The Early Years Improvement team

The Early Years Improvement team supports all childcare and early education providers working with children from birth to five years old across Herefordshire. Our aim is to help settings deliver high-quality, inclusive early learning experiences while ensuring that childcare provision meets the needs of local children, families and communities.

Through advice, training, resources and tailored support, we work alongside providers to strengthen practice, promote continuous improvement and create nurturing, developmentally rich environments where every child can thrive and achieve the best possible start in life.

Our aims

We aim to support all early years providers to:

• Deliver high-quality care and early education that enables every child to achieve the best possible start in life.
• Meet the statutory requirements for assessment and learning set out in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS).
• Achieve at least expected standards across all areas of evaluation, in line with Ofsted’s inspection framework.
• Provide inclusive, nurturing environments that support the needs, development and well-being of all children.
• Embed a culture of continuous improvement through reflective practice, professional development and effective leadership.

Strategic goals

Working in partnership with early years providers, our strategic goals focus on improving outcomes for children, strengthening quality across the sector, and ensuring that families can access high-quality childcare and early education where and when they need it.

Our strategic goals are to:

• Improve outcomes for children - Support all children to achieve a Good Level of Development (GLD) in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) Profile by the end of Reception, helping to secure the best possible foundations for future learning and success.
• Maintain high-quality provision - Sustain the proportion of early years providers judged Expected Standard, Strong or Exceptional by Ofsted above the national average, ensuring children and families have access to high-quality early education and care.
• Drive rapid improvement where needed - Provide targeted advice, challenge and support to providers judged below Expected Standard by Ofsted, enabling swift, sustainable improvement and better outcomes for children.
• Support new providers to achieve compliance and quality -Work alongside newly established providers to meet statutory and regulatory requirements, embedding high standards of practice, leadership and provision from the outset.
• Improve access to high-quality early education - Support families to access funded early education places in high-quality settings, helping to reduce inequalities and improve outcomes for all children.
• Ensure sufficiency of childcare places - Fulfil the local authority’s statutory duty to secure sufficient childcare places by working with providers, partners and stakeholders to meet the changing needs of children, families and communities across Herefordshire.

What support do we offer?

We provide a range of support to help early years providers meet statutory requirements, improve quality and achieve the best possible outcomes for children.

Our universal offer

Our universal offer is designed to ensure that every provider has access to the advice, information and professional support needed to deliver high-quality early education and childcare for children and families across Herefordshire.

Support available to all early years educators includes:

• Information, advice and signposting to relevant services, guidance and resources.
• Access to practical resources, podcasts and tools to support professional development and improve practice.
• Early years update briefings delivered six times each year, providing key sector updates, policy changes and best practice guidance.
• An Early Years Essentials programme designed to support new managers in their leadership role.
• A termly Keeping in Touch questionnaire, followed by a support call to discuss strengths, challenges and any additional support required.
• A dedicated point of contact for advice, guidance and professional enquiries.
• Inspection support to help providers prepare for and respond to Ofsted inspections.
• Signposting to continuous professional development (CPD) opportunities, networks and professional learning programmes.
• Support to interpret and implement changes to statutory guidance, including the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS).

Our targeted support

Our targeted support is responsive to individual need and aims to help providers achieve sustainable improvements in quality, leadership and outcomes for children.

Support available to settings, schools and childminders includes:

• Post-inspection support - For providers judged below the expected standard by Ofsted, we provide a bespoke package of support to support rapid and sustained improvement, including:
• action plans
• rapid improvement plans
• targeted adviser support
• progress reviews and monitoring visits
• Targeted visits and improvement support - Where concerns have been identified, we provide focused visits and tailored support to help settings, schools and childminders address identified issues and strengthen practice.
• Support for expanding provision - Guidance for providers looking to develop or extend their provision, including support with Ofsted registration requirements, business planning considerations and the delivery of high-quality early education and childcare.
• Support for newly registered providers - Additional guidance and mentoring to help new providers establish effective systems, meet statutory requirements and embed good practice from the outset.
• Brokerage and signposting - Access to specialist support, training and partner agencies where additional expertise is required.

Request setting support from the Early Years Improvement Team

Help us keep in touch with you

We hold regular meetings and briefings to share important national and local updates, sector news and information relevant to early years providers.

The contact details we use are those associated with your Ofsted registration. To ensure you continue to receive updates and communications from the Early Years Improvement Team, please make sure your contact information is kept up to date.

If your email address or contact details change, please notify us at educationCYPD@herefordshire.gov.uk so that we can keep you informed about key developments, support opportunities and events.