You are here: NAFIS were delighted to host the first ever virtual conference over Microsoft Teams.
On Monday 16 November, the National Association of Family Information Services (NAFIS) were delighted to host the first ever virtual conference over Microsoft Teams. The event was a brilliant opportunity to bring NAFIS members together to discuss the unique challenges posed by 2020 for the early years and childcare sector and discuss the fantastic work happening in local areas to support families at this challenging time.
We were joined by over 130 members from local authorities all around the country. Megan Jarvie, Head of Coram Family and Childcare, and Philip Ryan, NAFIS Chair and Families Information Services Manager at the London Borough of Hillingdon, welcomed all virtual delegates to the conference before the day got off to an exciting start with a series of keynote speeches and presentations from sector leaders.
Joanna Mackie, Department for Education, provided an overview of the department’s COVID-19 response priorities and strategies, highlighting the importance of tracking the impact of the pandemic on under 5s, their families, childcare providers and the early years workforce. Joanna discussed the latest data on early years attendance since the outbreak of COVID-19 and reflected on current estimates for parental demand over the next few months. Looking ahead, Joanna emphasized the need to support provider financial stability, protect access to entitlements and support early years practice.
Ofsted then gave an informative update on regulation and inspection during national and local restrictions. Emma Exton, Deputy Director, Operations and Lee Ryan, Principal Officer, EY regulation shared an insight into how interim visits and Childcare Register inspections will be carried out. The speakers told NAFIS members that Ofsted are seeking to understand the impact of the pandemic on children and early years providers and look at the well-being and safety of children. The conference’s sponsors, Famiio and Servelec, then took to the floor to provide demonstrations of their software and answer questions from NAFIS members about their FIS solutions. Many attendees commented that these presentations were invaluable for learning more about FIS data and the different systems available.
In the afternoon, conference delegates had the option to attend one of two workshops running over three time slots. In a session on childcare sustainability and sufficiency, Neil Leitch, Chief Executive of Early Years Alliance, told NAFIS members about the challenges facing childcare providers and what’s working to help support the sector locally. Liz Connick and Ryan Robinson from Buckinghamshire FIS hosted an interactive Q&A session on social media and shared tips on how to create interesting user content, monitor engagement and reach more families.
Caroline Coady, Council for Disabled Children and Ella Ritchie, Hackey Local Offer Coordinator provided an overview of the Local Offer as a key aspect of SEND reforms and offered examples of high-quality best practice within the FIS. Theresa Johnson, Project Manager at Together for Twos (PACEY), discussed how the project is working to ensure that more disadvantaged children experience a language rich early environment through the take-up of high-quality provision, highlighting the lessons learn for local authorities.
In the final workshop session, James Hempsall gave his take on childcare sufficiency assessments (CSAs) within a COVID-19 context. He set out his observations and analysis of what’s changed and what’s changing in terms of parental need, demand and preferences. Megan Jarvie looked at strategies for increasing the take-up of two year old funding, demonstrating how the Parent Champions model has been an effective way of communicating with local families about the support and services available.
Finally, it was time to announce the NAFIS Award Winners in the eagerly awaited awards ceremony! Angelina and Veronica, two Parent Champions from Brent, joined us to annouce the winners and celebrate their work. Read more about the first ever NAFIS Awards in the blog here.
Philip Ryan, NAFIS Chair, said:
The NAFIS conference this year was a new departure for us with the event being held online for the first time in the light of Covid-19. I was really pleased both with the high number of attendees and the positive feedback we have already had about the event. We would be interested to hear views from everyone attending about the event and what further online sessions they would want in the future.
A huge thank you to all of the conference speakers, workshop hosts and sponsors involved in the NAFIS Conference 2020. Most of all, thank you to everyone who attended and made it a fantastic day for all involved. We look forward to seeing you next year! NAFIS members can see the presentations from the day on the bank of resources here.
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