Update for 4 September 2025

Webinars 

NEW! Making the most of digital Microsoft tools 

Childcare Works is pleased to invite you to a live webinar on Wednesday 1st October 11:00-12:00, focused on making the most of the digital Microsoft tools available within the context of local authority early years and wraparound. 

We thought it would be of great benefit for this session to be designed to build on all our capabilities and perhaps introduce practical ways to use Microsoft tools - supporting smarter working, stronger collaboration, time-saving, and confident data management that can be applied to the wraparound and early years programmes as well as future or similar projects.  

Through strengthening foundational digital skills, the webinar will aim to help unlock efficiencies, improve governance, and foster sustainable working practices. The webinar will also aim to demystify more advanced tools such as Microsoft Forms, Power BI, and Power Automate, to demonstrate how these can be used to streamline tasks and enhance service delivery. 

What to expect: 

• Live demonstrations of key tools and features 
• Pre-recorded tutorials for you to refer back to 
• Practical tips for saving time and improving collaboration 
• Signposting to free learning resources available via Office 365 

Areas of focus include: 

• Microsoft Forms: Designing, sharing, collecting, and interpreting responses 
• SharePoint: Collaboration tips, content management, and governance practices 
• Excel: Foundational skills and advanced techniques for data analysis 
• Power BI & Power Automate: Introduction to automation and data visualisation 

Sign up here - Microsoft Virtual Events Powered by Teams 

Resources 

NEW to the HUB and LAB... School-Based Nurseries: Five Case Studies 

Take a look at this new collection of informative case studies exploring how schools have embedded nursery provision on their sites. Childcare Works spoke with leaders from a diverse range of school-based nurseries (SBNs) in order to gather and share key learning on how to establish, expand and sustain early years provision based in schools. 

Share the case studies with your schools today!  
https://childcareworks.org.uk/school-based-nurseries-five-case-studies/ 

NEW to the LAB… Taking a strategic approach to HAF, wraparound childcare, childcare sufficiency and holiday provision for school-aged children 

The Government’s vision is for a modern childcare system that is high quality, affordable, accessible and inclusive for all families from the day children start primary school, no matter where they live in the country or what days or hours they work. This will be underpinned by a cohesive system whereby local authorities, schools and childcare providers understand their roles, routes to access support and work together in partnership to enhance the effectiveness of the system.   

By ensuring families have the support they need, we can give every child a solid foundation that sets them up for life and break down barriers for parents who want to work more hours or take on new opportunities – helping families to thrive, not just get by.  

This recorded presentation by Jo Pringle was originally developed for a webinar in July for HAF coordinators. It has been adapted to consider how local authority officers working across HAF, wraparound and childcare sufficiency can work together to ensure a strategic approach to local planning and place development for school age childcare and holiday activities. 

NEW to the LAB … National meeting plenary session recordings  

Recordings of the plenary sessions and the DfE strategy discussion with DfE senior leaders (breakout session) from the Childcare Works National Meeting are available on the LAB for LA colleagues to view.  

Please note that these videos were recorded on 24th June, prior to the publication of DfE’s Best Start in Life (BSIL) strategy – Giving every child the best start in life - GOV.UK.) - some of the information has now been published / answers to some of the Q&A have been superseded.  

If you missed the event or would like to revisit any of the plenary sessions, you can view them here.

Events 

September Cluster Meetings   

September cluster meetings start this week, and we are looking forward to seeing you all! 

If you have any questions about the cluster meetings, please contact your CW adviser.   

Regional Meetings  

Thank you to everyone who has booked a place for the October regional meetings. 

Bookings will be closing in a few weeks' time, if you haven’t yet booked a place please register as soon as possible. 

Once you have completed a booking form we will issue an Outlook invite with further details, please note that this invite is for information purposes only – the regional meetings are in-person events, and are not delivered online. 

Regional meetings are designed to support planning and delivery, by bringing together local authority representatives to network with peers, share successes and challenges across the early years' expansion and wraparound childcare. Latest updates from the Department for Education and Childcare Works will also be shared. The meetings will focus on current priorities with time for discussion and collaboration and are in addition to the monthly online cluster meetings.   

Dates and locations are shown below - each meeting will run from 10.00am to 3.30pm, with arrival and registration from 9.30am.   

In the first instance, places are limited to two per local authority. This will be reviewed depending on demand. If your LA has more than two places booked, we will be in contact with you.  

Please book places for your LA here