13
Early Years Foundation Stage

• The EYFS is now mandatory for all schools and
  early years providers in Ofsted registered
  settings (from September 2008)
• It therefore applies not only to pre-schools and
  nursery classes but to childminders and out of
  school clubs where they take EYFS aged children
  (0 end of academic year in which the childs
  fifth birthday falls).

14
Improving quality and consistency

• The EYFS brings together the learning and welfare
  elements of care for young children. The
  standards apply to most settings so that parents
  can be assured of quality regardless of the
  setting they choose for their child.

15
The 6 areas covered by the early learning goals
and the educational programmes

• Personal, social and emotional development
• Communication, language and literacy
• Problem solving, reasoning and numeracy
• Knowledge and understanding of the world
• Physical development
• Creative development

16
The Single Funding Formula

• From 2010
• all local authorities will be required to change
  how nursery children are counted in the
  maintained sector so that there is a consistent
  approach to pupil counting across maintained and
  private, voluntary and independent (PVI) sector
  providers.
• local authorities will be required to use a
  single local formula for funding early years
  provision in the maintained and PVI sectors.

17

• The current funding arrangements for early years
  differ depending on the setting. Funding
  arrangements for nursery schools maintained
  nursery classes and private, voluntary and
  independent sector providers are all different.
• The use of a single funding formula is intended
  to ensure that funding is allocated through a
  process that is transparent. It does not
  necessarily mean that all providers will be
  funded at the same level but that the same
  factors have been taken into consideration when
  deciding on the allocation of funding.

18

• Currently there is a working group, comprised of
  members of the maintained, private, voluntary and
  independent sectors, working together to produce
  a formula that is acceptable to all.
• There is no extra money for early years provision
  so there are likely to be winners and losers in
  the single formula
• We are required now to have a representative from
  the PVI sector on the Schools Forum

19
Further information

• Smalltalk the Early Years and Childcare
  newsletter
• Family Information Service 0845 090 8044 or
  email fis_at_warwickshire.gov.uk
• Sure Start website www.surestart.gov.uk
• Early Years and Childcare Team contact you
  local Area Manager through Krishna Shindroja
  01926 742232
• Early Years Advisory Team 02476 349694

20
(No Transcript)
21
(No Transcript)
22
(No Transcript)
23
(No Transcript)
24
(No Transcript)