Early Years News - July 2025

Welcome to our July newsletter

Childcare.co.uk has had a busy month with regular practitioner webinars to support CPD and lots of guidance added to the website about the upcoming Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) changes in England.

What’s new from Childcare.co.uk?

Childcare.co.uk has released some bonus summer planning alongside the usual monthly planner for gold members. The bonus summer planning guides you through all 6 weeks of the upcoming summer holidays. View 6 weeks of Summer Fun planning guide

There are also lots of new ‘Information for parents’ short guides which practitioners tell us are useful not only for sharing information with parents, but also to read for their own professional development. Explore the 'Information for parents' guides

You can stay up-to-date with latest Childcare.co.uk updates here: Latest updates from Childcare.co.uk

What’s new in the EYFS 2025?

The EYFS from September 2025 will include new safeguarding and welfare requirements about –

• Safeguarding policy contents.
• Child absences.
• Emergency contacts.
• Whistleblowing procedures.
• Safer recruitment procedures.
• Paediatric first aid suppliers.
• Safer eating.
• Toileting and privacy.
• Safeguarding training in a dedicated annex C.

Childcare.co.uk has released lots of guidance including webinars and this useful round-up blog – Read the EYFS 2025 round-up blog

What’s missing from the EYFS changes?

Members have been keen to share with Childcare.co.uk what they think is missing from the EYFS September 2025 changes:

• While ‘online safety’ will be included as a safeguarding training requirement for the DSL, we note that DfE has not taken the opportunity to strengthen requirements relating to children going online in early years settings. It remains to be seen whether Ofsted will include online safety in more detail during inspections.
• The Child Safeguarding Practice Review into the death of a child due to unsafe sleep in a Stockport nursery has not yet been published. This means that DfE has not reflected any changes to safer sleep requirements in the EYFS from September 2025. Many providers see this is a missed opportunity to strengthen safe sleep practices in settings. Following member questions (see below), Childcare.co.uk has planned a safer sleep webinar for later this year to support members. View upcoming webinars
• There are areas of the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the EYFS where childminders had hoped for flexibility – for example, the 2-hour unsupervised rule for assistants.
• As there are no changes to the learning and development requirements, providers have noted that DfE has missed the opportunity to put more focus on the essential elements of the characteristics of effective learning – the importance of motivation and engagement in children’s learning.

Ofsted inspection focus – safe sleep

Members who have been recently inspected have commented to Childcare.co.uk that their inspector has focused on safe sleep procedures in their setting. This is likely an inspection focus following the tragic death of a child in a nursery due to unsafe sleep procedures.

Members state that while some inspectors are happy with them using prams, others are less confident that they are safe spaces. Ofsted has advised Childcare.co.uk that, as there is nothing in the NHS guidance linked from the EYFS to suggest prams are unsafe sleep spaces.

Childminders should be prepared to explain to their inspector why they have made this choice for children’s sleep. The EYFS in England signposts NHS safe sleeping advice for parents. Read NHS safe sleep advice

Ofsted inspection update

Ofsted were intending to start their new inspection framework from September, but the start date has been delayed. Ofsted has told providers to expect the new inspection framework to be released in September, for a November start-date. The delay has been blamed on the number of responses they received during their recent consultation.

Childcare.co.uk will be here to help you with the inspection framework changes. There will be guidance released once Ofsted has published the new framework and we have hundreds of free webinars. Members can also ask questions on the Independent Childminders Facebook group to receive peer support.

Ofsted inspection report published

Ofsted published its latest report of official statistics on inspection with data from 31st March. Information in the report states that there are 2% less registered childcare providers since March 2024 – mostly due to a drop in the number of Ofsted registered childminders. The report also states that 98% of childcare providers are currently rated ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’. Note that these grading terms will no longer apply when Ofsted change their inspection framework in November 2025. Read the inspection statistics report

Ofsted new chair announced

In the latest Ofsted press release, Ofsted announced that Dame Christine Gilbert will be the next Ofsted chair, from 1st Sept 2025. She will replace Sir Hamid Patel, who is currently interim chair. Read Ofsted chair announcement

Heatwave advice

DfE has released heatwave advice for all early years providers. The advice suggests, for example, adjusting activities to different spaces in the setting and not going outside during the hottest part of the day. How this will work if they change ratios to state that providers can have extra children if they open their doors for ‘free flow’ at all times remains to be seen. Read DfE heatwave guidance

Note that you do not need a hot weather policy, but you do need permission from parents to put sun cream on their children. You might want to consider whether they will be asked to supply their own sun cream or if you are going to charge them to use your own. However, you must be inclusive of allergies.

Fun sunny day activities

What do you do when it’s too hot to play outside? Some of our favourite sunny day activities include –

• Lots of water play – with a big towel to mop the floor afterwards.
• Freezing ice cubes for exploring.
• Planning an indoor picnic.
• Exploring different types of fans.
• Setting up an indoor treasure hunt.
• Visiting a coffee shop or café with air conditioning.
• Decorating and folding paper fans.
• Going to the library to read some new books.

Safe sleep in hot weather

Lullaby Trust has released some hot weather guidance for safe sleep which might be useful to share with your families. Read Lullaby Trust hot weather guidance

DfE Nutrition guidance

DfE has released a useful vodcast discussing the new nutrition guidance which will be signposted as ‘should’ in the EYFS Sept 2025 updates to replace the current menu guidance which no longer aligns with their best practice advice. Watch the nutrition vodcast

Meals and snacks in childcare settings

If a child is receiving Government funded childcare, you must give parents the option to bring in their own meals and snacks. Childcare.co.uk has offered support for providers, including ideas for writing your own Packed Lunch Policy (recommended by DfE in the funding guidance). Create your own Packed Lunch Policy

Meals in settings must be healthy and nutritious. DfE has recently published statutory guidance and Childcare.co.uk has released a webinar to support providers. Watch the meal guidance webinar

Childcare.co.uk has also released a useful blog about the meal changes for providers
Focus on the safer eating changes

Work experience students

Do you want to take on a work experience student in your early years setting? Ofsted state that they do not need a DBS check, but you do need to inform Ofsted about them. You must ensure they are fully supervised at all times while they are on the premises, and they must not be left unsupervised with children or counted in ratio. Childcare.co.uk has produced a useful guidance document. Read the guidance

Sustainability and childminders

The new sustainability guidance from DfE, including a requirement to introduce a sustainability policy, is not for childminders. DfE has confirmed in an email to Childcare.co.uk that childminders do not need to write a climate action plan. However, if they want one, childminders can find a free policy on the Childcare.co.uk website. Download free sustainability policy

Childcare.co.uk has also released some useful gold member resources including audits for different areas of provision and activity ideas to involve the children. Explore Climate Change resources

FAQs answered – toileting

How do early years providers support toileting in our settings? Here are some frequently asked questions which members have answered:

• Can children be naked? No, that would not be protecting their privacy.
• What if children are not ready? Ask parents to spend at least a week at home focused on toileting skills – recognising when they need the toilet, pulling trousers and pants down, using the toilet, pulling trousers and pants back up, washing hands, flushing the toilet etc. They need to be confident with these skills before returning to the setting.
• Should we use pull-ups? These seem to be ‘love or hate’. Ultimately, it’s the parents decision whether to use them or not. However, if a child is constantly having accidents in the house, you might feel that for health and safety reasons their child needs to use them while they are practicing using the toilet.

The DfE ‘Help for early years providers’ website has some useful guidance which can be shared with parents – however, many early years practitioners feel that the age-related expectations are not developmentally appropriate. Visit DfE toileting guidance

There is guidance from Eric on toilet anxiety including how to support children who have a phobia about using the toilet. Read Eric's toilet anxiety advice

Keeping children safe online

In addition to reading books about online safety and supporting children who use online systems to understand and reduce the risks – as well as providing parents with information about staying safe online – recently published reports can be useful to further highlight the dangers of children’s photos being online and early years providers can use them for professional development. For example, the BBC has published an article on AI-generated child sexual abuse imagery and how this is impacting on the work of police and other agencies in safeguarding children and young people. Read BBC article on AI-generated child abuse imagery

Making tax digital for income tax

The government's often delayed plan to move self-employed onto making tax digital has been set out over the coming years. It will mean all self-employed including childminders will eventually need to input their accounts quarterly as well as completing the final end of year submission. The plan will be introduced in stages, so the higher earners will be impacted first. The Govt has released a list of software that currently works with their making tax digital system, and some is free for now but, unfortunately, there are no guarantees that they will remain free in the future. You can find the updated Govt making tax digital for self-employed (and landlords) software list here. Find compatible tax software

Government spending review

As part of their recent spending review, the government announced:

• Free school meals to be extended to half a million more children, with the intention of lifting 100 thousand children out of poverty.
• Continuing national roll-out of breakfast clubs for every child.
• £370m for school-based nurseries as part of the government’s ‘Plan for Change’ commitment to ensure more children are school ready,
• Spending of £1.6bn more on funded entitlements by 2028 / 29.

However, many early years providers have told Childcare.co.uk that the funding they are paid is still not enough to ensure continued sustainability, especially when it drops for current children as they get older and there are further concerns over the introduction of breakfast clubs and school-based nurseries. Childcare.co.uk will continue to keep an eye on changes and lobby DfE to work towards a fairer early years funding system for our members.

Updated ‘application to register with Ofsted’ blog

Ofsted has updated its blog ‘Applying to register with Ofsted – what you need to know’ to add more clarity to some of the areas, including what provider type you might want to register. There are now a number of options for childminders including 1-4 people working together on a childminder registration as a childminder (working wholly from a home address) or a childminder without domestic premises (working wholly from a suitable alternative premises). There are also options for 5 or more people working together as small daycare or childcare on domestic premises (with the option to work at home and from non-domestic premises for some of the time). Read updated Ofsted registration blog

Upcoming childcare.co.uk webinars for July

All webinars start at 7pm. Webinars are free on the night they are presented and recorded for Childcare.co.uk gold members to watch in their own time. Access all upcoming webinars

• 1st July – Food and nutrition guidance. Also see: Food and health resources, Sample policy
• 8th July – Effective interactions in early years.
• 15th July – Teaching kindness..
• 22nd July – No webinar due to holiday.
• 29th July – Core strength and stability.

More information and resources

Childminder Guides

Childminder Paperwork

Childminder Policies

Childminder Organiser

Childminder Diary

Childminder e-books

Childminder Budget Planner

Safeguarding Quick References Cards

COEL Quick Reference Cards

Health & Safety Toolkit

Information Sheets for Parents

Early Years Safety Blog

Activities Ideas & Resources

Childminder Insurance
 

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