News

Updated DfE Coronavirus Guidance

2nd July 2020

The DfE have updated their early years guidance. … read more

More than half of parents have seen their children’s behaviour deteriorate during lockdown

1st July 2020

With schools not opening fully until September at the earliest and the majority of pupils already having spent more than three months at home, we decided to survey members of our Facebook page to find out if their child(ren)’s behaviour had changed during lockdown. … read more

The Revised EYFS 2020

1st July 2020

The DfE have responded to their consultation on the changes to the EYFS educational programmes and early learning goals (ELGs) and have issued a new early adopter version of the EYFS. … read more

British childcare industry bounces back as demand doubles

23rd June 2020

Slowly but surely, we are now moving out of lockdown, and after a couple of hard months for many parents and providers, our internal data indicates the childcare industry is bouncing back. … read more

Financial Support for Childminders

14th June 2020

Charging parents while not working If you have a voluntary arrangement with parents that they will continue to support you financially while you are closed, either due to shielding or as a consequence of the ‘test and trace’ system, this may continue. However, any agreement must be voluntary because you cannot require a charge if you are not offering a service and the CMA are actively pursuing providers who have wrongly charged parents while not offering a service. You should ensure your policies and contracts reflect this – you will find more information and guidance on writing your contracts and policies here. … read more

Early Years Funding Update

5th June 2020

Funding for the Summer term Local Authorities have received funding for the current half term as usual from the Department for Education (DfE) but they are spending it in different ways. … read more

Expired First Aid Certificates can be extended until 30th September 2020

2nd June 2020

The Health & Safety Executive have stated that if you hold a first aid certificate that expires on or after 16 March 2020 and cannot access requalification training because of coronavirus you may qualify for an extension until 30th September 2020. To qualify for the extension, you must be able to explain why you haven’t been able to requalify and demonstrate what steps you have taken to access first aid training, if asked to do so. … read more

Childminders and Outings

1st June 2020

Childminders across England had been left wondering whether or not they could take children outside of their settings and what the specific guidelines were. … read more

3 in 4 families would NOT have done the same a Dominic Cummings if they had been in the same situation say the 16,764 parents we surveyed

1st June 2020

Dominic Cummings, special adviser to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, has been the focus of recent media attention due to his controversial 260 mile drive from London to Durham during lock-down to stay at a cottage on his parents farm. … read more

The most common phobias passed onto children revealed

1st June 2020

Whether you have a major phobia or not, it’s inherently human to be scared of something. Lots of parents may try to hide any fears they have from their children, but kids are notoriously perceptive and pick up on the most discreet cues and behaviours. Therefore, we wanted to survey parents in a bid to find out which phobias are most commonly passed on from parent to child. … read more