Ways to spend the EYPP Funding

Ways for early years settings to spend the EYPP Funding

It is important that early years settings thing about how best to spend the EYPP Funding, it should be relevant to the child and the setting. What the funding is spent on must meet the needs of the individual and managers must be able to explain the reasoning behind this.

It can be beneficial if the manager and the key person hold a meeting and discuss what may be beneficial for the child. Look at the child’s tracking and any development documents to see where the child may need further support. Talking to the key person can often give managers a fuller picture of the child and funding can be allocated where necessary. Don’t forget to involve parents as it is important to keep them informed of your plans.

Here are a few ideas of what you could spend your EYPP Funding on.

Depending on whether a child is new to your setting or in the process of moving rooms why not consider doing a focus around transitions. There are many ideas you can think of such as

• Inviting parents into the nursery to see where the child may be moving to or starting.
• Hold a coffee morning for parents and let the child’s key person run the coffee morning.
• Create a transition book for the child to take with them to their new room or new nursery
• Key person home visit – Make up a box that contains resources to take with you during a home visit eg story books, cars, puppets etc.

Another way the EYPP Funding could be spent is on resources to help support children’s communication and development. Many children within childcare settings are being identified in needing further support regarding speech and language difficulties.With this in mind, there are many possibilities on how the EYPP Funding can be spent to support this.

• ICT resources such as talking tins, microphones, etc. These can help develop the interaction between children and adults and can give a focus around language.
• Book library- Why not create a borrowing book scheme, where children can take a book home and share this with their families. This is a great way of promoting both social interaction and language skills.
• Training – Find appropriate training for practitioners to attend that focus on language, this could be accessed through speech and language therapists or through your local authority.
• Use specific practice resources to help support both practitioners and children with communication and language development. Together Let’s Talk is an early years initiative that focuses on supporting children’s communication and language development.
• Story Sacks- Story sacks are a simple and effective way to promote language; these can be easily created using a range of support such as puppets and props.