Supporting Eligible Two-Year-Olds in Care Experienced Families
From August 2021, the Scottish Government expanded the offer of funded ELC places for eligible two-year-olds, including where the child or parent is care experienced.
All councils now have a legislated duty to offer up to 1140 hours of funded ELC for two-year-olds who are care-experienced themselves, and it is recommended by Scottish Government and COSLA that all councils offer the same to two-year-olds in families where the parent is care-experienced.
In June 2023, The Village and the Improvement Service jointly hosted the Supporting Eligible Two-Year-Olds in Care Experienced Families learning event, which brought together early learning and childcare leads, along with other key stakeholders to explore possible ways of improving the 2-year-offer for care experienced families.
The event explored lived experience from service users via composite stories, included contributions from The Promise Scotland, examples of local approaches and the chance for leads to share experience and contribute to developing creative solutions to support future approaches.
LGBT+ Inclusive Education in Early Years
The LGBT+ Inclusive Education in Early Years explored how settings can improve approaches to LGBT+ inclusion, and why this is so important to start breaking through the silences for LGBT+ parents and carers in early years. This resource pack is designed to provide simple and practical materials and methods to support the implementation of LGBT+ inclusive practice in early years settings across Scotland.
Application and Interview Skills for Student and Newly Qualified Early Childhood Practitioners
This event was designed to assist those moving into the Early Learning and Childcare profession for the first time, or those returning to the sector, with developing their application and interview skills.
The session was chaired by Anne Paterson - Professional Advisor to the Scottish Government, with contributions from Anupama Rao - Skills Development Scotland, Amanda Godsell - EELCA, City of Edinburgh Council and Jacqueline Lamb - Indigo Childcare Group.