Official figures show that 1 in 4 children grow up in poverty – and children who grow up in poverty are less likely to be ready to start school at the age of 4. To help plug this ‘attainment gap’ the Government has introduced Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP) – it pays an extra 53p per child per hour for disadvantaged 3 and 4 year old children who receive funded early years education. The amount of EYPP received by the individual child is not ring-fenced by the Government which means that Local Authorities might take a cut - but it generally equates to around £300 per eligible child per year.
 
It is very important that strong key person relationships are in place throughout a child’s time in an early years provision. In many Local Authorities, parents need to check to see if their child is eligible for EYPP and complete a form to apply for the funding. In others the provider is allowed to claim on behalf of the parent / child – you should check the rules in your LA.  In some instances, early years providers might need to support parents if they are refused access to EYPP – you should speak to your LA for advice if you have a family who are affected.
 
When money has been received for the child, a meeting should be called with parents to discuss how it is going to be spent. The child’s tracking across the prime areas of learning might give strong indications to the setting about how they want to spend the money – but parents views should also be considered. You might, for example, send out a questionnaire to the parent or ask them to attend a meeting to discuss how the money will be allocated. This conversation should be documented and will be used as part of the evidence shown to Ofsted relating to the strength of parent partnerships and the way EYPP has been effectively targeted to support the individual child.
 
The Early Years Inspection handbook states that Ofsted inspectors will track children who receive EYPP as part of the early years inspection and comment on how the EYPP has been spent and whether it can be clearly shown to have been effective in raising outcomes for the child/ren and helping prepare them for starting school. Transition to school at age 4 is a big focus of how EYPP is being spent.

Spending the money

EYPP can be spent in many different ways. For example, a nursery might decide to buy some new ‘getting ready for school’ role play resources for the eligible child to support their school transition – a childminder might attend training to support their own skills and knowledge and then purchase specific resources to enhance the child’s learning – a pre-school might decide to pay for a taxi or bus fare to help ensure the child attends regularly and makes the most of their funded sessions or contribute towards a uniform to give the child a sense of belonging in the setting.
 
Cohort tracking can be used to identify areas where the setting needs to improve provision. For example, if a cohort of funded 3 year olds are tracked and it is noted that a high percentage of the children are struggling with their gross motor skills development, an outside company might be brought in to run a weekly movement session; similarly, if the tracking shows that a high percentage of children are falling behind with their maths or literacy, a practitioner might attend a course on how to raise outcomes for children in these important areas of provision.
 
EYPP is not for a specific purpose – it can be used creatively by early years providers to help narrow the gap for the individual child, for example –

• Staff in the setting might consider what the disadvantaged child does not have at home (that other children have) such as access to an outside area or toys and games and then show how they aim to enhance the child’s learning by providing daily outside play access to enhance physical or maths skills or putting together ‘learning at home’ resources for parents to borrow;
• Parents might suggest that the money is used to provide their child with a healthy breakfast because they do not have time to eat at home in the morning;
• Children might suggest the money is spent on a setting pet, ICT equipment because they don’t have any at home or a regular activity they feel would support their learning.

 
Other ways EYPP could be spent to support the child preparing for school include –

• Paying for extra staff hours to cover for staff accompanying children on visits to school
• Book bags which children take home with their parents to get them into the habit of reading at home with their family early in life
• Teddies dressed in the new school uniform so children can practice taking it off and putting it on again and become more relaxed about wearing a uniform when they start school
• Makaton training and a set of symbols to support a child who needs support with their communication and language
• Song and dance sessions for the children to support their learning about music and movement (focus on enhancing physical development, expressive art and design)
• Paying for a staff member to attend a school meeting with a parent who needs extra support eg a translator or reassurance that a mainstream school is the right next step for their child who has autism
• Staff training in maths – an area of focus in Ofsted inspections and an area of learning in which outcomes for children are often recorded as lower that the ‘typical behaviour’ suggested in Early Years Outcomes
• Paying for extra sessions including lunch club to allow a child to get used to a full day at pre-school / nursery before they start school
• Implementing a home visit programme to better engage parents before a child starts in the provision and to help them complete EYPP application forms (if required)
• Purchasing contents for story sacks which can be loaned to parents who can use them with their child over the weekend. This type of resource will encourage families to take part in home learning with their child
• Duplicate copies of children’s favourite reading books which they can take with them into reception
• A photo album showing the reception classroom to reassure children that the changes won’t be huge when they move up to big school
• Resources to support a child’s schema or learning style
• A tablet and age-appropriate maths or literacy software for the supervised use of a child who does not have access to ICT equipment at home
• Communication and language resources to support a group of children
• Transition packs for children including information about reception, a book about starting school, a voucher towards uniform purchase for parents etc.

Note – I have read a lot of Nursery World articles about EYPP before writing this blog. I am sure some of these ideas have come from the magazine.
 
It is important that practitioners are accurate when recording the progress children are making, correctly recording their baselines assessment and observing new things they are doing and saying. Staff must also be objective about how they are supporting children to make progress – sometimes they might need to plan more adult-led interventions, work more closely with parents, make more suggestions of things children can do with parents at home or attend training to enhance their own knowledge on, for example, supporting children’s behaviour or schemas in children’s play etc.
 
Of course, all the children in the setting / room might benefit from many of the interventions purchased by the EYPP funding – while EYPP is provided for an individual child, a childminder (for example) would not take that child away from the group or say resources were only for the child – they will be shared and all children’s learning will be enhanced as a result.
 
It is important that providers and parents work closely together to measure the impact of how the EYPP has been spent, closely tracking the eligible child’s learning and / or development to make sure they are making rapid progress and narrowing the gap between the most and least advantaged children and from where the individual child was tracked when they first started in the provision (parents starting points and practitioner baseline assessment).
 
In conclusion the aim of EYPP is to close the attainment gap – if resources or equipment have been purchased the provider must be able to show the process they went through (involving staff if appropriate) to determine how the money would be spent. They must then show, using the child’s starting points / baseline assessment and current tracking, that the child has made rapid progress towards school readiness. It is important that providers include information about how they have used EYPP to raise outcomes for children on their Self Evaluation Forms (or the Ofsted SEF) as well as having data to show Ofsted during inspection – use of EYPP and how it impacts on narrowing the gap in children’s learning is a contributory factor towards the overall leadership and management grade awarded to settings and childminders during the new-style Ofsted inspections.
 
More information

You can find more information about EYPP by using a Google search. There is a toolkit from here.

There is a guide for Local Authorities here.

This is a useful presentation from Julian Grenier - here. 

Early Education have published some guidance here. 

The intention is that all Local Authorities will implement an Integrated Review for children at the age of 2 years. There have been concerns in the past about lack of integration during the 2 year Progress Check which means that parents are receiving mixed messages from practitioners and their Health Visitor. The Integrated Review aims to resolve this by ensuring everyone is more fully involved in the review process.

It is hoped that, at the end of the review, more appropriate intervention will be available to parents should a child need extra support – it will also remove the need for duplication as all involved agencies will be working together as a cohesive team around the child.
 
During an Integrated Review meeting parents, the Health Visitor, Early Years Practitioners and any other professionals and/or agencies involved in the child’s life get together to talk about the child –

• The child must be at the centre of everything and should be involved in the review process.
• Parents bring expert knowledge of their child’s home and family life and learning. They will be asked to complete an ASQ-3 form before they take their child to the Progress Check meeting
• The Health Visitor has a form for parents to complete (ASQ-3) and, as a result of the answers, will make professional judgements about the child’s health and wellbeing
• Early Years Practitioners can provide information about the child’s learning and development, using Early Years Outcomes as a guide to the progress the child is making
• Other professionals / agencies involved in the child’s life can share information about the child and how they are progressing.

 
The Integrated Review will, when it is working smoothly, provide a complete picture of the child at age 2. It is expected that everyone involved in the Review process will have different perspectives of the child to share with each other – these will ensure the review is as holistic as possible.
 
The Integrated Review will combine information from –

• Parents via the ASQ-3 form.
• The Progress Check at age 2 carried out by Early Years Practitioners (with input from parents) as required by the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). The Progress Check at age 2 must identify the child’s strengths and any areas where progress is less than expected.
• The Healthy Child Programme currently carried out by Health Visitors. The Healthy Child Programme currently looks at the child throughout their early years, with Health Visitor checks offered at various ages to ensure children are making good progress.
• Input from the child where possible.
• Discussion of the evidence from the child, parents, Early Years Practitioners, other agencies or professionals and the Health Visitor.

 
Frequently asked questions about the Integrated Review
 
Early Years Practitioner – will it affect me?
It depends on your Local Authority – they are all implementing the review in different ways. You need to ask locally to find out what they will expect of you and their timescale for setting up the Integrated Review. It must be noted that setting up of the Integrated Review is non-statutory – and it can take time to roll out across all areas and settings so it might not be happening in your area for some time.
 
Parent – what will I need to do?
You will need to complete an ASQ-3 form which your Health Visitor will send you a few weeks before your child’s Progress Check. If your child attends a setting (Childminder, nursery, pre-school etc) you should let them know the date of your child’s Progress Check and ask them to provide input as you complete the form. You will then need to attend your child’s Progress Check along with your Early Years Practitioner (if relevant).
 
Parent – what does the ASQ-3 look like? What will I have to do?
The ASQ-3 encourages you to engage your child in fun activities (things you will probably already be doing with them) and to record their response. By doing this you will be reflecting on your child’s current progress and, where appropriate, asking for contributions from other professionals such as your child’s Childminder or key person in nursery. There are different versions of the ASQ-3 depending on your child’s age at the time of their review and allowances are made for premature babies.
 
Parent – is the ASQ-3 and Integrated Review a test?
No, the guidance materials seek to reassure you that the ASQ-3 is not a test to see what your child can and cannot do at the age of 2. It is an opportunity to share information about your child’s development with the Health Visitor so, if your child does need intervention or further support, it can be provided as early as possible in their life.
 
Early Years Practitioner – what will I need to do?
You should speak to parents when a child is 2 and ask them to let you know when information about their child’s Progress Check comes through the post. You will then need to write a Progress Check which covers the child’s learning in the prime areas – what they are doing and what you are working on next. You must involve parents in writing this check and ask them to sign it when it is completed. The check should be taken to the Health Visitor by parents and looked at during the meeting – when the Integrated Review is introduced in your Local Authority you might also be asked to attend.
 
Health Visitor – what is the purpose of the Integrated Review?
By involving everyone who is part of the child’s life, the Integrated Review aims to show the progress the child is making in both their learning and development at around age 2. If the child’s progress is less than expected, all agencies involved in their life along with their parents can work together to promote positive outcomes in health, wellbeing, learning, behaviour etc.
 
Parent – what areas of my child’s learning and development will the Integrated Review cover?
The Integrated Review will cover 5 areas – personal, social and emotional development; communication and language development; physical development and self-care (your Early Years Practitioner will comment on these in your child’s 2 year Progress Check); learning and cognitive development and physical health (the ASQ-3 form will cover these developmental areas).
 
Parent – where will the information be recorded?
Information from parents, heath visitors, early years providers and other agencies involved in the child’s life will be recorded on a page and placed in the child’s ‘red book’. The information will identify areas where the child is progressing well and areas where the child needs more support.
 
Early Years Practitioner – will I have to go to the meeting?
It depends on what your Local Authority decides they want you to do. In some of the Integrated Review pilot areas it was recognised that it was difficult to get everyone together at the same time, in the same place to have a meeting… so they were having a Progress Check with parents and the Health Visitor, including written information about the child from the Early Years Practitioner – and then sharing what happened with the Early Years Practitioner so any actions could be fed into the child’s planning.
 
Parent – I don’t have time to attend meetings – can my Childminder take my child?
It can normally be arranged for a Childminder to take a child to their 2 year review meeting. However, parents are encouraged to attend – they know their child best and are experts in what they can and cannot do.
 
Early Years Practitioner – will we get training in this?
It depends on your Local Authority. You can read the ASQ-3 form (it is online) and you are currently required to write 2 year Progress Checks for all children between the ages of 2 and 3 years – the only difference is that if your LA introduces the Integrated Review you might be asked along to a meeting about the child. You will be able to say ‘no’ if you cannot attend because of other commitments. Some Childminders in the pilot areas have offered to hold meetings in their homes but this might not be possible for the Health Visitor.
 
Childminder – at the moment the Health Visitors ignore our 2 year Progress Checks
There is some awareness, in some Local Authorities, that Health Visitors do not always regard Childminders as fellow professionals and refuse to read their 2 year Progress Checks when presented them by parents.  Barriers will need to be broken down if the Integrated Review is to be a success. Childminders need to be aware that their statutory requirement ends when they have written the 2 year Progress Check alongside parents and given a copy to the parents (another copy must be placed in the child’s file). There is no requirement to give the Progress Check to or have it signed by the Health Visitor.
 
Parent – what happens after the Integrated Review / Progress Check?
Depending on what is decided during the Review meeting, the Health Visitor and Early Years Practitioner will continue to work with you to support your child’s learning and development.  One of the main aims of the Integrated Review is to ensure it is a process of shared decision making. If there are concerns about your child’s learning and / or development, you might decide with their key person to make changes to your child’s individual planning in their early years provision or your Health Visitor might signpost other agencies who can support them.
 
Further information about the Integrated Review

NCB have published support materials here. 

There is also a toolkit for Local Authorities here.