Scotland S Care Regulator Encourages a Positive Approach to Risk in Play

Media Release 27 January 2016

Scotland’s care regulator encourages a positive approach to risk in play

The Care Inspectorate is showing its support for nurseries, childminders and other early years care services that take a positive approach to risk, by setting out its position on regulating for risk in play. It is launching its new position statement today, with the support of Play Scotland at their event Playing with risk: embracing the benefits with positive regulation.

The Care Inspectorate’s position statement “The Care Inspectorate supports care service providers taking a positive approach to risk in order to achieve the best outcomes for children. This means moving away from a traditional deficit model that takes a risk-averse approach, which can unnecessarily restrict children’s experiences attending registered services, to a more holistic risk-benefit model. For example, we encourage services to use risk assessment to support children to enjoy potentially hazardous activities such as woodwork using real tools, exploring nature and playing in the mud and rain. We do not expect written risk assessments to be carried out for daily play activities.”

Context Embracing a risk-benefit approach is part of changing our regulatory culture. For example, when we inspect we now assess the experience of the children attending and try to help services to improve. Traditionally the regulator would have just measured inputs and ensured that all services complied with the expected standards.

A positive approach to risk in play is being taken by specialist outdoor-based services for children. Since the UK’s first full-time forest nursery was registered in Fife in 2008, outdoor- based services have flourished in Scotland. At this event, the Care Inspectorate will celebrate the growth of these services and their contribution to developing a proportionate approach to risk.

Play Scotland support Cherie Morgan, Play Development Officer, Play Scotland says: “We want to see a common sense approach to risk in play, where practitioners weigh up the benefits, as well as the risks involved with activities. The opportunity to face challenges in a supportive environment helps children and young people learn to assess and manage risk for themselves, and this is vitally important for their development. We’re delighted to work with the Care Inspectorate to highlight this message to those who are responsible for the day to day care of children.”

Ministerial support Aileen Campbell MSP and Minister for Children and Young People supports this new approach with the following statement.

“In June 2013 the Scottish Government published the Play Strategy for Scotland, which seeks to improve the play experiences of all children and young people, including those with disabilities or from disadvantaged backgrounds. The Strategy aims to ensure all children and young people can access play opportunities in a range of settings which offer variety, adventure and challenge. They must be able to play freely and safely while learning to manage risks and make choices about where, how and when they play according to their age, stage, ability and preference. “A huge part of this is giving regulated services the confidence to provide good quality, challenging play opportunities for children in their care. Real life experiences for children cannot be free of risk; from the very beginning children learn from trial and error, falling and getting up, testing their own boundaries and this enables them to develop their own coping strategies and resilience.

“It is important too that children with additional support needs also have the chance to experience challenging play – and that quality play opportunities are offered to all children, according to their needs and preferences.

“Myth busting in terms of what ‘safe care’ is for our children is also important. Scotland’s children deserve to be cared for in a loving, nurturing environment that includes hugs and the comfort of touch, which is even more important now that children are in care environments from a younger age and for longer periods of time.

“I am delighted that the Care Inspectorate is supporting care service providers to adopt a more holistic risk-benefit model to help them achieve the best outcomes for children. This positive approach to risk emphasises confidence in providers using their professional judgement to support, nurture and challenge the children and young people in their care.”

Today’s event Playing with risk: embracing the benefits with positive regulation 10.00 – 15:00 at the King Khalid building, Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh.

Social media Please use #playstrategy if tweeting and tag @PlayScotland

The Care Inspectorate is dedicated to regulating, inspecting and supporting improvement of care, social work and child protection services for the benefit of the people who use them. Its goal is to ensure vulnerable people are safe, the quality of services provided continue to improve, and to uphold the quality of service to the standard people have a right to expect.

Notes to Editor:

Appendices: list of outdoor service registered with the Care Inspectorate; event programme.

 The Care Inspectorate is the everyday name for Social Care and Social Work Improvement Scotland (SCSWIS) and was formed on 1st April 2011 bringing together the Care Commission, the Social Work Inspection Agency and the child protection arm of HMIE.  More information about the Care Inspectorate and its regulatory work with care and social work services in Scotland can be found on the website www.careinspectorate.com.

Issued by the Care Inspectorate. For more information call 01382 207171 or email [email protected]

Outdoor-based services last updated 19/1/16 Service Name Registration Date Allsorts - Dornoch Afterschool Club, Dornoch 2002 The Secret Garden Outdoor Nursery, Cupar 2008 Auchlone Nature Kindergarten, Crieff 2008 Dunblane Nature Kindergarten 2008 Woodland Outdoor Kindergartens – Eastwood, Glasgow 2009 Treetops Nursery, Irvine 2012 Stramash Outdoor Nursery, Oban 2012 First Kidzone (St Fergus), Peterhead 2013 Riverside Cottage Nursery, Bathgate 2013 Stramash Outdoor Nursery, Fort William 2014 Methilhill Nature Nursery, Leven 2014 Greenbank Woodland Play, Glasgow 2015 Chapter One Childcare – Treetops Outdoor Nursery, Dalkeith 2015 Stramash Outdoor Nursery, Elgin 2015 Woodland Outdoor Kindergartens – West End, Glasgow 2015 Evergreen Outdoor Nursery, Glasgow 2015 Without Walls – Earthtime’s Outdoor Nursery, Elgin 2015 Livingstone’s Explorers Outdoor Playgroup, Glasgow 2015

PROGRAMME

9.15am Registration (Refreshments available) 10.00am Opening remarks Celia Tennant (Chair) Chief Executive Inspiring Scotland

Deborah Gallagher Scottish Government Play Policy Lead 10.15am Trying responsibility on for size: why Tim Gill challenge in play is important 11.15am Seeing the wood for the trees Henry Mathias Head of Inspection, Early Years (East) Care Inspectorate 12.00 Lunch and networking 12.45pm What does a common sense approach to Tim Gill risk in play look like? 1.20pm Risk and play in out of school care Louisa Walker Care Inspectorate

Andrew Shoolbread SOSCN 2.05pm Challenging play in the real world Matt Robinson Training and Development Officer Grounds for Learning 2.30pm Question and answer with panel 2.50pm Concluding remarks and close Chair

Wifi access is available - Username – SLPublic, Password – rcsedevents

Please use #playstrategy if tweeting and tag @PlayScotland

Play Scotland Play Scotland is the national play organisation which works to promote the importance of play for all children and young people. An independent charity with almost 500 members, Play Scotland campaigns for improved and extended play opportunities in the community, and for all children and young people to have equal opportunities to participate in diverse and quality play experiences that meet their individual need. The organisation provides resources, guidance and training on the importance of play for all children and young people, and administers Scotland’s Play Council.

Play Scotland’s work is underpinned by Article 31 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the UNCRC General Comment No17 (article 31), which articulates “the need to create time and space for children to engage in spontaneous play, recreation and creativity, and to promote societal attitudes that support and encourage such activity.”

The Care Inspectorate The Care Inspectorate regulates and inspects care services in Scotland to make sure that they meet the right standards. They also jointly inspect with other regulators to check how well different organisations in local areas work to support adults and children.

Set up by Scottish Government, and accountable to ministers, it’s the job of the Care Inspectorate to assure and protect everyone that uses these services. They work to make sure that everyone gets safe, high quality care that meets their needs. Their job is not just to inspect care services, but help them improve. They offer advice, guidance and suggestions to help services reach the highest standards.

Grounds for Learning Grounds for Learning (GfL) is the operational name for Learning through Landscapes in Scotland. Grounds for Learning was founded 20 years ago and has since been working to help ensure that every child has the right to access quality school grounds for their learning and play.

We do this by providing high quality advice and guidance on making changes to outdoor spaces, inspiring practitioners and empowering them to make best use of those spaces and advocating for the use of the outdoors at Government level and in other national arenas.

More recently we have begun to extend our work specifically to support more vulnerable children in early years settings. We are also starting to explore how our underpinning principles might help improve the care experience of people in health related settings. One of our key strengths is our ability to operate right across the UK.

Scottish Out of School Care Network The Scottish Out of School Care Network (SOSCN) is a Scottish registered charity (SC020520), established in 1991 and is the national infrastructure umbrella organisation providing support, mentoring, training, information and resources to all childcare services in Scotland, which provide childcare, play and learning opportunities for school-age children.

All our work is underpinned by a commitment to support and promote the delivery of the UNCRC and the wellbeing principles of Getting It Right For Every Child, in order to ensure that children have the best possible outcomes. www.soscn.org

Inspiring Scotland Inspiring Scotland is an innovative, outcome focused venture philanthropy organisation designed and developed in response to the needs of Scotland’s charities. Inspiring Scotland aims to tackle social issues in a different way, bringing greater cohesion and, through this, higher impact.

Inspiring Scotland has worked in partnership with the Scottish Government over the past five years creating a track record in successfully supporting the development and expansion of free play in disadvantaged communities across Scotland.

Through the Go2Play Fund we have invested in some of the most exciting and impactful play organisations in Scotland - helping develop the play sector and create greater play opportunities in Scotland’s communities for Scotland's children.

Scottish Government The Scottish Government supports this event as part of their commitment to the national Play Strategy which aims to increase quality play opportunities for children and young people. “We want Scotland to be the best place to grow up. A nation which values play as a life- enhancing daily experience for all our children and young people; in their homes, nurseries, schools and communities.” (Scotland’s National Play Strategy)

This seminar supports the Scottish Government vision for play and delivers positive support for play actions in Scotland’s Play Strategy.

Chair Celia Tennant, Chief Executive, Inspiring Scotland Celia Tennant spent 20 years in the Pharmaceutical Industry with Pfizer and as a senior leader developed a breadth of experience across many areas. Celia joined Inspiring Scotland at its inception and since then has developed a deep appreciation and understanding of the voluntary sector, having led on the implementation and management of all of Inspiring Scotland’s Funds. It has brought over £60million to the Scottish voluntary sector to tackle youth unemployment; lack of free play opportunities for children; more support in early years; and support for disadvantaged communities to harness their own assets.

Celia brings passion and unparalleled knowledge of the organisations across all of Inspiring Scotland’s funds as well as a commitment to improving the lives of Scotland’s most vulnerable people. She is a voluntary Board member for a number of not for profit and sporting organisations. Celia has always focused on people and team and was recognised as the IOD Scotland Director of the year for 2015 for Family friendly and Flexible working policies.

Celia loves the great outdoors and enjoys pushing herself to new limits through multi-sport and endurance events. She also relishes time spent with family and friends.

Speakers Tim Gill, Co-Author, Managing Risk in Play Provision Tim Gill is a leading independent researcher and writer on children’s play and free time. His influential book No Fear: Growing up in a risk-averse society was published in 2007, and he is the co-author of the Government-funded, HSE-endorsed publication Managing Risk in Play Provision: Implementation Guide. Tim regularly appears in print and broadcast media. He was director of the Children’s Play Council (now Play England) from 1998 to 2004, and during this time was seconded to Whitehall to lead the first ever government review into children’s play. Tim’s website is www.rethinkingchildhood.com.

Henry Mathias, Head of Inspection, Early Years (East) As the Care Inspectorate’s Head of Inspection - Early Years (East), Henry Mathias is responsible for the regulation and scrutiny of registered early learning and childcare services. In his current role he recently managed the enforcement against Hamilton School Nursery in Aberdeen and is the Care Inspectorate lead on provider fitness. The Care Inspectorate is an influential agent in improving the overall quality of early years services in Scotland and Henry has a lead role in this work.

Henry started work as a full-time dad, then established a successful childcare business before becoming an early years inspector. Before taking up his current role, Henry was Registration Manager for the Care Inspectorate and was responsible for registering adult care homes following the collapse of Southern Cross.

Matt Robinson, Training and Development Officer, Grounds for Learning Matt is a qualified secondary teacher, with a career leading adventurous activities and managing risk with school groups in the outdoors. He holds an IOSH certificate in managing risk, and is responsible for Grounds for Learning’s new model of risk benefit assessments. Matt currently works across Scotland with teachers and early years, supporting them to take learning outdoors.

Andrew Shoolbread MA (Hons) MSc Med (Open), Policy and Research Manager, SOSCN Andrew joined the Scottish Out of School Care Network in November 2001 as the National Information Officer; since then, as the organisation has changed, so too has his role. Now with a much wider remit his post covers such things as training, research, publications, mentoring and policy.

Prior to working with SOSCN Andrew gained an honours degree in Spanish and then taught English in Japan to Kindergarten, Primary and Junior High School students for two years. On returning to the UK he completed a Masters degree in Information Technology.

He is also a qualified bookbinder.

Play Scotland Midlothian Innovation Centre, Pentlandfield, Roslin EH25 9RE Tel: 0131 440 0456 Web: www.playscotland.org Company Number: 017885 Scottish Charity Number: SC029167