News and Best Practice
Children due to start school in the 2020 \ 2021 Reception year group
Parents of children born between 01 September 2015 and 31 August 2016 should be applying for a school place now for the 2020 \ 2021 Reception year group.
We appreciate that many parents will request your advice and support in making their application, and therefore hope that by providing you with a poster and some key information we can enlist your help in supporting these parents.
To advertise the need to apply, it would be helpful if you could print and display the poster, which is downloadable, and draw parents’ \ carers’ attention to the poster.
To apply for a school place, parents can make their application by the following methods:
On-line at: http://www.sheffield.gov.uk/home/schools-childcare
By paper form which can be downloaded at the above website
Request by phone 0114 2735766
The closing date is 15 January 2020 and parents who do not make an on-time application are far less likely to obtain a place at one of their preferred schools.
Important Dates:
Applications invited from: 09 September 2019
On-line site closes: 06 December 2019 (noon)
Closing date: 15 January 2020
Offer date: 16 April 2020
Launch of the Better Start Portal
From 15 April 2019 a new EYFS assessment tool “Better Start” will be available for the submission of 2 year old assessment data and to support carrying out 2 year Integrated Reviews. Better Start is part of the Sheffield Provider Portal which providers currently use to submit information for the Early Years Headcount.
Through Better Start you can access progress reports for individual children within your setting and look at overall reports for the setting. In addition, by having all settings use the same system, the local authority hope to be able gather data which can be shared with you about the city as a whole and areas local to you so that you can compare this to your own setting.
This data will also enable the local authority to work in partnership with providers to plan and deliver appropriate services for you and the families that you work with.
To enable you to have the correct access to the system please complete the downloadable form as soon as possible indicating that you need access to the Better Start Portal and send it to Performance & Analysis Section, People Services, Level 7 West Wing, Moorfoot, Sheffield S1 4PL
You may already have staff in your setting who have access to the Early Years Headcount section of the Portal and once we have received a new form from you the Better Start module can be added to their access. Alternatively you may require different people to have access to the different areas of the Portal. Please consider the most appropriate person to have access within your setting and where possible keep the number of accounts you need to a minimum.