EYCC Noticeboard

Early Years and Childcare Update - 02 July 2026

Welcome to this week's Early Years and Childcare update!

This week's update includes information on:

Please feel free to share this update with anyone you think would benefit from accessing this content. 

If you have any questions or feedback, please contact familyinformation@birmingham.gov.uk

Nominate a Provider Portal User

As you may already be aware, the Early Years and Childcare Team has launched a new Information Portal for providers called the Nexus Provider Portal. 

Many providers have already nominated a Nexus Provider Portal user. If you haven’t already done so, please do this today using our online form. You can have accounts for up to four people within your organisation. 

The introduction of this portal will enable us to:

  • strengthen the information that we collect from you
  • improve the information that we can provide to parents and third parties when they are looking for childcare options
  • contact you more efficiently.  

Please note: Completing this form does not immediately create your account. After we verify the nominated user form, we will send you a link to create your Provider Portal account.

If you have any queries about the Nexus Provider Portal, please contact FamilyInformation@birmingham.gov.uk. 

Hot weather Guidance for Education Settings

Following last week's hot weather and with further high temperatures possible next week, the Department for Education is encouraging schools and settings to review their contingency arrangements and consider any measures needed to help keep children, young people and staff safe while maintaining attendance.

Further guidance is available below:

Home Learning Environment Survey - Have Your Say!

Please note - the following message is intended for the parents/carers of children at your setting. We ask that you please pass this information on. 

You are invited to take part in a short survey to share your views on Home Learning Environment/Early Language (HLE) support by the family hubs.

About the survey

Ipsos has been commissioned by the Department for Education to conduct a study on the HLE programme to learn what could be done better for families like yourself. We want to hear from families who used HLE services or activities between April 2025 and March 2026 whether at a hub, at home, at your child's nursery or school, or at another location local to you.

Please note, this survey specifically focuses on parents or carers of children born between April 2021 and March 2023.

Taking part

Survey link: Ipsos Survey Start Page

The survey will be open from 26 May until 17 July 2026.

The survey takes between 10-15 minutes to complete and asks about:

  • You and your family life
  • Your parenting experiences
  • What help/support your family has had
  • Your feedback about the help/support you’ve had

At the end, you can enter a prize draw to win £100 for completing the survey!

It is up to you whether you take part. You can stop taking part at any time.

How the information will be used

Your responses will only be seen by the research team and used for research purposes. The answers will be anonymised, meaning you won’t be named or identifiable in the results. They will be used to help your local family hub and the government understand more about family hubs services, families’ experiences, and how to improve support for families.

Questions

If you have any questions about the survey or evaluation, please contact UK-HLEsurvey@ipsos.com.

Thank you in advance for taking part.

Briefing: Driving Progress in Early Years Through Powerful Targets 

We’re calling all Early Years practitioners, leaders and managers! 

This is your final opportunity in the 2025/26 academic year to attend our ‘Driving Progress in Early Years Through Powerful Targets’ briefing (formerly Target Setting for Early Years Personal Education Plans (PEPs)). 

Birmingham City Council’s Early Years and Childcare Service, in partnership with Birmingham Virtual School, will deliver this session to support practitioners to set ambitious, clear and purposeful targets for all children - with a particular focus on improving outcomes for Birmingham’s children in care. 

The briefing session will:  

  1. Develop your understanding of the experiences of children who become looked after, and the important role early years practitioners play in promoting their progress, achievement and overall development  
  2. Explore practical approaches to setting ambitious and meaningful targets that support children to make the best possible progress from their starting points  
  3. Provide an opportunity to meet with a Birmingham Virtual School Early Years Advisor and gain insight into their role in supporting children in care  
  4. Support practitioners in meeting aspects of the requirements for completing children’s electronic Personal Education Plans (ePEPs)  

Note: This session is not a replacement for Birmingham Virtual School ePEP training but is designed to complement understanding. 

Why This Briefing Matters 

Too many care-experienced adults continue to face economic instability and limited life opportunities - a reflection of the early disadvantage they often experience due to disrupted attachments, trauma and/or instability. 

To change this narrative, we must act early and with purpose.  It is our shared responsibility to ensure that all children, including children in care develop in line with their peers and achieve well.  By doing so, we contribute meaningfully to the collective goal of giving every child the best start in life, as emphasised in national guidance and the Ofsted Early Years Inspection Toolkit, which calls for a robust and inclusive response from all providers. 

How to book your place 

Our final round of briefing sessions for this academic year will be held in July. We have morning, afternoon and evening sessions which can be booked via the following link: 

Book your place via Birmingham Early Years Network  

Need support? Talk to us: 

If you need advice, guidance or support on any Early Years or Childcare topics, the Birmingham Early Years and Childcare Service is here to help. 

You can speak directly with an experienced Early Years Consultant who can offer support and expert insight.  Contact us via our Early Years Duty Line on 0121 675 4996 or email us eyduty@birmingham.gov.uk Monday – Friday between 9am & 5pm except Bank Holidays. 

Inclusion: Raising Awareness Across All Childcare Settings in Birmingham (Free In Person Workshop) 

Diverse Beginnings: Enhancing Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in Childcare Settings is our free in-person workshop for all Birmingham providers of Early Years and Childcare. 

This workshop is suitable for all practitioners, managers, provision owners and directors, but spaces are limited.   

We are inviting early years and childcare providers across Birmingham to join us for a powerful in-person workshop designed to support and strengthen inclusive practice in your setting. We’ve listened to the sector and moved this workshop offer away from online formats to create a more impactful, collaborative learning space. 

Why Attend? 

This session is more than just a workshop – it’s a space for real connection, reflection and action.  Developed in response to sector feedback, Diverse Beginnings offers a rare opportunity to come together in person to explore how Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) can be meaningfully embedded across all aspects of early years and childcare provision. 

Together we’ll: 

  • Raise awareness of EDI within the context of early years practice 
  • Explore how EDI principles can be integrated into recruitment, routines, leadership and beyond 
  • Share experiences and reflect with peers in a supportive, face-to-face environment 
  • Feel empowered to champion inclusive and equitable approaches in your own setting 

Why Now? 

The new Ofsted Early Years Toolkit places a strong emphasis on inclusion. From November 2025, Ofsted will be considering: 

“The commitment of leaders and those responsible for governance to provide high standards of education and care to improve the lives of all children, especially those receiving statutory support, including disadvantaged children, those with SEND, those who are known (or previously known) to children’s social care, and those who may face barriers to their learning and/or well-being” 

This workshop will help you strengthen your inclusive practice, with confidence and enhanced clarity. 

Please note spaces are limited. 

This is a free workshop, but places are limited and will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.   

Don’t miss out – book your place today and be part of the change. For more information about the venues and to access our booking links, please follow the links below:  

Other inclusion subject-based training and resources available to you for free include: 

Need support? Talk to us: 

If you need advice, guidance or support on any Early Years or Childcare topics, the Birmingham Early Years and Childcare Service is here to help. 

You can speak directly with an experienced Early Years Consultant who can offer support and expert insight. Contact us via our Early Years Duty Line on 0121 675 4996 or email us eyduty@birmingham.gov.uk Monday – Friday between 9am and 5pm except Bank Holidays. 

School Based Nursery Phase 3 Capital Funding Programme  

A fantastic opportunity for schools to increase the capacity of their existing nursery provision or create a new nursery provision subject to meeting eligibility criteria. 

The Department for Education has recently rolled out Phase 3 of the School Based Nursery Capital Programme. 

The purpose of the programme is for schools to either increase the number of early education places for (0- to 4-year-olds) in their existing early years provision or create places at a new provision based on the school site to meet an unmet gap in the local area where the school is located. 

The funding will only support capital costs associated with the refurbishment or repurposing of existing space on the school site. 

The funding opportunity is aimed at all state funded schools e.g. Maintained Nursery Schools, Primary Schools and all through schools with Primary provision. 

If you are a school interested in this funding opportunity, please email Kevin.Caulfield@birmingham.gov.uk and Rebekah.Horton@birmingham.gov.uk directly so we can set up a meeting to discuss your proposal and share information regarding the application process and eligibility.

Speech, Language and Communication (SLC) and the Home Learning Environment (HLE)

WellComm Data Collection for Schools and Nursery Schools 

WellComm is the approved screening tool in Birmingham, and it supports a consistent universal approach to assessing and supporting children’s speech, language and communication needs. We ask each school to share their termly screening data with us so that we can track the impact of the WellComm screening tool. For schools and nursery schools we collect your WellComm data via an online form each term. The Summer term data collection form is now available for schools and Nursery Schools. If you are a day nursery or childminder, you do not complete this form. 

The deadline for the form to be submitted is 31st August 2026. 

To complete the survey, please click Primary Schools and Maintained Nursery Schools WellComm Data Collection Summer 2026 – Fill in form 

Introduction to WellComm training 

For the attention of EEE providers.

WellComm is the approved screening tool in Birmingham, and it supports a consistent universal approach to assessing and supporting children’s speech, language and communication needs. If you are not yet using WellComm to screen your children’s speech and language, please attend one of our online training sessions. Birmingham City Council will fully fund one WellComm Toolkit for all schools, nurseries, pre-schools, and childminders registered to offer Early Education Entitlement (EEE) places. Early Years settings need to attend an ‘Introduction to WellComm’ workshop. During the workshop, you will be provided with instructions on how to receive your Toolkit. Settings that have received a WellComm screening tool can continue to send staff that are new or require a refresher of how to use WellComm onto the training. 

Please click the link next to your preferred date to book your place:

WellComm Data Sessions

For the attention of all EEE providers.

Come and join us for one of our online sessions to demonstrate how to use the WellComm data spreadsheet to collate your screening data and prepare for sharing your WellComm data with the Local Authority. You will have the opportunity to ask questions and be signposted to practical support if required.  

WellComm Data Sessions for Day Nurseries, Preschool Playgroups and Childminders 

Early Talk Boost

Early Talk Boost is a targeted intervention aimed at 3- to 4-year-old children who need help with talking and understanding words, helping to boost their language skills to narrow the gap between them and their peers. The programme aims to accelerate children’s progress in language and communication by an average of 6 months, after a nine-week intervention.  

Children selected to take part in the intervention will attend three sessions per week during circle/story time, each lasting 15-20 minutes delivered by an early year’s practitioner. The sessions include activities that cover the foundation skills in speech, language, and communication that children need for learning and understanding new words, as well as having conversations. The training is delivered face to face and each setting will receive 2 boxes of Early Talk Boost resources. 

  • Friday 14th August, 10am – 3pm at Edgbaston Family Hub, (Doddington Children’s Centre), 28 Doddington Grove, Birmingham, B32 4EL 

Settings to fill out a Microsoft form and choose their preferred date Expression of Interest for Early Talk Boost Training 2026 – Fill in form 

This training is suitable for Birmingham EEE Funding Registered Day Nurseries, Nursery Schools and School Nursery Classes. 

Talk With Tales for Children (TWiTCH) 

Exciting news! The National Literacy Trust have partnered with Sheffield Hallam University to deliver Talk With Tales For Children (TWiTCH). They are currently recruiting 80 early years providers to take part from September 26 – July 27.  

The programme  

TWiTCH trains early years practitioners to use dialogic reading strategies alongside the daily shared reading of traditional tales to support children’s language development. Using the traditional tales provided in the TWiTCH resource pack, practitioners will deliver a series of story cycles, each lasting three weeks, as part of regular story time.   

Each setting will be supported by a National Literacy Trust TWiTCH coach who will deliver the initial face-to-face training (two sessions running for three hours) and three coaching visits to each setting over the year. All books and materials will be provided free of charge, too!  

Impact  

An EEF pilot conducted last year suggests promising improvements in children’s narrative skills, vocabulary, and confidence in expressing ideas, alongside positive feedback from practitioners about their increased confidence in facilitating high quality interactions during story time. From September 2026, a further EEF efficacy trial, developed by Sheffield Hallam University and independently evaluated by Durham University, is building on this work through a randomised controlled trial with a larger group of settings in specific areas.  

Settings can find more information, sign up to our information briefings and register interest here: Talk With Tales for Children (TWiTCH) | National Literacy Trust  

Supporting Children’s Play: Applying the Playwork Principles in School-Aged Provision 

Please join us to look at: 

  • How we can develop a shared understanding of the Playwork Principles and their role in promoting high-quality school-aged childcare 
  • How your environment, activities and staff approaches enable and enhance children’s play 
  • How play, care and safeguarding responsibilities align when working with children aged 5 and over 

Dates and links to register:  

This entry was posted by Jessica Wykes on 02/07/2026.

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