Space to Grow was launched in 2017 and is the Scottish design guidance for premises-based day care of children settings including school aged childcare. The resource is not for childminding settings.

In recognition of the need to refresh and update this resource, the Scottish Government requested that the Care Inspectorate lead and work with stakeholders to develop a revised resource by the end of March 2024.

Karen Quinn, Team Manager at the Care Inspectorate, is leading this project. As part of the review there will be consultation across the sector with all stakeholders including providers, managers, practitioners, parents and children. We want to encourage you to share your views through this consultation which will be open until Wednesday 6 December. 

Since Space to Grow was launched in 2017, there have been several developments which has impacted on the delivery of early learning and childcare (ELC) and school-aged childcare. This includes the expansion of ELC, the innovative approaches to how care and learning is delivered and increased provision such as a meal for every funded ELC child. The pandemic has also impacted on how the environment requires to be flexible to meet the needs of children.

At the request of the sector, the Care Inspectorate developed additional resources to support indoor/outdoor and satellite settings. It is anticipated these resources and other premises related resources will be incorporated into the updated Space to Grow.