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, outdoorbased 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.
ENDS
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
10.00am
10.15am
11.15am
12.00
12.45pm
1.20pm
Registration
(Refreshments available)
Opening remarks
Trying responsibility on for size: why
challenge in play is important
Seeing the wood for the trees
Lunch and networking
What does a common sense approach to
risk in play look like?
Risk and play in out of school care
2.05pm
Challenging play in the real world
2.30pm
2.50pm
Question and answer with panel
Concluding remarks and close
Celia Tennant (Chair)
Chief Executive
Inspiring Scotland
Deborah Gallagher
Scottish Government
Play Policy Lead
Tim Gill
Henry Mathias
Head of Inspection, Early Years (East)
Care Inspectorate
Tim Gill
Louisa Walker
Care Inspectorate
Andrew Shoolbread
SOSCN
Matt Robinson
Training and Development Officer
Grounds for Learning
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