Early Years Latest News

Baby Week Buckinghamshire returns from 14 - 20 November 2026, bringing together families, practitioners and communities to celebrate the best start in life for babies and young children.

This year's theme, “Chat, Play, Read with Me: Together We Build the Best Start”, highlights the important role that talking, playing and reading together have in supporting children's development, relationships and lifelong wellbeing.

The full programme of family and professional events will be available soon. Keep an eye on the Baby Week Buckinghamshire webpage for updates.

Professional Network Events

A series of free Family Hub Network Partner Events will take place across Buckinghamshire in the lead-up to Baby Week, offering opportunities to connect with colleagues, share practice and learn more about local support available for families with young children.

• Mapledean Family Hub Network Partner Event – Baby Week 2026 Tickets, Wednesday, November 4  10:30 AM - 12:30 PM | Eventbrite 

• Elmhurst Family Hub Network Partner Event – Baby Week 2026 Tickets, Monday, November 9 |  1 PM - 3 PM | Eventbrite 

• Burnham Family Hub Network Partner Event – Baby Week 2026 Tickets, Wednesday, November 11  | 10:30 AM - 12:30 PM | Eventbrite 

Get Involved

Baby Week is a great opportunity to showcase the services, activities and support available to babies, young children and families across Buckinghamshire. If you would like to get involved, please contact Katie Francis at katie.francis@buckinghamshire.gov.uk.

We are seeking feedback on Buckinghamshire’s new Accessibility Strategy for 2027-32 and would welcome comments from schools and settings, parents and carers, and children and young people before the strategy is finalised.

The strategy supports our shared vision:

“To build a better future for all children and young people in Buckinghamshire so they realise their potential, whatever their starting point is.”

It sets out how we will work together to ensure all children and young people can participate fully in education and school life. It focuses on four key areas:

• Increasing access to the curriculum
• Improving the physical environment of schools
• Improving access to information
• Improving access to enrichment opportunities, extended provision and wider school life

We Want Your Feedback

We are keen to hear your views on the draft strategy, including whether the proposed priorities are the right ones and if there is anything missing that should be considered.

Please review the draft strategy and complete the consultation by 15 November:

https://yourvoicebucks.citizenspace.com/schools/accessibility-strategy-2027-2032

If you have any questions, or require the consultation documents in an alternative format, please email educationconsultation@buckinghamshire.gov.uk or call 01296 383225.

Please also share this opportunity with your parents and carers. We've attached a digital flyer to make this as easy as possible.

Thank you for taking the time to help shape the final Accessibility Strategy for Buckinghamshire.

On the 10th September 2026, the government published new guidance about Information Sharing. This changes the good practice of sharing information into a duty to share. The guidance document 'Information sharing advice for safeguarding practitioners (DfE, 2024)' has now been superseded and replaced with 'Information Sharing Duty Statutory guidance for safeguarding organisations and their practitioners (UK Government, September 2026)'.

From 30th September 2026, the Children Act 2004 section 16LA, inserted by the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026, says that information sharing is a legal duty.

Where schools, settings, childminders and all childcare providers hold information relevant to safeguarding or promoting a child's welfare and sharing it may help another agency covered by the duty to take action, they must share it. There is no threshold that has to be met first.

Currently, KCSIE 2026 mentions this new duty once, at paragraph 144, describing it as a duty "intended to give staff greater confidence to share information appropriately ... and in a timely way to safeguard children". KCSIE gives no commencement date, no reference to section 16LA, and no indication that it is a requirement. Paragraph 149 then directs the reader to the old information sharing advice, which has now been replaced on the same page under the same link.

Updated guidance key changes (from 30th September 2026):

• Must, not may. The old advice reassured practitioners that the law allowed them to share. The new guidance requires it.
• 'Seven golden rules'.  The new document's framing has changed and does not mention the seven golden rules, nor has it replaced them with anything similar.
• Consent. Previously, golden rule three told us to consider a family's objection to sharing and then consider overriding it. The new guidance calls that a false choice: identify your lawful basis for sharing first, then explain what will happen rather than ask for permission you do not need.
• Early help referrals. Schools must share relevant information they hold, even where the family does not agree, because consent is no longer needed. Families still choose whether to take up any support offered.
• Confidentiality. Under the duty, there is no need to consider the overriding public interest, and a disclosure made under it does not breach any obligation of confidence.
• Requests. Responding to another agency's request is now part of the duty, not good practice.

The only exception to sharing is where sharing would be more detrimental to the child than not sharing, which the guidance expects to be rare.

Data protection has never been a barrier to sharing, and that has not changed. What has changed is the question: it is no longer whether you may share, it is that you must.

Follow up actions

• Check what your safeguarding policy says about seeking consent before a referral and information sharing, and update with the new guidance information.
• Download the latest version and replace the obsolete guidance document in your reference file.
• Discuss the impact of the changes with your organisation’s Data Protection Officer.
• Review the updated guidance with your staff team, assistants and any volunteers so they understand the changes and procedures to follow if they had a concern. 

You can find the guidance here: Information Sharing Duty - Statutory Guidance September 2026

The Department for Education (DfE) announced in March that it will be providing an Inclusive Early Years Fund to support the early years sector in becoming more inclusive for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

This funding marks a first step towards a more coherent and inclusive early years SEND funding system. It is upfront funding intended to:

• support providers in adopting setting-wide inclusive practices
• reduce reliance on individual child-based funding applications
• enable early intervention for children with SEND

The allocation we received was based on the number of 3&4 year olds claiming Universal hours recorded in both the Early Years and School January 2026 censuses.

To ensure we are using the most up-to-date information to work out how much each provider will receive, we used data from the Summer 2026 censuses (both Early Years and Schools).  

The Inclusive Early Years Fund will be split as follows:

• Childminders and wrap-around care providers, with at least one eligible 3&4 year old will receive £300 each
• The remaining funding will be distributed evenly across all Early Years settings and schools who claimed funding for a 3&4 year old.  This works out at £1,298.22 each

The Inclusive Early Years Fund will be paid to qualifying providers in September 2026.

The DfE has indicated that the fund should be used to support activities such as:

• strategic planning
• workforce development
• adaptations or resources to create an inclusive environment

Local Authorities will be required to ensure that this funding is used for its intended purpose. Therefore, providers must retain appropriate financial records (for example, detailed spreadsheets or receipts) demonstrating how the funding has been spent.

Friday 27^th November 2026: The Gateway, Aylesbury, HP19 8FF

Be part of our annual Early Years Conference and join colleagues from across the sector for an inspiring day of learning, collaboration and fresh thinking. Drawing on the Best Start in Life Plan, this exciting event will bring together expert speakers, engaging workshop sessions and opportunities to explore effective practice that can make a lasting difference for children and families.

Delegates will hear from keynote speaker Gary Wilson: What if we started by listening to our boys? Drawing on a wealth of experience and the powerful voices of young children themselves, renowned education consultant Gary Wilson explores how understanding boys’ perspectives can transform outcomes from the very beginning of their learning journey.

Participants will also be able to choose 2 Workshops to attend from the following:

• Workshop 1 - An Exploration of the Importance of Outdoor Adventurous Play for all by James Davolls
• Workshop 2 - Let's Talk and Move by Helen Guntrip
• Workshop 3 - Supporting EAL Children in the Early Years by Rachael Turkington and Marzena Fernando
• Workshop 4 - Develop understanding of the role of physical development when supporting children with SEND by Rachel Mitchell

To book your place, please click the title above. To view our poster and guidance document, please click here.