Our Future Now (OFN) is a 10-year committment for Scotland’s young people. Here for young people whose start in life isn’t equal. Affected by poverty and disadvantaged by where they live or their family circumstance they must work unfairly hard to overcome a wide range of challenges. In addition to the statistics for the last
Read MoreThrive Outdoors conducted a survey with the aim of creating a holistic view of organisations in the outdoor play sector including where and how they operate, as well as the key challenges that they face. Outdoor play plays a crucial role in ensuring the emotional, social, and physical wellbeing of children and young people. Following
Read MoreEvidence from the Delivering Equally Safe (DES) funded organisations and from other studies has shown that “experiences of violence and abuse against women, young people and children can be the cause of mental ill health, and those experiences can exacerbate existing mental health issues.†A report has been pulled together looking the evidence of the
Read MoreOur Future Now (OFN) is here for young people whose start in life isn’t equal and who face barriers to success even when the economy is thriving, and opportunities are plentiful. This year three (April 2021 to March 2022) report covers a period of challenge and when the support provided for young people as never
Read MoreThe Healthy Islands Fund was £1.3 million investment from the Scottish Government to improve and promote health, social care, and wellbeing for those living in Scottish island communities. The fund was delivered by Inspiring Scotland and supported 59 projects.
Read MoreThe Creative Communities Programme is based on the belief that it is communities themselves who are best placed to articulate their needs and how to meet them. The Programme is therefore deliberately flexible, supporting a range of different initiatives and outcomes. We commissioned an independent evaluation of the programme from Research Scotland. The evaluation
Read MoreDisadvantaged young people: the depth of the impact of Covid 19 is the third in a series of insight papers around youth unemployment.
Read MoreFor our first Thursday Think Piece we have a longer more informative blog from Jo Fitzpatrick- Learning Outdoors Development Officer here at Thrive Outdoors. This blog is a continuation on from Jo’s Tuesday Tips on the same subject of ‘Connection to Nature.
Read More‘When we observed a Forest Kindergarten, I saw that the children were not afraid to climb trees to get mucky, but this is all positive risk taking. When children climb trees or get muddy, they are exploring and growing in resilience and confidence, it teaches them not to be afraid’- Mairead, Glasgow Clyde College
Read More‘Birds fly, fish swim, children play’ -Garry L. Landreth, Play Therapy: The Art of the Relationship In this week’s guest blog we hear from Deidre a play therapist based in Ireland who shares the therapeutic benefits of play and some handy play tips and activities for both parents and practitioners.
Read More‘There is an untapped resource of highly trained play professionals within many out of school services across Scotland. Let’s build on this model of partnership and educate the “whole child†within our schools. Let’s not only strive to make Scotland the best place to grow up but a super place to be educated in
Read More Roberta’s story- ‘My outdoor learning journey!’ Back in 2017, Thrive Outdoors started working with Glasgow City Council to create collaborative nursery partnerships across the city to explore outdoor play and learning. One of these partnerships was the Welly Wanderers led by the Jeely Piece Club and involving eight local nurseries in Castlemilk. We caught
Read More The power of play! This week’s blog is from us at Thrive to raise awareness of the benefits of play on a child’s mental health. As some of you may know it is Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week and we thought it might be useful to offer up some handy tips and activities for
Read MoreTime to embrace getting creative outdoors! This week’s guest blog is from Matt Searles -Head of Learning at Jupiter Artland. In this blog he shares his thoughts on taking a creative approach to outdoor learning and more on learning creativity in the outdoors.
Read MoreTime to embrace winter weather! This week’s guest blog is from Dr Claire Warden from Mindstretchers Academy. In this blog Dr Claire shares how she believes embracing winter can bring about many new opportunities for outdoor play and learning as well as some top tips on keeping warm and dry. An interesting and informative
Read MoreTaking home-schooling outdoors! Top Tips for Incorporating Outdoor learning into your home-schooling schedule! Once again we all find ourselves in the midst of another lockdown with the prospect of becoming ‘teacher’ as well as parent again seeming rather daunting to many of us. But fear not the Thrive Outdoors team are on hand with
Read MoreIt was amazing to see how outdoor play and learning was fully embraced this year in spite of all the challenges. We all realised just how important the outdoors is- not just for our children but for the WHOLE family. As we face yet more restrictions at the start of the new year –
Read MoreIt’s a Primary School takeover! This week’s guest blogger is Natalie Campbell, Education and Outreach manager & Forest school manager at Earthtime who shares her top tips for incorporating Play in Primary Schools! Free play at any age or stage allows for opportunities to be creative, test and develop problem solving skills, build relationships
Read MoreIts a Scout leader takeover! This week’s guest blogger is Ignacio Luna Borras – Scout leader and founder of Earth Nature Adventures who shares his hints and tips on getting started with Bushcraft and how it can offer up the opportunity to experience more outdoor learning and the chance to connect more deeply with
Read MoreAre you interested in learning more about what forest school nursery involves? and how it can offer up the opportunity to experience more outdoor play and learning…then our latest blog is for you! This week’s guest blogger is Zoe Sills, Nursery Manager at Earthtime Forest School Nursery. Zoe shares all her hints and tips
Read MoreAre you a parent or carer interested in learning more about flexi-schooling and how it can offer up the opportunity to experience outdoor play and learning…then our latest blog is for you! This week’s guest blogger is Gemma Craigie-Sharland, Performance and Impact advisor here at Inspiring Scotland featuring her daughter.Gemma shares more on what
Read MoreAre you a nursery looking to do more outdoor play but aren’t sure where to start? This week’s guest blogger is Vicki Shiels, manager of the Waterfront Nursery in Edinburgh. The Waterfront team have recently started on an exciting new outdoor adventure and this blog shares some of their first steps and tips to
Read MoreAre you a childminder looking to do more outdoor play but aren’t sure where to start? Childminder extraordinaire Emma Smith is this week’s guest blogger, revealing her secrets to embracing and enjoying every opportunity to get outside. It’s a childminder takeover!
Read MoreThe third of a series exploring the Play Pedagogy shared principles;  interactions, spaces and experiences. We know that learning experiences provided in the earliest months and years in a child’s life are critical for their future success in life – here are a few key experiences that can make a big impact on the development
Read MoreIs going outdoors like stepping into the unknown? Alastair Davidson shares his approach to establishing an outdoor space for use in the early years.
Read MoreDifferent minds. One Scotland. is the first national campaign on autism and was created in response to The Scottish Government Consultation on The Scottish Strategy for Autism, which highlighted the stigma and discrimination that autistic people face.
Read MoreThis Progress report provides an update on  project activity from October 2019 to 31 March 2020. As the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown started to take effect in the last couple of weeks of the latest report period. In June 2020 we asked projects what the impact of lockdown was on their activities and how
Read MoreDuring Covid-19 we knew the levels of digital exclusion across Scotland would become forefront. Our calls with charity leaders and frontline staff highlighted what we knew: Pre-existing inequality meant that people across Scotland were excluded from accessing support services and that many of these services were compromised, reduced or couldn’t be delivered due to lack
Read More? We support essential charities to become extraordinary charities, enabling them to support the people and communities in Scotland that experience inequality and help them to change their lives for the better. We do it because we want a healthy, happy and thriving Scotland, without poverty or disadvantage. Introducing Working Together, the 2019 Annual Review of our
Read MoreFind out more about what intandem does in the intandem impact report 2019
Read MoreWe are pleased to announce the publication of the revised edition of the Loose Parts Play Toolkit. The updated Toolkit provides a greater focus on helping adults develop the skills to support inclusive, all-weather outdoor play in Scotland and encourage them to allow children to play in a less structured and more imaginative manner. Since
Read MoreFor people to thrive, three things really matter: supportive relationships, confidence and self-esteem. Seven years of Inspiring Scotland’s Link Up programme has demonstrated beyond doubt that these three things are not only fundamental human needs essential for individual wellbeing, they are the foundations on which individuals and communities can change things for the better. Find out
Read MoreThis document is a step-by-step guide providing practical advice on how to access outdoors spaces, including land or forest areas owned by local authorities, private landowners or national bodies (such as the Forestry Commission and Scottish Natural Heritage) to create safe, nurturing and inspiring outdoor learning experiences.
Read MoreIn 2018, we brought together a broad group of academics and organisations from education, childcare, healthcare, environment and government to create Scotland’s Outdoor Play and Learning Coalition. The Coalition created a bold position statement which committed signatories to working together to embed playing and learning outdoors as an everyday activity and a fundamental part
Read MoreThis guide contains eligibility, priority and contact details of organisations funding not-for-profit and charitable organisations in Scotland. It has been complied for Inspiring Scotland’s Thrive Outdoors programme and therefore focusses on potential funders of play activities. Funders have been selected through a review of SCVO’s ‘Scottish Directory of Funding for Third Sector Organisations’ and a
Read MoreWe strive for a Scotland without poverty or disadvantage. Through our thematic funds, covering issues from youth employment to childhood health and wellbeing to community development, we work with and fund the organisations and people who can have the greatest impact. We want to make Scotland a better place and everyone at Inspiring Scotland, and
Read MoreFree to Play: A guide to creating accessible and inclusive public play spaces is designed to ensure that all children and young people, including those with additional support needs, can exercise their right to play in their local communities. Written by play, children’s rights and inclusive play space experts, Theresa Casey and Harry Harbottle, the guide has
Read MoreInnovation Fund Progress Report April 2017 The Self-directed Support Innovation Fund (2015-2018) aims to support innovation and piloting of different service models as well as help develop the capacity of practitioners and providers to implement Self-directed Support. In Years 1 and 2 of the Fund (April 2015 – March 2017) 21 projects spent a total
Read MoreThe Self-directed Support: Support in the Right Direction Fund (2015 – 2018) aims to build the capacity and availability of independent support services across Scotland. In this second year £2.9 million was spent by 36 funded projects delivering Independent Support and this report outlines reported progress to March 2017. Projects are delivering a range of activity
Read MoreFocusing on some of Scotland’s most deprived communities, Link Up is making a significant contribution to the delivery of the Scottish Government’s commitment to reduce health inequalities and improve health by: 1. Addressing the social determinants of health, widely recognised as key to addressing health inequalities and setting foundations for positive change 2. Growing individuals’
Read MoreThis report for the Support in the Right Direction Fund reviews the progress  between April and September 2015. Download the Resource
Read MoreThis report for the Support in the Right Direction Innovation Fund reviews the progress of the fund between April and September 2015. Download the Resource
Read MoreDr. Mark Tremblay of Canada’s HALO Research talks to Prof. John Reilly of the University of Strathclyde and Rachel Cowper of Inspiring Scotland about how, counter to to popular belief, it is safer for children to be outdoors than indoors. This video is part of a series on the health crisis faced by young children
Read MoreThis Play Champion Toolkit is designed to support partners working with Primary schools to engage in more activity that is playful within their school day. It outlines a programme, which play workers can use to support primary school children to become ‘leaders’ of play. It is designed for play charities working with schools, school staff
Read MoreDr. Mark Tremblay of HALO Research and Prof. John Reilly of the University of Strathclyde discuss childhood inactivity levels in Canada and Scotland from the Active Healthy Kids Report Card 2016 – one of the reasons we strive for physically active outdoor play for all of Scotland’s children.
Read MoreLink Up looks at how strengthening social networks and facilitating opportunities for people to help each other through an activity, builds trust. It also explores how supporting others through these activities increases the confidence and capacity of individuals to seek solutions to their own problems instead of outsourcing their needs to external organisations.
Read MoreThe Support in the Right Direction Fund (2015-18) aims to build the capacity and availability of independent support services across Scotland. £1.36 million has been invested in 36 projects in the first half of Year 2 (1 April 2016 – 30 September 2016).
Read MoreThe Innovation Fund (2015-2018) aims to support innovation and develop the capacity of providers to develop the workforce and to support people to directly or indirectly purchase support. £0.58 million has been invested in 21 projects in the first half of Year 2 (1 April 2016 – 30 September 2016).
Read MoreThis evaluation of Link Up by ODS Consulting has found that Inspiring Scotland has successfully delivered its asset-building approach in ten communities in Scotland. There is clear evidence that this has had significant positive personal impacts for those residents who have been actively involved in these communities.
Read MoreThe purpose of this paper is to provide a six monthly progress report from Inspiring Scotland on the impact of the Autism Innovation and Development Portfolio activity during the period 1st April 2016 to 30th September 2016. We have looked at what activities have been delivered and what impact this is having. It ties together
Read MoreDownload the original Go Play Outcome and Evaluation Framework, set out in 2011, which established the principles of Inspiring Scotland’s play programme.  The guide identifies ways that play organisations can realistically demonstrate their difference though the use of evidence and helps the play sector to identify common ground to assess how play organisations can have the
Read MoreWelcome to the newest edition of Scotland’s Play Ranger Toolkit. Scotland’s Play Ranger Toolkit has been developed by Thrive Outdoors, in collaboration with a number of Scottish charities who use the Play Ranger model throughout their delivery of outdoor play provision. With this in mind, this edition offers: a greater focus on skills that help
Read MoreThis brief literature review by the University of Strathclyde PhD student Avril Johnstone provides the background literature to the evaluation of Inspiring Scotland’s Active Play Programme. The evaluation has the following research question: does the implementation of an active play programme improve physical activity levels and fundamental movement skills competency in children?
Read MoreFor decades, and despite millions of pounds of investment, Governments and public agencies have struggled to change the experience of many people living in Scotland’s most disadvantaged communities. Problems of low life expectancy, low levels of employment and educational attainment persist. Link Up set-out to prove that creating the right conditions for change and the
Read MoreRead the independent evaluation by Blake Stevenson into the impact of Active Play in Glasgow. This report covers the first cohort of pupils to take part in the programme from August 2016 and was completed in December 2016.
Read MoreWe work with experts from the voluntary, public, private and academic sectors. Get in touch if you want to help us build a better Scotland.
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