Supporting more children to experience high quality outdoor play and learning
The Scottish Government has announced today (Tuesday 22 December 2020) a new £1million Outdoor Clothing Fund.
The fund will enable providers of funded early learning and childcare to purchase outdoor winter clothing for the children in their settings who need it most.
By providing appropriate outdoor clothing, to children who do not currently have access to these items, we hope to reduce inequalities and improve access to outdoor experiences in ELC.
The fund is open to all early learning and childcare providers delivering universal funded ELC, who have children in their settings with identified winter clothing needs.
The fund will open to applications on the 15th January and will be managed by Inspiring Scotland’s Thrive Outdoors on behalf of the Scottish Government.
Applications Now Open
The ambition of this fund is to reduce inequalities for children accessing the outdoors as part their funded Early Learning & Childcare entitlement in local authority or Funded Partner settings.
Funded Partners must be in partnership and actively delivering the funded offer. Funded partners can be private, voluntary, or independent OR childminders, but must be in partnership with a Local Authority to deliver the funded ELC offer to children.
The funding supports children in these settings who, due to personal circumstance or inequalities, do not currently 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.
Applications for this funding are now OPEN.
To check whether you are eligible to apply, and to find out more information about the fund, please download a copy of the fund guidance here.
Then Apply using this link.
Further information and resources
Read the news release announcing the funding here.
For further information and suggestions of robust, appropriate outdoor clothing, footwear and accessories you may find the following resources and films useful.
Scottish Government early education and outdoor play policies and guidance:
Thrive Outdoors practitioner guides to outdoor clothing:
Thrive Outdoors films on outdoor early learning and childcare provision:
Contact Us
We work together and get results.
We work with experts from the voluntary, public, private and academic sectors. Get in touch if you want to help us build a better Scotland.
Speak to us.- 📢Applications are now OPEN for the @ELCScotGov Outdoor Clothing Fund. 🧥🧤 Apply via link 👇 #TeamELC #ELC… https://t.co/OwSH15or2X