Support for early years and childcare providers
London’s early years sector is an essential part of the capital's economy, providing access to high quality early education and childcare, and enabling parents to work.
You can find sector specific guidance listed below. Other general information for London can be found at our coronavirus updates and guidance hub.
Government guidance
On Tuesday 29 March, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Sajid Javid, set out the next steps for living with COVID-19 in England from Friday 1 April.
For education and childcare settings from Friday 1 April:
- regular asymptomatic testing is no longer recommended in any education or childcare setting, including in SEND, alternative provision and children’s social care settings. Therefore, settings will no longer be able to order test kits
- residential SEND settings may be advised by their local health protection team to re-introduce some time-limited asymptomatic testing. This would be an exceptional measure, for targeted groups of staff and pupils or students (secondary age or above) in the event of a possible COVID-19 outbreak. These settings are scheduled to receive an automatic delivery of contingency supply test kits during the week commencing Monday 28 March
More information about the new guidance for schools can be found on the Department For Education’s website.
The Department for Education COVID-19 helpline is available to answer any questions you have about COVID-19 relating to education and childcare settings and children’s social care.
Business support
In June 2021, the Mayor launched Strong Early Years London - a new, innovative programme of business support for London's nurseries, pre-schools and childminders.
Commissioned by the Mayor and delivered in partnership with the Early Years Alliance and CEEDA, it’s designed to help sustain and grow the PVI sector through to March 2022 and beyond.
Read more or visit our new one-stop-shop for early years business support in London.
Mental health and wellbeing
We know that the pandemic has been a worrying and testing time for many Londoners, including children, parents, carers and critical workers, such as early years practitioners.
We have brought together general tips, advice and resources on looking after your mental health during coronavirus. You can also explore the resources below:
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Early Years in Mind is a free online network for early years practitioners. It was developed by mental health experts and provides easy to read and easy to use guidance on supporting the mental health of babies, young children and their families.
- Coram Life Education have produced a 'back to school' toolkit to support children's mental health. It's suitable for children from the early years to key stage 2 and is free for schools and early years providers to download.
- Thrive LDN is a citywide movement to improve the mental health and wellbeing of all Londoners.
Home-learning resources and advice for parents
During the pandemic, many parents and carers spent a lot more time at home with their children and were looking for inspiration for things to do. You may still be interested in the resources below:
- The Department for Education’s Hungry Little Minds website offers simple, fun activities for children from newborn to five.
- Families who also have older, school age children can explore the Department for Education’s list of online education resources.
- The Mayor’s London Curriculum team has also reached out across the city to bring together free learning and cultural offers that children from 0 to 18 can access from home. London Learning at Home is a new resources webpage open to everyone and can be searched by age range, subject, key stage and organisation.
Other support
We know that many early years and childcare providers are still under a huge amount of pressure at this time.
As well as making sure you are up to date with the latest government guidance on financial support for education, early years and children’s social care, you may want to explore some of the resources and opportunities below.
- The London Community Response Fund offered coordinated funding to support groups responding to the needs of communities in the capital affected by the coronavirus pandemic. Find out who has been funded and sign up for future updates.
- The Mayor's Employment Rights Hub helps Londoners to know their rights at work and how to enforce them. The hub is packed with information in more than 20 community languages. It includes frequently asked questions related to workplace rights during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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