Sensory-inclusive Learning Environments
Additional support for learning: sensory-inclusive learning environments, guidance.
Sensory-inclusive Learning Environments is Scottish Government guidance, developed with Scottish Futures Trust and Architecture and Design Scotland, on designing nurseries and schools for learners with sensory differences. Its navigation and wayfinding chapter sets out principles for school signage.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Always check the official page for a newer edition.
For signage and wayfinding
What it asks of your signs
- 01Keep signage consistent in position, style and format, and add confirmatory directional signs at key decision points on long routes, to toilets, quiet rooms and other buildings.
- 02Size text for its viewing distance, make content contrast with the sign face, and make the sign contrast with its wall or add a border.
- 03Use matt surfaces, plain sans serif type, sentence case rather than block capitals, minimal underlining and italics, and bright red text only sparingly.
- 04Supplement text with symbols, used consistently. Tactile features such as embossed text, symbols and braille help learners with low vision.
- 05Where signs are meant for pupils with learning disabilities, consider space at low level for Makaton or PECS symbols to be added.
- 06Mock up sign heights, styles and colours for building users to assess before committing. Digital signage and apps can supplement fixed signs, never replace them.
What it is
The guide was published by the Scottish Government on 25 March 2026 as part of its additional support for learning work. It was developed by Scottish Futures Trust, Architecture and Design Scotland and the Buro Happold inclusive environments team, with pupils, teachers, parents, designers, local authorities and charities. It is a short, non-technical guide for educators, designers, estates and facilities teams, and local authorities, covering any learning setting from nursery to secondary and the community use of school buildings.
Its chapters cover space and movement, navigation and wayfinding, temperature and air quality, acoustics, light, visual and finishes, furniture, and quiet and sensory spaces.
Navigation and wayfinding
The chapter starts from the learner: getting lost knocks confidence and causes anxiety, and some people find sequences, numbers, words or left and right hard to process. It suggests age-appropriate way-markers, such as painted footstep trails for young children and colour coding with symbols for older ones, and memorable features such as artwork to break up repetitive secondary school corridors. It notes that sound, audio signs, braille and embossed text matter for learners with sight loss, and that symbols help learners who use BSL or Makaton or have English as a second language.
The signage section asks for consistency, confirmatory signs at decision points, and keeping temporary notices and pinboards away from key signs to avoid visual clutter. It points to BS 8300 for detail and gives a short list of legibility principles for signs, notices and displays, including a notice template so that fonts and sizes stay consistent.
How it relates to the Building Standards
The guide does not set mandatory dimensions. The Building (Scotland) Regulations and the Technical Handbook Section 4 remain the statutory baseline for access, and the guide refers to BS 8300 for accessible signage, to PAS 6463 section 6 for neurodiversity and wayfinding, and to Sport England's Accessible and Inclusive Sports Facilities guide for wayfinding technology and signage systems.
In England the DfE's Inclusive education estates guidance (June 2026) makes many of the same points. In Ireland, SDG-02-04 covers SEN accommodation and TGD-020 sets the detailed signage specification for Department-funded schools.
Editions and history
First edition, March 2026 (ISBN 9781806438921). The guide notes that terminology in this field is likely to change and that amendments may be made over time.
Sources checked
- gov.scot/publications/sensory-inclusive-learning-environments-additional-support-learning/
- gov.scot/publications/sensory-inclusive-learning-environments-additional-support-learning/pages/6/
- gov.scot/publications/sensory-inclusive-learning-environments-additional-support-learning/documents/
A summary in our own words, checked on 16 October 2026. It is not the document itself and not legal advice.
Equivalents and related
The same ground, elsewhere.
- Inclusive education estates: supporting inclusive environments in mainstream settingsEngland
- Building Standards Technical Handbooks (Domestic and Non-domestic), Section 4: SafetyScotland
- School Design Guide SDG-02-04: Primary & Post Primary School Specialist Accommodation for Pupils with Special Educational NeedsIreland
- Building Handbook Section 2: Nursery Schools, Edition 3N. Ireland
- Design standards: employer's requirements, Technical Manual (school and college buildings)England
- Technical Guidance Document TGD-020: General Design Guidelines for Schools (Primary and Post-primary)Ireland
- Design of an accessible and inclusive built environment. Buildings. Code of practiceUK
- Design for the mind. Neurodiversity and the built environment. GuideUK
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Working to Sensory-inclusive Learning Environments on a live project?
Wayfinding design, compliance, manufacture and installation, with the signage certificates signed off by us.