Early years in schools

Support for all schools in the early years foundation stage (EYFS), reception, nursery and governor run pre-schools.

Our School Improvement and Teaching and Learning Advisers can support you with bespoke early years provision requirements:

Examples of support may include:

Detailed analysis and interpretation of EYFS profile data, trends and school context to inform provision

• supporting early years in the journey from Good to Outstanding
• an audit of early years practice and provision to inform your SEF
• creating effective and inspiring indoor and outdoor provision
• quality assurance visits by a Lead EYFS adviser

Differentiated and bespoke support for teachers new to EYFS.

Benefits

• improve or sustain your Ofsted judgements
• develop the leadership capacity of your staff
• improve outcomes for pupils
• develop knowledge and skills of all adults working in EYFS to meet the needs of children

Enhance the quality of teaching and learning of children with SEND in your early years setting with the support of our bespoke consultancy, training and advice service.

We can create bespoke support according to your school’s individual requirements. Activities may include:

• supporting early identification and intervention
• observations and planning for children with SEND
• advice on role of Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCo)
• guidance on individual support/educational plans and provision maps
• visual aids and strategies
• strategies to support specific areas of development
• promoting positive behaviour for children with additional needs
• support with liaison with parents for consistency of approach
• guidance on SEND policies required within early years settings
• support with and signposting to a range of professionals and specialist agencies
• advice on providing quality transition support
• audit of inclusive practice and send action plan (6 hours)

Benefits

• effective leadership and management
• enhanced quality of provision
• staff confident in matters of inclusion
• meet the requirements of the Ofsted framework
• raised attainment and improved outcomes for children

Contact    

Email: EYCC@worcschildrenfirst.org.uk

Training

Inclusion training can also be purchased as in-house training, which provides practitioners with the opportunity to train all staff (maximum 20) to fully embed the learning in your setting’s day to day practice. Some examples of training include:

• introduction to speech and language difficulties in the early years (£258)
• promoting positive behaviour 0 to 5 (£258)
  effective early identification for SEND (£258)
• individual provision mapping (£258)
• thumbs up with fidget (£258)
• inclusive practice workshop - 3 hours - £386
• new to role of SENCo training (includes send code of practice and role of SENCo) - 4 hours - £515

Develop your leadership of SEND and inclusion by conducting a SEND audit of your provision. An experienced early years inclusion consultant will complete an observation of your setting (maximum 2 rooms) using a checklist to audit your provision. It will determine any adaptations, resources, training or activities that require development to support inclusive practice and to improve outcomes for children with SEND. An action plan will be produced in liaison with the setting SENCo and/or manager to achieve future developments.

The early years inclusion consultant will spend 3-hours observing general practice in your setting, and a staff survey will be completed prior to the observation.

The audit will incorporate the following areas of practice:

• graduated response
• partnership with parents
• promoting positive behaviour
• inclusion funding
• send policies and procedures
• interactions between staff and child
• staff training and CPD
• children who are looked after

The consultant will feedback their findings to the SENCo and/or manager and an action plan will be produced in conjunction with the setting (approximately 1 hour).

Benefits

• preparation for Ofsted ‘readiness’ and quality assurance self-evaluations
• enhance the quality of provision and support better outcomes for children with SEND and/or disabilities
• improve provision of inclusive educational activities; embedding a clear graduated approach to meeting SEND needs
• recommendations of next steps and areas of staff development

Support is available for all schools, governing bodies, pre-school committees, nursery managers and owners, childminders. Consultancy is delivered by our Business Support Officer, who has a wealth of knowledge and experience in business management in the early years and childcare sector.

Support for business managers, head teachers or governing bodies ensuring pre-school provision is sustainable and profitable or advice and support in providing pre-school or after school provision to support school viability and children’s outcomes.

Ensuring systems and policies are put in place to maximise the sustainability and high quality of an early years or out of school setting that meets legal requirements including Ofsted.

Ensure policies and procedures support good business practices, planning for future success, creating easy monitoring systems, financial viability and stability.

Bespoke support is available to meet your specific requirements, for example:

• setting up or taking over pre-school or after school care
• business planning
• business re-modelling
• increasing your occupancy
• Nursery Education Funding
• sustainability issues, setting fees, debt management, financial systems
• exploring marketing and the childcare market
• reviewing business policies to maximise effectiveness
• new manager support

These meetings will support practitioners working in reception classes, school based nurseries to understand national and local updates, new legislation and guidance to develop and enhance the practice.

During the EYFS schools clusters, practical ideas of best practice along with collaborative discussions of how ideas can be transferred back into your schools will be shared.

We encourage attending the cluster in your own district however delegates can choose the most suitable cluster to attend based on time and date.

To ensure that we do not breach health and safety at the venues places must be booked via CPD online using your School CPD Leaders login details.

Access CPD online

All schools are required to take an active part in LA agreement trialling and discussions around the Early Learning Goal’s (ELG's).

These sessions enable staff to achieve this on a Worcestershire wide scale with experienced EYFSP moderators and colleagues across the county

Suitable for EYFS teachers, teaching assistants, headteachers and senior leadership team.

All sessions are taking place at Worcester Racecourse and to ensure health and safety at the venue all places must be booked via CPD Online using your schools CPD Leader login details.

Access CPD online

Schools who are interested in opening up early years provision should use the following guidance documents to support them through the process: 

• Guidance for maintained schools (PDF)
• Guidance for academy schools (PDF)

The first steps

Before any decisions are made, it is important for schools to consider the following:

• is there any demand for early years provision in their community?
• what impact will the provision have on the capacity of the school?
• does the school have space for an early years setting?
• how is the provision going to be financed? 

To ensure that appropriate support can be provided, the following form should be completed by schools who are considering opening early years provision, School Based Early Years Provision - Initial Proposal Form

Governor led provision

For schools that have formally made the decision to open Governor Led provision, the following form should be completed, Governor-Led School Based Early Years Provision - Post Consultation Form