Consultation on information sharing between childcare providers and schools

There is a new consultation later on this year on sharing information between childcare providers and schools, this consultation will hopefully help drive the 30hrs free entitlement. According to Sam Gyimah , he said, ‘We do need to address the issue of information sharing, especially where a child could be accessing the 30 hours in probably more than two settings. We’re going to be publishing a consultation subsequent to the Childcare Act around how information sharing can work.

The DfE will confirm when the consultation will be launched and more about this will be communicated at a later date. As the 30hrs free entitlement for working parents of three and four years old became law on the 16 March it is now to be introduced in pilot areas from September 2016 then rolled out in the rest of the UK next September 2017. It is said that it is best practice for childcare providers to share information with the other setting that the child is attending. The consultation will look into what other information the setting needs to hold versus the other settings.

What systems do you have in place in your setting for sharing of information with another setting that a child attends. Do you hold regular meetings or is information just passed on after a term has finished. It would be good to hear how settings do this for children who attend dual settings.