Amanda Spielman's report was published last week. The headlines from the early years section summary are as follows: "Inspection outcomes for providers on the Early Years Register (EYR) remain strong. More than nine out of 10 were good or …
Ofsted have announced those that they have chosen to be on their early years pedagogy and practice forum. There is a wide range of knowledge and expertise amongst the forum members. It will be extremely interesting to hear how their discus…
Figures released by the DfE at the end of last week (29/11) highlighted the fall in new entrants to an early years teacher training course in the 2018/2019 academic year. Figures this year, at 365, are down from 550 last year. You can read…
On October 30th Ofsted released a series of updates and reviews to their registration regulation and requirement documents - the link to the Ofsted site is here, the link to the single registration and regulation document is here and the…
We have just published our half-termly newsletter. If you want a 'whistle-stop tour' of what has been happening on the forum since the end of July then the newsletter is a really good place to start. You can read about all the updates and c…
You may have read some of the furore in the EY press over the weekend regarding Gill Jones' comments on singing in nursery. Gill, Ofsted’s deputy director of early education, told an NAHT conference that the demise of singing in nursery …
Ofsted’s new inspections report website is going live on Tuesday 2 October, after which the existing reports site will no longer be available. The new site has been in BETA (testing) for a number of months alongside the old site. The new …
The Study of Early Education and Development (SEED), commissioned in 2012, includes a major longitudinal study designed to help the Department for Education (DfE) by providing evidence on the effectiveness of early years education and by id…
Following a request for clarification from the experts at Early Education it has now been confirmed that the Characteristics of Effective Learning will remain statutory in the new EYFS framework. You can read Early Education's response …
Ofsted is setting up a forum for academics, practitioners and researchers to talk about a wide range of early years issues.
How do young children learn to read?
What is the best way for them to develop physical skills?
…
Ofsted have today released the new EY3 form for childminders and other childcare providers to tell them about changes to childminding assistants, household members or certain people in organisations. You can download the form here and dis…
The new document replaces Working Together to Safeguard Children (2015). There are some amendments that will need to be written into policies and procedures, the NSPCC has provided an extremely useful guide to the changes. Additionally, …
On 3 March 2017, the Department for Education (DfE) published the early years workforce strategy that included the intention to work with the sector and awarding organisations to develop criteria for the content of level 2 childcare qualifi…
The announcement means that childcarers will no longer be disqualified from providing childcare or working in non-domestic childcare settings simply because someone who lives or works in their household is disqualified. The new rules do not…
BERA's analysis of the proposed baseline assessment for Reception children does not look favourably on the intended system. They say: "In the panel’s view the proposed baseline assessment will not lead to accurate comparisons being made …
The materials to be used by the EYFSP pilot schools have been published following the announcement by Children and Families Minister Nadhim Zahawi on Friday. You can read the full announcement here. From September, 25 schools across the co…
DfE have today published updated guidance for local authorities on the provision of early education and childcare. The guidance applies to the free entitlements for two-, three- and four-year-olds; securing sufficient childcare for workin…
The DfE have published an information leaflet concerning the new baseline assessment (comes into effect from September 2020). You can read the leaflet from here and share your thoughts and comments on this thread.
If you were not able to attend the recent Pre-school Learning Alliance conference in London, we have completed a write-up of the key-note speakers. You can read it here.
Following the treasury select committee's damning comments on the early years funding calculations Ceeda have calulated that there will be a £500 million shortfall in early years funding. You can read the Ceeda report here. You can discus…
The Department of Education has issued guidance to support the appointment of SENCOs. The job description that has been published can be accessed from here. Additionally, a EY SENCO L3 qualification specification has been published. The…
Chair of the Education Select Committee, Robert Halfon MP, has announced an inquiry into the impact that the early years of a child's life have on their life chances. The Committee’s inquiry aims to understand the impact that early ye…
New support to help parents improve their children’s early language and literacy skills at home before they start school have been announced today (30 April) by Education Secretary Damian Hinds. You can read about this funding boost and t…
As we have discussed before on the FSF the business rates re-evaluation that happened last year created significant increases for many non-charity run early years settings. With the increasing costs of minimum/living wage, pensions and con…
