Update for 8th May

2025 National Meeting - have you booked your place?

Bookings are now open for the Childcare Works national meeting in central London on Tuesday 24th June.

We know how much LAs valued the opportunity to come together at the national event in last autumn in Birmingham. Our aim for national meetings is to extend the experiences of online and regional meetings, and to open up wider relationships and information exchanges to benefit all of our work. The 2025 national meeting will focus on final plans and preparations for September 2025 and 2026 for early years and wraparound childcare.

Approximate timings for the event will be 10am - 3.30pm, with arrival and registration from 9.15am. We are currently limiting places to two colleagues per LA.

Please book your place here: https://forms.office.com/e/2WntwLcZP1

New and updated resources

New! Inclusion and SEND resources for wraparound providers and schools
Childcare Works and NASEN have developed a series of recorded bitesize training sessions to promote inclusive provision and to meet the needs of children with SEND. These resources have been developed in response to requests from LAs as our provider forums. Please share them with your providers!
Inclusive Practice in Wraparound Provision and Creating Inclusive Provision Toolkit

Newly updated! Childcare expansion 2025 myth-buster for providers
This easy-to-read myth-buster has been developed to address common misconceptions around the childcare expansion and has been updated to reflect the most up-to-date guidance. This infographic shares comprehensive and accurate information from trusted official sources that can easily be downloaded, printed and shared with staff teams, or displayed in staff rooms.
View the myth-buster today on the HUB.

New! Childcare Works Resource Directory April 2025
Childcare Works has developed a fantastic range of resources for LAs, schools and providers which are all available on the LAB and HUB. To support LAs and providers in navigating the large library of resources, we have created a directory which has been categorised to make access as easy as possible! View the directory here

New! Creating Inclusive Provision Toolkit
This interactive digital toolkit has been developed to support schools, private, voluntary and independent (PVI) providers, childminders, and local authorities in creating inclusive wraparound provision that is accessible to families of primary aged children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). The toolkit provides comprehensive insights on the following themes:
• An introduction to SEND
• Legal duties and statutory requirements
• Developing inclusive environments
• Creating high-quality provision
• Working in partnership
• Food handling and preparation
• Developing the workforce
The toolkit also includes a screen-reader accessible and printable version.
Explore the toolkit on the LAB and the HUB.

Upcoming webinars for schools and childcare providers

Childcare Works free webinars for Early Years and Wraparound providers and schools. Childcare Works will be running informal, friendly and informative live sessions to support all EY and WA providers and schools where they can find out more about the wealth of resources, guidance and information available to support them.

Please share this suggested copy and social assets with your local providers and schools:

Childcare Works free webinars for Early Years and Wraparound Childcare providers and schools. Join one of the upcoming Childcare Works live sessions and find out more about the wealth of resources, guidance and information available to support you. 
Find out more and sign up at childcareworks.org.uk/webinars

Upcoming webinars for Local Authorities

Early Years - PACEY Childminding week 2025: LA forum – join PACEY Chief Exec, Helen Donohoe, and Childcare Works Programme Director, Kate Haythornthwaite as they sit down with LAs from across the country to talk about the work they do to recruit, retain and stabilise the number of childminders in their area. Tuesday 13 May 1100-1200 Childminding Week: Virtual Local Authority Forum (England) - PACEY

Regional meeting round-up sessions - For LAs who have been unable to attend an event in person, we will be holding a catch-up session for Wraparound colleagues on Tuesday 20^th May 11:00-12:00, and for Early Years colleagues on Wednesday 21^st May 11:00-12:00.

The purpose of these round-up sessions is to share key discussion outcomes and CW/DfE updates. Please use the following links to book:

• Wraparound session – Tuesday 20^th May 11:00am – 12:00pm – Please register HERE
• Early Years Session – Wednesday 21^st May 11:00am – 12:00pm – Please register HERE

Delivering Early Years Provision in Rural Localities - Childcare Works is facilitating an Action Learning Session to explore the unique challenges and innovative solutions for delivering early years provision in rural localities on Thursday 5 June 1000-1130. The session will reflect on the specific conditions which may require different thinking and planning to support sufficiency, learn from real-world examples of practice in rural settings, share LA good practice and consider practical, scalable models of delivery that meet the needs of dispersed communities.
This session offers a chance to connect, collaborate, and contribute to building provision that works.
Find out more and sign up here.