We are delighted to announce that SOSCN has been successful in its grant application for the next three years.

SOSCN now has funding until 2019. This allows us to continue to support and provide information to all involved with out of school care in Scotland.

We will, amongst other things, continue to promote and support GIRFEC and the implementation of the UNCRC within school-age childcare services, in particular Articles 31, 12 and 18, as well as work in partnership with government and other agencies to deliver supportive policies for OSC. Moreover, look out for more free and low cost training opportunities this year.

Care Inspectorate Encourages a Positive Approach to Risk in Play

The Care Inspectorate's position statement (27th Jan 2016)

"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."

Risk Benefit Assessments

Grounds for Learing have a handy selection of examples of risk benefit assessments, including: fire and outdoor cooking; tree climbing; and rope (play and use).

Click this link for further information: Grounds for Learning

Meet the Regulators - Forthcoming Events

• Tuesday 9th February 2016, Edinburgh (COSLA Building)
• Tuesday 1st March 2016, Perth (Station Hotel)

We still have a limited number of places remaining on our free meet the regulators seminars. These events are held in partnership with the Care Inspectorate, Scottish Social Services Council and Disclosure Scotland. These events will allow out of school care services to hear directly from the regulatory bodies about a variety of issues relevant to delivering quality services which meet regulatory and legislative requirements. The events are aimed at lead practitioners, management and development/support staff.

If you are interested in attending please see this link for a booking form: meet the regulators booking information

Learning About Play Research

Irene Audain and Andrew Shoolbread from SOSCN undertook a large research project last year, looking at the play and child development contents of qualifications for all early learning and childcare and teachers in Scotland, as well as looking at what play training is provided. This was done on behalf of the Play Strategy Implementation Group.

This report is now published on the Scottish Government website links here gov.scot/Publications/2015/10/6809/downloads

Recent Publications

"The Cost of School Holidays - Meeting the needs of low income families during school holidays" (Child Poverty Action Group in Scotland)

www.cpag.org.uk cost of school hilidays full report (pdf)

Big Lottery Funding Information

The Communities and Families Fund, which is supported by both Scottish Government and Big Lottery Fund and has funded over 786 projects across Scotland since May 2012, will close to new applications on February 29, 2016 and final grants will be awarded by March 31, 2016.

The Fund concentrates funding on projects that benefit children, or parents and families of children, who are eight years and under; this includes out of school care, and several services have received funding in the past.

For further information on how to apply: biglotteryfund.org.uk communities and families fund

Physical Activity Training

SOSCN is now offering free physical activity training to single services. This allows rural or large urban out of school care services to benefit from the training on offer. Training content would be similar to larger training sessions and the recommended number of participants is preferably around 8-10 in order or participants to experience the full benefit of the games being demonstrated. Smaller participant numbers would be considered in rural areas. Please email Greig about this.

The training sessions were originally delivered to clusters of out of school care services: local networks, local forums or services with multiple sites and is targeting approximately 2 members of staff from each service, this can still be done. We are looking for services who are interested in receiving the training to get in touch with other local services to arrange a suitable venue, participants numbers (of no less than 10 and no more than 20 per session) and some potential dates.

The training will last for a total of 2 hours and will consist of a short information session followed by a practical workshop which will involve physical activity participation of moderate intensity. The venue therefore must be able to accommodate for this. Participants do not need any prior experience or skills and the activities are suitable for different ages and levels of fitness.

How to book

If you are interested in having the physical activity training session delivered locally (single service or multiple services) then please contact Greig Cavanagh via email: greig.cavanagh@soscn.org or by phone: 0141 564 1284

House of Lords defeats government on child poverty measures

The House of Lords voted by an overwhelming majority to keep measures of child poverty that take account of family income.

Read more here: cpag.org.uk