Early Years

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Wednesday 25th January 2012, The Church House Conference Centre - London, 09:00 - 16:00

Early Years: Shaping the Futures of Children and Young People

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Overview

On 30 March 2011, the Early Years Foundations Stage Review (conducted by Dame Tickell), was published and recommended that the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) be radically slimmed down to make it easier to understand, less burdensome and more focused on making sure children start school ready to learn. The Tickell Review places a strong emphasis on working with parents, the importance of early identification, the professionalisation of early year’s practitioners, and clarity in the inspection process.

Responding to the Tickell Review, the government set out its new EYFS framework in September 2011. The new EYFS is a comprehensive statutory framework that sets the standards for the learning, development and care of children from birth to five. The new framework radically reduces the number of early learning goals from 69 to 17 and focuses on three prime areas of learning, critical to making sure children develop healthily and happily. Parents will also get much clearer information on how their children are doing with the introduction of a new progress check for every two-year-old in early education. In addition, the government has made £3million available this year for up to 30 local areas to trial payment by results in children’s centres.

Improving the health and wellbeing in the early years of a child’s life is another key priority for the government. In August 2011, the new national health visitor taskforce was created with the purpose of providing a strategic challenge to the delivery of the government’s commitment to improving services as well as the health outcomes in the early years for children, families and their communities, through expanding and strengthening health visiting services, with an extra 4,200 health visitors in post by April 2015.

In addition, the childcare plan announced in November 2011 aims to increase provisions for pre-school children. The scheme will be rolled out across England from 2013 and will see an estimated 40% of two-year-olds being eligible for 15 hours per week of "early education" for 38 weeks a year. The scheme aims to support the UK’s most disadvantaged families and make it easier for parents to return to work.

Agenda

Delegates will have the opportunity to hear the government’s response to the Tickell Review as well as learn about the enhanced role of health visitors in children centres. Delegates will also have the chance to share best practice in improving the provision for children in early years as well as discussing the important role of early intervention.

09:00	Registration and Coffee
09:35	Chair's Welcome Address Dr Elizabeth Wood, Professor of Education, University of Exeter (CONFIRMED)
09:45	Morning Keynote: Early Intervention in Early Years Providing children from disadvantaged backgrounds the best start in life Developing partnerships with local authorities to drive innovation Prioritising early intervention services Recognising the diverse make-up of families and providing support to meet their needs Priorities for ensuring children are ‘school ready’ and have the necessary skills to thrive in a formal education setting Strategies for implementing early intervention programmes and evaluating outcome How can local authorities, the wider public sector and charities work together to develop a holistic approach to early intervention? Helen Dent CBE, Chief Executive, Family Action (CONFIRMED)
10:05	Special Keynote: Delivering the New Vision For the Early Years Delivering high-quality in early years service A new Early Years Foundation Stage, post-Tickell review Strong training and qualifications for people working in early education Greater access to free high-quality early education, with more flexibility for families A strong network of children’s centres improving outcomes for families and children Chris Barnham, Deputy Director, Early Years Quality and Standards, Department for Education (CONFIRMED)
10:25	Questions and Answers Session
10:40	Utilising the EYFS Inspection Regime to Steer Improvement Developing a streamlined, accessible inspection regime Utilising the EYFS to measure the performance of early years providers Promoting sector improvements through inspection Delivering Inspection processes across a range of service providers Using the evaluation of data to drive improvements in services Elizabeth Elsom, Divisional Manager, EYFS Frameworks, Ofsted (CONFIRMED)
11:00	Next Steps for the Early Years Workforce - Building on success Professionalising the early years workforce The national context for workforce development Learning from successful workforce development Next steps on workforce development Delivering services to meet the needs of children and families Paul Ennals, Executive Board Chair, Children’s Workforce Development Council (CONFIRMED)
11:20	Questions and Answers Session
11:35	Coffee Break and Networking
11:55	Shaping the Future, What Can We Learn From the Recent Past? Ensuring the early years provides children with the skills to enter formal education Reducing inequalities with services that develop communication and social skills in children Delivering the Early Years Single Funding Formula Ensuring accessible care services Strengthening partnership with the charitable sector to provide personalised services Safeguarding in early years – delivering quality services Developments in commissioning early years services Effective use of the Early Intervention Grant Naomi Eisenstadt, Senior Research Fellow, Oxford University (CONFIRMED)
12:15	Leading the way to make a difference to children and families: Developing the Early Years Professional Northern Alliance Continuing development of a graduate Early Years Professional workforce An increased emphasis in responding to disadvantage and diversity The response from the North of England EYP in a changing context: challenges and dilemmas Speaker From: Manchester Metropolitan EY Senior Team with further representation from the Northern Alliance (CONFIRMED)
12:35	Questions and Answers Session
12:50	Lunch and Networking
13:50	Developing A New Health Visiting Service Across England The role and remit of the new health visitor taskforce Adopting the new health visiting service model by 2015 Increasing the workforce by over 50% in the next 3 years The importance of health visiting for children and families in improving their health and wellbeing Identifying and supporting families most at risk Ensuring high standards of health and wellbeing Maternity and early years: making a good start to family life including antenatal education opportunities Dame Elizabeth Fradd, Chair, Health Visitor Taskforce (CONFIRMED)
14:10	Payment by Results (PbR) For Children’s Centres - Experiences From a Pilot £3m pilot to reward children's centres and local authorities based on how well they reach and support vulnerable families Trialling PbR in all 18 children’s centres by testing rewards for reaching vulnerable families, improving family health and wellbeing, and raising school attainment of children at age five Supporting outcomes Involving parents more actively in running the centres Achieving an 'Outstanding' result in your inspection Testing the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile assessments Completion of evidence based parenting programmes by vulnerable families Sustaining contact with families in greatest need Toby Kinder, Group Manager, Children’s Centres, Barking and Dagenham Council (CONFIRMED)
15:30	Questions and Answers Session
14:45	Coffee Break and Networking
15:05	Emotional Development During the First ThreeYears of Life: The Key to Children's Successful Adaptation in the Early Years Emotional development during the first 2-3 years of life lays the foundation for later successful adaption to a range of early years environment Successful development involves the child's increasing ability for 'affect regulation' or to regulate their emotions The capacity to regulate emotions is mediated via the child's relationship with key attachment figures Preparation for learning and the early years should therefore involve supporting parents during the first years of their child's life to develop 'securely attached' children, who are able to use the caregivers in a range of early learning environements as a 'secure base' from which to explore and learn Jane Barlow, Professor of Public Health in the Early Years, Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick (CONFIRMED)
15:25	Closing Keynote: Optimising Health in Early Years: Maximising Uptake of Immunisation The government's screening and immunisation programme Developing effective public health strategies that target individuals of all ages for immunisation The role of social marketing in encouraging vaccination up-take Improving vaccination access Working with schools and the private sector to provide vaccination programmes Including pregnant women and children in the seasonal influenza H1N1 vaccination programme The MMR campaign to tackle the increase in rising number of cases of measles The role of the private sector in vaccine development Dr Helen Bedford, Senior Lecturer in Children’s Health, Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, UCL Institute of Child Health & Member of WellChild’s Children's Health Advisory Committee (CONFIRMED)
15:45	Questions and Answers Session
16:00	Chair's Summary and Close

*programme subject to unexpected change

Exhibitors

Audience

Delegates will include children’s services directors, heads of early years, children's centre managers, directors of education, social workers, social services directors, child protection managers, family mentoring managers, directors of social care, childcare services inspectors, head teachers, parental engagement teams, inspectors, clinical team leaders, consultant nurses, health visitors, foster care providers and policy directors and will be drawn from central government, local authorities, education, criminal justice, health sector, academia and social sector organisations.