Summary
Slough Early Years Service provides a comprehensive schedule of training opportunities designed to support providers to manage their CPD and statutory duties regarding safeguarding and child protection, paediatric first aid and food hygiene.
Effective and engaging CPD is essential for providing good quality provision and supporting individual practitioners to fulfil their potential and pursue their chosen career path.
Slough Early Years Service Training Opportunities
Slough Early Years Service commissions companies to provide training for practitioners and providers to enable them to meet statutory requirements. This includes safeguarding, child protection, health and safety, paediatric first aid and food hygiene training. These courses are provided on a cost recovery basis. To book please visit our Events and Training page.
A Paediatric First Aid 12 hour course that meets the Statutory Framework criteria (Annex A) is scheduled for Saturday’s throughout the year.
Universal Safeguarding training, covering the statutory Framework guidance and the duty of care as outlined in the Working Together to Safeguard Children 2015 document is scheduled once per term on a Saturday. This training includes information about the local procedures provided on the LSCB website.
Food Safety training is delivered by the Slough Borough Council Food Safety team. Food business operators are required by law, to ensure that food handlers receive appropriate supervision and instruction/training in food hygiene in line with their work activity. This enables them to handle food safely. The standard training days are weekdays.
To make a request for any of these courses outside these schedules please contact earlyyears@slough.gov.uk
Safer Recruitment training supports managers to meet several of the statutory duties relating to recruitment, including: the suitability of staff, vetting procedures and referrals to the disclosure and barring service. Slough Early Years Service can arrange this training for providers, on request. Please contact earlyyears@slough.gov.uk for further information.
Slough Early Years Service has also issued a Professional Development Portfolio to all providers. The portfolio contains suggestions for workshops / courses that can be delivered by members of the team. All professional development opportunities offered in this way can be tailored to suit the specific training needs of the setting and the staff.
Slough Early Years Service Fora and Network Opportunities
All Slough Private, Voluntary & Independent settings and Schools are invited to attend a range of fora that provide early years sector updates, information sharing, moderation and networking opportunities.
Some of these networks provide fora for all early years’ practitioners and others have a specific audience.
Slough Early Years Service offers the following termly meetings:
- PVI Managers Meeting (An evening meeting for managers and deputies held in a central location in Slough providing sector updates, networking opportunities and workshops relating to emerging or forthcoming developments)
- Bristol Standard Network meeting (A choice of two times, held on the same date in a central location in Slough focusing on self evaluation / reflection and action planning to improve provision)
- SENCo Network meeting (An evening meeting for SENCO’s from PVI settings, providing networking opportunities, information sharing and training opportunities)
- Early Years Cluster meeting (brief twilight meeting, in different locations across Slough, providing sector updates, moderation activity and networking opportunities for practitioners)
- Childminder Cluster meeting (An evening meeting for child minders held in a central location in Slough providing information sharing about sector priorities, guest speakers and networking opportunities)
- I Talk Network meeting (A choice of two times, held on the same date in a central location in Slough providing data sharing and strategies for supporting children’s communication and language development)
- Quality Improvement Childminder Network (QICN. A choice of venues, children’s centres, libraries, parks. Development workers model enhanced provision, planned activities with specific learning intentions, differentiation and vocabulary extension using I Talk techniques)
Provider Responsibilities
It is a settings responsibility to ensure that staff training is up to date.
All staffs working at the settings have a duty to ensure that they keep their safeguarding knowledge up to date by reviewing changes to the procedures at the Slough LSCB on-line website
Information and guidance about the suitability or frequency of training requirements can be sought from the workforce development coordinator by contacting earlyyears@slough.gov.uk.
Monitoring and Evaluation
Attendees at all training opportunities over 2 hours in length are asked to complete evaluation sheets. These are used to monitor the relevance of the content, the appropriateness of the delivery and the effectiveness of the learning relating to key messages.
Early Years Child Development Course
About this training course
Each training module on this site covers an important area of child development and has been written by early years experts, working with the Department for Education.
Why should I take this training?
This training:
- is free for childminders and nurseries
- combines theory with practical tips and ideas to use in your setting
- includes opportunities to reflect on your practice
- reinforces your understanding through learning check questions and tests
- links to additional resources
- offers the opportunity to download certificates of completion
- has been developed by expert practitioners
Learn more and enrol by following this link: Early years child development training : Home page (education.gov.uk)
Working in Early Years and Childcare Settings
Types of roles
There are many different roles associated with the profession, ranging from managerial roles to hands-on assistant jobs. Of course, if you intend to work in early years and childcare, it’s safe to say you think you’re good working with children. But it’s best to have an idea of a more specific role, so you can make the most of your skills and strengths, particularly as working with children requires a lot of dedication, patience and enthusiasm.
Some of the most common positions found in childcare include working within nurseries and schools, with in preschools and playgroups, childminding and playwork.
To help you work out what steps to take to begin your early years and childcare career, you will need to decide what type of role you would like to move into. There a many different roles and career path you chose will determine your next steps. The National Careers Service website outlines details and pathways for a number of roles which you may find helpful. Additionally please read the various case studies of people already working in early years and childcare in Slough.
Once you have an idea of the role that you would like to do, it is quite likely that you will need to think about obtaining a relevant qualification. There are many providers locally that offer early years and childcare qualifications.