Surrey County Council Early Years Phase Council

I am currently a serving member of Surrey County Council's Early Years Phase Council.

We are a council of 12 members who meet once every half term to discuss issues and inititatives that affect the early years.

The council is made up of an elected membership of representatives from maintained, private, voluntary and independent sectors of Early Years providers in Surrey.  This includes childminders, nurseries, pre-schools, SEND nurseries and pack away nursery settings.

Having such a broad representation of settings gives us a unique opportunity to really understand the perspectives of the whole sector and make sure that everyone has a voice in representing children under 5.

We work alongside the Early Years Effectiveness Team in Surrey to inform future planning and policies for the future of Early Years

We discuss and have input in a very wide range of issues affecting the early years such as service delivery, funding, SEND, social mobility, training and much more.

Each elected council member is also a representative of a specialist board including Finance and Funding, SEND, Safeguarding, Schools Forums, EY Strategy, Best Start Strategy, All Age Autism Strategy, Special Needs and Disabilities Partnerhsip, Safeguarding Partnership Board, SAFE Board and SAFE Forum.  We also send a council member representative to each Early Years Network meeting that Surrey host.

The Schools Forum is instrumental in deciding future funding policy and we will continue to have representation there.  We will also have opportunities to meet with the SCC Director of Education at regular intervals along with the chairs of the other phase councils; to influence and input into future strategies affecting education.

The Early Years Phase Council is keen to support the sector and we are always looking at ways to do this.  We want to hear from early years professionals if you have any questions, feeback, positive messages or concerns so please contact us at  surreyeyphasecouncil@gmail.com.

We are a Voice for the Early Years Sector in Surrey – Representing your views.

For more information about who is who in Surrey Early Years click here Who is who in early years - Surrey County Council (surreycc.gov.uk)

More information about the Early Years Phase Council; including details of our current council members; can be found here Early Years Phase Council - Surrey County Council (surreycc.gov.uk)