Early Years News September 2025
Welcome to September – a time to take stock of how things are going in your early years setting and review your options for the new term.
Have you lost children to school, nursery or pre-school and struggled to fill your spaces? Do you need to increase your Childcare.co.uk advertising presence? You can register for a free account if you are not a member already and this blog will help you to make the most of your advertising profile.
What’s happening in September?
You have finished adjusting your documentation for the EYFS which is in legislation from 1st September, and you are waiting for the Ofsted changes to start in November (webinars through October).
What can you do in the meantime? The September small group planning focuses on:
- All about me – a good theme to help settle children into the setting and welcome new starters.
- Red Tractor Week – time to learn about our farming community, visit a farm and cook fresh, wholesome food as menus change to comply with the new nutrition statutory guidance from DfE.
- Pirate Day – read books, sing songs and rhymes and encourage children’s creativity and imagination with some pirate fun.
- Harvest Festival – build on Red Tractor Week with more activities which will lead you into autumn changes at the start of October.
You might also want to talk to the children about ecology and diversity – for example, Zero Waste Week and the great British Beach Clean. While childminders are not specifically included in the requirement to have a sustainability and climate change action plan or policy, DfE suggest they might want to teach children about it as part of the overarching curriculum.
Revised EYFS September 2025
The revised Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) became law on 1st September, and we saw a lot of members reaching out for advice on the Independent Childminders Facebook group and downloading new documents from the childminder paperwork page. The safeguarding policies have been popular downloads as well.
Now members have the EYFS under control, we can start to prepare you for the changes to the Ofsted inspection process. Childcare.co.uk has commissioned a series of free webinars through October to help members plan for future inspections which Ofsted has stated will be changing from every 6 years to every 4 years from April 2026.
Breaking news
Ofsted have released their new inspection framework, ahead of the planned date for using the framework from November 2025.
There are planned training sessions during September, for different types of providers including separate webinars for childminders, group-based provision, and out-of-school-clubs, which will set out key changes to inspection.
Ofsted has said they will be recorded for their YouTube channel.
Childcare.co.uk has planned webinars to support members with the changes. Keep an eye on the upcoming webinar list for more information.
Planning for change
Change can be challenging, especially if you are trying to do everything at once and struggling with finding a work-life balance. A lot of our members tell us that this is hard to achieve, and they appreciate the free resources and webinars on the Childcare.co.uk website.
Gold Childcare.co.uk members receive even more support – for example, their small group planning is done for them every month and their essential paperwork is ready to download.
New child paperwork
We have received a lot of questions recently about what paperwork childminders need to complete to welcome a new child to their setting.
You ask and Childcare.co.uk respond! Our new blog on child paperwork you need and where to find it on the Childcare.co.uk website.
Childcare.co.uk paperwork is checked regularly to ensure it is accurate and up to date and refreshed when required.
Time blocking – getting things done
While we are talking about paperwork, how much of your work do you complete during the working day, and how much do you need to set aside time for at the weekend or in the evenings?
Have you heard of time-blocking? When you use this method, you block off time in your diary for those important jobs you really cannot get done with children playing underfoot –
- Progress check at 2.
- Safeguarding policy updates – usually annually but when anything changes.
- Training / professional development – aim for at least 1 a month.
- Parent paperwork updates – checking wording and printing.
- Funding paperwork – termly before submission to the Local Authority.
- Updating accounts so you can keep an eye on sustainability etc.
Then you can think about what you do which is extra and unnecessary and cut down, to help you make a difference to that important balance of work and family.
New Ofsted blog – understanding outcome summaries
Ofsted has released a new blog on their early years platform about outcome summaries and what they mean in practice. The blog, written by Jayne Coward, Deputy Director for Early Years Regulatory Policy and Practice at Ofsted, explains why they publish the summaries, how long they are on the provider’s report page and when they might be updated.
Ofsted complaints
Ofsted released their Early years complaints and notifications commentary in August. The report compares the number of complaints received by Ofsted over the last 5 years and shows an increase in complaints received from 4890 in 2020 – 2021 to 9420 in 2024 - 2025. The number of serious incident notifications also rose, from 9270 in 2020 - 2021 to 11,900 in 2024 - 2025.
Some providers have pointed out that, by forcing childminders to use their ‘serious notification form’ to report anything from providing overnight care to changes in health, this is not a surprise.
Ofsted notifications
Jayne Coward, Deputy Director for Early Years Policy and Practice at Ofsted released a blog When do you need to notify Ofsted? in February which attempted to further clarify when Ofsted need to be notified about changes. The blog stated that, ‘Last year we received 11,100 notifications from 7,850 providers’ and ‘We have found that we are often notified about incidents we don’t necessarily need to know about.’
However, it raised a lot of questions from providers because there is an ongoing fear of not reporting something an inspector later says should have been reported.
Childcare funding expansion
The government’s expansion of funded childcare continues this year. From September 2025, eligible working parents will be able to access up to 30 hours of funded childcare per week for children from the term after they are 9 months old up to and including the term before they start school.
Parents must use the Childcare Choices website to apply for funding and keep their funding code updated. Practitioners can then use the code to claim back funded hours from the Local Authority on their funding portal.
Childcare.co.uk has a page of funding guidance documents for childminders.
Healthy eating guidance
DfE has included a link to their Early Years Foundation Stage nutritional guidance in the revised EYFS from 1st September 2025. The nutrition guidance has replaced the previous menu guidance, which DfE states is not aligned with current thinking about healthy eating.
Childcare.co.uk has been busy providing members with the documents they need to get prepared for the change. There is everything from food and nutrition blogs which walk you through the changes to choking and weaning audits to sample food and nutrition policy on the website.
What is your curriculum?
If an inspector asked you that question, how would you answer?
I think starting with the child is a good place. You ask parents for their starting points and you plan meaningful activities based on what they have told you about what their child already knows and can do.
You have a plan of course – you know what you want them to learn during their time with you – the experiences you want them to join in with, the daily routines you want to introduce, the activities you think they will probably enjoy.
Think about what the child already knows and can do – where they go at the weekend – how they play – what they enjoy playing with – their favourite books, toys and games. Then think about how you will allow them to practice their current skills – what you will plan to build on what they know – what they need to learn next.
Every child is different and comes to you with different learning, skills and experiences so you need to ensure your curriculum is personalised. Of course, you want toddlers to learn to walk and then run and pre-school children to be independent with strong social skills, but they will all get there in their unique ways.
Childcare.co.uk has a number of curriculum focused webinars on the webinar player, for gold members to watch again.
Mobile phones and older children
Imagine the scenario – you are explaining to your Ofsted inspector how you support children’s online safety when an older child in the setting shows the inspector their mobile phone. You didn’t know the child had brought a phone to the setting and parents didn’t tell you. You are mortified and try to get the inspection back on track, but you know that one moment has changed the entire direction of the inspection.
You are quizzed about mobile phone safety, asked to show your policy, and questioned on how you support safety in the setting and with parents at home. The inspector then grades you inadequate for safeguarding because a child has a phone on them without your knowledge and you have failed to keep them and other children in the setting safe. A few weeks later your local authority tells you that your funding has been withdrawn.
Early years inspection is ‘high stakes’ with funding dependent on a good or outstanding grade (or high grade when it changes in November). There are lots of websites which contain information to support you with keeping children safe online including this guidance from the NSPCC and how to share information with parents about online safety.
Another good starting point is this information from the National Cyber Security Centre which is signposted from the EYFS.
National year of reading 2026
One of the Govt’s plan for change initiatives is to, ‘Inspire thousands of community reading champions, welcome millions of new library members, and help businesses champion reading in their workplaces and communities.’ Ofsted expect providers to support children’s love of reading at home, so this links with what childminders do every day when we share book favourites, chat about what books children have been reading, link books to hook new learning, take children into book shops, visit the library and encourage families to get library membership etc.
You will find more information on the National year of reading 2026 website. Childcare.co.uk has some useful guidance on the School readiness page of the website.
Making tax digital update
From April 2026, self-employed and landlords with a gross income (before expenses) of over £50k will need to use a digital software programme to keep digital records. The income and expenses totals must be submitted quarterly. From April 2027, the threshold will be for those earning more than £30k. If this will impact on you, then you might want to start looking at compatible software programmes for submitting making tax digital for income tax (self-employed). HMRC has said that some options will be free. Childcare.co.uk has free accounts record keeping paperwork, which a lot of members have said they will continue to use alongside the required digital records, to help them keep on track. There are cases of measles in some areas of the UK and DfE are warning about an anticipated back to school measles surge. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and DfE has sent out a reminder to all early years providers on the Foundation Years website to encourage parents to have their child vaccinated. They have also advised providers that extra cleaning (as was in place during covid-19) will not stop infection. If there are suspected cases of measles in the settings, you should notify your local health protection team (HPT) who will work with you to advise on what to do to prevent further spread. Childcare.co.uk has been made aware that some Local Authorities are advising their childminders that they must have a climate action plan. DfE has confirmed to Childcare.co.uk that this is not the case and that while they hope childminders will get involved in climate action initiatives with the children in their care, they are not required to have a written policy which will add to their paperwork burden. However, if you do want a policy, Childcare.co.uk has provided a model policy and further guidance. Did you know that studies suggest up to 1 in 5 young people in the UK are living with a mental health disorder, but only half receive professional support? Youth Mental Health Day is on 19th September 2025 and the organisers aim to change this, by sharing tools and resources from trusted sources to support young people. The theme for 2025 is ‘Share Support’ which invites everyone to take small actions which will make a big difference. Childcare.co.uk has a recorded webinar on supporting children’s wellbeing on the webinar player. What do you do at the end of every month to help you prepare for the next month? What helps you to stay organised? These are some of the things on a childminder’s end of month things to do list: *Register - you might use a diary to record children’s names and times of attendance / non-attendance. Note from September 2025 you will need to record reasons for non-attendance on your register or in your diary. The Childcare.co.uk attendance register has been updated. What is on your end of month checklist? Share with your colleagues on the Independent Childminders Facebook group. DfE has released new guidance on references, ready for the changes to the EYFS from September 2025. It is on the EYFS page and includes a reference sample. Childcare.co.uk also has staff / assistant paperwork including guidance on requesting references and a sample Safer Recruitment Policy. Do you have new starters? Childcare.co.uk has you covered with a suite of free resources including parent-provider contracts, permission and other statutory documentation and learning and development resources including starting points and a comprehensive ‘all about me’ document. You will also find policies (including a recently updated guide to writing your fees policy) to support those early interactions with parents. Don’t forget to share your updated policies with parents and ask them for feedback. This is one of the ways you can demonstrate partnership working to Ofsted during your inspection. Childcare.co.uk webinars are free on the night they are presented. Webinars are recorded and made available to gold members on the webinar player. The following webinars will be presented in September 2025: All webinars start at 7pm. Thank you for taking the time to read this newsletter. Don’t forget to save it, so you can reference the information later or signpost it for colleagues who have questions. You are welcome to share this page on social media. Also read our previous newsletters Thank you for being part of the Childcare.co.uk community.Measles update
Climate action planning
Youth mental health day
End of month things to do
DfE reference guidance
Popular Childcare.co.uk resources for September
Upcoming Childcare.co.uk webinars for September
More information and resources
Safeguarding Quick References Cards Information Sheets for Parents
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