Professional Support
Start for Life, Sheffield: Early Years Strategy 2023-28
Sheffield is a great place to grow up and our new Early Years Strategy, “Start for Life Sheffield”, sets out how we will work together across the Early Years workforce to give all Sheffield children the start for life that they deserve.
Setting out our ambitions from pre- birth to school life will support all children to have equality of opportunity to be healthy, happy and safe. As the future adults and parents of Sheffield, we will strive to make a positive difference to children’s lives in the city and support them to reach their potential.
The strategy sets out our five ambitions.
Ambition 1: Children and their families achieve their potential with support from an Early Years system that is connected to Communities, understands the needs of Sheffield Families and responds to needs and themes by working together across organisations.
Ambition 2: We work in collaboration with Early Years childcare and education providers to meet the Government’s 2023 promise of 30 hours of funded childcare per week for eligible working parents with children aged nine months to three years by September 2025.
Ambition 3: We mitigate the effects of inequality, poverty and disadvantage on babies’ and children’s Safety, Health and Development and we support parents and families to be healthy and maintain good health.
Ambition 4: Families of and Children with SEND or Complex Health Needs are well supported from the earliest point and receive seamless support throughout all transitions in early life.
Ambition 5: Parents are supported and enabled to provide the best possible start in life for their children
As a city we can work together to deliver on these five ambitions and support improving outcomes for children and families across Sheffield
View the full strategy via the link in the supporting documents. There are a number of other documents also attached, an overview of their contents can be found below:
- “Easy Read Start for Life Sheffield Early Years Strategy 2023-2028”: This document has short, simple sentences with clear images to help explain the strategy.
- “Appendix A - Great Start in Life outcomes from next steps”: A Great Start in Life was Sheffield’s Strategy for Early Years between 2019-2022, within that a number of areas for development were identified. This document provides a brief overview of the activity undertaken and the outcomes achieved in these areas.
- “Appendix B - national and local context”: this document provides an overview of the differing laws, policies, strategies and key developments across the Early Years system which have supported in shaping the new strategy.
- “Appendix C - Early Years Professionals Consultation Strategy Analysis 2023”: The findings of the consultation with professionals from across the Early Years System.
- “Appendix D – Early Years Parent and Carer Consultation Strategy Analysis 2023”: The findings of the consultation with parents and carers from across Sheffield.
Childcare Sufficiency
As a local authority, we have a legal responsibility to ensure that there is sufficient quality childcare provision across the City to meet parental need or demand. We can provide you with information about the number of childcare places in different parts of the City and specific information about the amount and type of existing provision within your chosen area.
Information is available on the Childcare Sufficiency Assessment Page but you can contact the Childcare planning team for more information:
Tel: 0114 2054031
Email: childcareplanning@sheffield.gov.uk
Sheffield Early Years Quality Improvement Team
The Sheffield Early Years Quality Improvement team is comprised of a number of early years specialists offering support, guidance and advice to children and families and childcare providers, supporting the implementation of the Start for Life Sheffield: Early Years Strategy 2023-28.
Early Years Quality and Access Officers
The Early Years Quality and Access team provide support and challenge to the schools’ early years sector as well as other providers/settings. This includes delivery of a training subscription package as well as intense support for schools that receive an ‘Inadequate’ or ‘Requires Improvement’ judgement. Schools and academies can choose to subscribe to the Early Years Professional Development package and will be eligible for tailored support as well as a specified number of training events. Schools who choose not to subscribe can also access support for an additional fee..
Early Quality Improvement Officers:
The Early Years Quality Improvement team provide support & challenge to the private, voluntary, and independent early years sector including childminders, as well as schools early years sector. The team assist in driving forward and securing the delivery of high quality, inclusive early education, and childcare to all children in Sheffield. The Early Years Quality Improvement Programme is tailored to support settings in meeting the requirements of the EYFS Statutory Framework and is based on up-to-date EYFSP data and current Ofsted inspection trends.
The Early Years Quality Improvement team will provide intense support to any provider that receives an ‘Inadequate’ or ‘Requires Improvement’ Judgement or for those providers who are newly registered.
Our Community Early Years Practitioners team aim to support children and their families as well as professionals to contribute to early identification of need, providing support and role-modelling in a range of settings within the community, including early years providers, family hubs and schools. This programme of support includes the delivery of training for early years practitioners and workshops and opportunities for families within the following streams:
- Speech and language
- Parenting, health and wellbeing
- Learning and development (early identification)
All early years providers have FREE access to network meetings, provider briefings, (including safeguarding/SENCo briefings) to ensure key messages are shared across the city, and support is offered to ensure consistency and accuracy of assessment.
Inclusion Team
We have an early years inclusion team made up of a team of Specialist Teachers and Teaching Assistants who work with young children who have additional needs.
We take referrals from parents, health professionals and nursery staff and work with children from birth to the end of Foundation Stage both in their homes and in settings.
We offer an extensive range of training for practitioners working with children with additional needs.
Support grid
The “Support Grid” and guidance and other inclusion documents can be found on the Learn Sheffield website:
https://www.learnsheffield.co.uk/Partners/inclusion-task-force/
Disability Access Fund (DAF)
From April 2017 the government has introduced a new funding measure for Early Year’s providers, the Disability Access Fund (DAF); this is to support children with Special Educational Needs or Disability (SEND).
DAF helps children access an Early Years place by supporting providers to make reasonable adjustments or increasing the number of SEND places available.
Family Intervention Service
Our Way of Working
We use the solution focused Signs of Safety approach to identify the strengths, needs and ambitions of families, and to build their naturally occurring support network of family and friends.
We are a consent-based service that works collaboratively with families and relevant professionals to improve the wellbeing of children by improving the safety and nurture at home, supporting good physical and emotional health, encouraging engagement with positive community activities and education, and by ensuring that any additional needs are supported.
Family Intervention Service – Our Provision
Our Parenting Hub offers seminars, discussion groups and a wide range of evidence-based parenting group programmes which families can self-refer into.
Our School Engagement Team offer advice sessions jointly with school or nursery staff in the school setting, covering any of the issues in our support offer.
Our Intervention Workers work with families who are struggling with multiple issues. A multi-agency support plan that meets the needs of the family will be agreed and reviewed at regular Team Around the Family meetings, with direct support and advice provided in the family home, as well as at school and/or in community settings.
We support families who are struggling with several of the following issues;
- Getting a good education
- Good early years development
- Improved mental and physical health
- Promoting recovery and reducing harm from substance use
- Improved family relationships
- Children safe from abuse and exploitation
- Crime prevention and tackling crime
- Safe from domestic abuse
- Secure housing
- Financial stability
Practitioners working with families who have an unmet (or new need) identified can refer using an Early Help Assessment.
Telephone: (0114) 203 7485