Early Years Latest News

Ofsted have improved how they will report the findings of education inspections.

They have designed their new-look report cards with parents and carers in mind, to give you a clearer picture of what’s working well and where the next steps for improvement are – at a childminder, nursery, school, college or apprenticeship provider. That might be where your child already goes, or places you’re comparing before you choose the best option for them.

This page explains more about the new report cards and the grades we give in them.

Please print and display the following poster in your setting for families to use.

Steps to starting school

The DfE’s Early Years recruitment campaign launched on Friday 2nd February 2024.

The campaign aims to highlight the difference EY professionals make to children and how rewarding working in the sector can be.

The campaign will direct applicants to use the Department for Work and Pensions’ Find a Job platform to search for EY roles in their area. The DfE are asking for your support to ensure as many EY vacancies as possible are listed on Find a Job ahead of the campaign launch. To upload your vacancies go to Find a Job and click on the employer tab at the top of the page.

Please watch these video tutorials to help you create an employer account, and post any current or upcoming roles in your setting. You should use the term ‘early years’ in the title of your job adverts and select ‘Education jobs’ for the job category.

The Find a Job service is free to use and will ensure your vacancies are seen by a large pool of candidates. Please note this will be in addition to the free advertising service. Early Years Jobs we offer on our website.

To read more, please click here.

There are 2 statutory EYFS frameworks: 

• EYFS statutory framework for childminders 
• EYFS statutory framework for group and school-based providers 

Providers are responsible for ensuring they follow the current version of the framework for their provider type.

To read more please click the link Early years foundation stage (EYFS) statutory framework - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

The DfE are asking education settings to share key messages from the NHS about MMR / measles and how to get vaccinated.

The Back to school MMR Guidance from the NHS includes information to share, as well as example social media posts which can be found here: NHS Vaccine Poster and NHS MMR Poster.

Measles is highly infectious and if left unvaccinated nine out of ten children in a classroom/setting can catch the disease if just one child is infectious. Please share these resources with colleagues, parents, and where suitable, community organisations to increase awareness and encourage parents to get their children vaccinated.