School estates: suitability reporting core facts

Glossary

The glossary has been prepared to clarify and explain the meanings of the following terms:

Accommodation generally - the School should support a wide range of learning and teaching activities, didactic, independent group, individual, meeting places, safe spaces, etc. both internally and external.

Acronyms:

ASN: additional support needs

DYW: developing the young workforce

GP: general purpose

ICT: information and communications technology

PE: physical education

RMPS: religious, moral and philosophical studies

SFL: support for learning

STEM: science, technology, engineering and mathematics

External learning areas - this is the use of the grounds of the school as another learning environment i.e. external open-air classrooms, environmental gardens etc. See the wide range of publications on outdoor learning to understand the potential and for further information.

Learning spaces (practical) - one of the national priorities is to build capacity of secondary schools in relation to science, STEM, and Developing the Young Workforce (DYW) activities. Scottish Government are encouraging pupils to engage in practical activities and the national STEM strategy provides further guidance on this. Primary schools also require practical spaces which are versatile and useable for many purposes in order to carry out practical investigations and experiments in science and technology and to develop skills. These practical spaces are not necessarily rooms, just flexible spaces that are fit for purpose.

School Estate - this is used as the collective term to encompass all school sites across Scotland.