The fund, open to any setting delivering funded ELC, will ensure that three- and four-year-olds and eligible two-year-olds have access to suitable outdoor clothing during their time in ELC, reducing inequalities in accessing the outdoors.
Providers can apply for up to £1,000 per setting before the 29 January deadline, to support children who, due to personal circumstance, do not have access to the outdoor clothing they need. Without this fund, these children may not be able to engage fully in year-round outdoor play and learning.
Children’s Minister Maree Todd said, ‘Our guidance advises ELC settings to reduce the risks of coronavirus (Covid-19) transmission by maximising the time that children spend outdoors. We also know that playing, learning and having fun outdoors helps to improve children’s wellbeing and resilience, as well as their physical and mental health.
‘However, not every family can afford to provide suitable outdoor clothing for their children and not every ELC setting can fill the gap, which can present barriers to outdoor play in colder weather. This funding will mean more young children will be able to enjoy the many benefits of playing and learning outdoors in winter.’
Inspiring Scotland, which has worked extensively with the ELC sector to support outdoor play over the past few years, has been appointed by Scottish Government to administer the fund.
More information on the fund and how to apply can be found here.
Virtual Nature School
The Scottish Government already supports outdoor play and learning through funding to Living Classrooms for their Virtual Nature School (VNS) programme, providing training and support to ELC practitioners.
More than 1,000 practitioners have benefited from this training, which supported the delivery of outdoor play sessions to 40,000 families over the period of restrictions when many were unable to access childcare. A further 500 teams from across the ELC sector have been offered a place on the programme’s winter cohort, to support the continued delivery of high quality, all-weather, outdoor experiences.
- For more information, visit Virtual Nature School.
