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Briefings and Forums

Early Years Leadership Briefings in Cambridgeshire (schools)

These briefings are aimed at early years foundation stage (EYFS) leaders in schools, teachers and/or headteachers.

Aim and focus

  • To ensure that Leaders in school responsible for the EYFS receive the latest advice and updates on local and national developments
  • To provide a forum to understand and share good practice
  • To raise standards in practice and outcomes for children in Early Years across the county.

Briefings are held once per term, and dates for these can be found in our Professional Development Programme. Participants will explore strategies to support progress, especially for groups of children who are falling behind.

There will be a focus on action planning, including the ongoing use of Cambridgeshire’s Quality Framework and providing support for EYFS leaders to plan for improvement.

The briefings will give practitioners opportunities for reflection with colleagues and provide potential for joint practice development, including with other early years partners.

Early Years Forums take place twice a year in the autumn and summer terms and are for childminders, all staff in early years settings and staff working in early years provision in schools. Forums provide peer support on a range of different topics and are facilitated by colleagues in the Quality Assurance Team and Coram PACEY, supported by other teams as appropriate, for example, Child and Family Centre managers, Health teams or SEND Specialist Services.

Recent topics have included: Transitions, Getting it right for parents and Understanding my local area. Forums include plenty of time for discussion and sharing good practice, and a time to understand recent local and national updates.

We recommend that, where possible, you attend the session for your locality, as forums are designed to meet local needs.

Let's Moderate Together is an annual programme for any childminder, member of staff in an Early Years setting or school held in the spring term. There is an expectation that all early years settings will participate each year, and the content changes annually to reflect local needs. Ensuring that different staff members can attend each year enables a wide number of practitioners to have experience of moderation outside their setting. The programme is facilitated alongside the statutory moderation of the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile assessment carried out at the end of the Reception year in schools.

An important part of quality practice is accurate assessment and moderation of children’s development. Let's Moderate Together will give practitioners opportunities to discuss ageing and staging of children’s development, and to moderate their judgment with early years staff in different settings. The use of sample observations and video clips helps develop different observational and assessment skills, whilst enabling practitioners to reflect on their own pedagogical practices.

Let’s Moderate together encourages providers to form continuing networks in their local area for the purposes of moderation. However, these networks do not replace it. Members can contact their main adviser to facilitate the start of a local network. We strongly recommend settings take part in this annual programme.

Leadership and Governance briefings are for owners, committee members and those in senior leadership roles in early years or out of school settings. They are held twice a year in the Autumn and Summer terms and are facilitated jointly by the Quality Assurance Team and the Business and Governance Adviser Team.

Leadership and Governance briefings provide updates on key legislative changes, local authority services and processes, alongside general advice and information to support providers in good management and governance. They offer opportunities for peer support, discussion and networking.

Recent topics have included: SWOT analysis, the register providers' role in Ofsted inspections and changes to the Ofsted Inspection Framework.

The Quality Assurance Team facilitate network meetings for out of out-of-school providers at least twice a year. These are organised locally by individual advisers within the North and South District areas. The format of the networks is usually a time for local and national updates, followed by a discussion on a pre-agreed topic or around a section of the Playwork - Beyond Quality Framework, although this can vary by locality.

Recent topics have included Loose parts, Supporting early years children in playwork settings, and Working with our oldest children.

For more information, please contact your Early Years Adviser.

Flyers with invites will be sent out in advance of each different briefing. Please check your email for information. For more information, contact your Early Years Adviser or earlyyears.service@cambridgeshire.gov.uk.