Guidance

Resources to support schools and colleges with enrichment

Published 15 June 2026

Applies to England

A self-assessment and action planning tool has been developed to support schools and colleges to assess their enrichment offer against the 8 benchmarks, recognise successes and identify areas for further development. We encourage schools and colleges to self-assess against the benchmarks as part of their monitoring, evaluating and improvement process.

These tools are available on GOV.UK.

What support is available?

A wide range of resources are available to schools and colleges that can support with enrichment. This section outlines resources that can be used for free, although some may have additional paid-for elements that schools and colleges can choose to take up. However, we recognise that there are many paid-for enrichment opportunities that schools and colleges may find valuable, such as those in our case studies like the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, AoC Sport, the National Trust, the Youth Hostels Association and National Theatre Connections.

Resources funded or provided by Government, and external resources developed and delivered independently of Government, have been included. A full, independent quality assurance process has not been undertaken for external resources, and schools and colleges should consider whether these resources are appropriate and effective for their setting. They should continue to review the use of any tool, resource, or partner as part of their process of continuous improvement.

This selection is not intended to be comprehensive and should be considered as a starting point for thinking about enrichment. In particular, we encourage schools and colleges to explore the support available in their local area, and develop partnerships and ways of working that suit them and their pupils and students.

What can help schools and colleges deliver?

Government-funded resources and organisations

Arts Council England

Arts Council England (ACE) is an arm’s length body of the Department of Culture, Media and Sport which champions, develops and invests in artistic and cultural experiences to enrich people’s lives. It supports a range of activities across the arts, museums and libraries, from theatre to digital art, reading to dance, music to literature, and crafts to collections.

ACE has a wide variety of programmes and resources aimed at schools and colleges to support their arts provision, both curricular and extra-curricular.

Bikeability and Get Cycling in Schools

Bikeability and Get Cycling in Schools are cycle training programmes that are funded by the Department for Transport, which offer free programmes to schools and colleges (though some local authorities may charge an admin fee for Bikeability).

The Bikeability programme includes training on practical cycling skills for pupils, including how to safely cycle on the roads, and resource packs of cycling themed activities and lessons are also available. Bikeability instructors are also trained to work with special schools, and Bikeability signposts to resources and organisations to support inclusive cycling.

Get Cycling in Schools offers free training for 2 staff members in primary settings on how to deliver cycle skills training, along with 6 balance bikes and helmets to support pupils without bikes to take part.

Combined Cadet Force

The Combined Cadet Force (CCF) is a partnership between schools and colleges and the Ministry of Defence (MOD), which provides students with access to a military-themed experience in a uniformed youth organisation. It is managed by MOD with the support of DfE.

CCF units in schools and colleges can give students a wide range of opportunities, including the chance to develop key life skills, including leadership and team-working, building independence, in addition to the ability to go to camps, earn accreditations and try new experiences so that they can reach their full potential at school, college and beyond.

Historic England

Historic England is a public body that works to champion and protect historic places, including through supporting the cultural and heritage education of children and young people.

Historic England offers a wide range of free online learning resources for teachers that can support enrichment for pupils centred around their local culture. This includes:

• Local Heritage Packs
• learning activities
• archive images
• free training webinars for teachers

Music Hubs

Music Hubs are a network of 43 Hub partnerships covering every area of England. They support, deliver and enable high-quality music provision for all children and young people within a local area, both in and out of school. The Music Hub programme is delivered by Arts Council England on behalf of DfE.

Music Hub partnerships support schools and colleges through curriculum and non-curriculum activity to engage children and young people with a range of musical opportunities. This can include:

• providing peripatetic music teaching
• instrument loans
• continuous professional development (CPD)
• performance opportunities
• ensembles
• opportunities to progress their musical interests further, including professionally

National Education Nature Park

The National Education Nature Park is a DfE funded environmental education programme that aims to get all children and young people learning outside the classroom to improve their grounds for themselves and for nature.

This programme provides free, quality assured, curriculum-linked resources, digital tools and an easy to follow 5-step process that helps deliver climate and nature education in school and college grounds. With a pupil- and student-led focus, this programme supports a connection to nature, improves their health and wellbeing, and develops vital skills for the future, all while boosting biodiversity across the country.

National Trails

National Trails is a website operated by Natural England and Natural Resources Wales to provide support and information on selected English and Welsh trails designated by the government and managed to a set of quality standards to enable good experiences for those using the trail.

National Trails have information and resources for schools and colleges on a variety of walking paths, including:

• activity booklets
• information on accessibility
• transport
• water points
• printable certificates to celebrate completion

They also have resources for schools on the Countryside Code.

National Year of Reading

The National Year of Reading is a UK-wide campaign to address the steep decline in reading enjoyment amongst children, young people and adults. It is a DfE initiative delivered in collaboration with the National Literacy Trust, working alongside a range of literary sector charities and organisations. The campaign is called ‘Go All In’, with the tag line, “If you’re into it, read into it”.

The Go All In website provides access to a variety of resources for schools and early years settings to promote reading for pleasure. This includes a toolkit that can be used for:

• reading-based enrichment (for example, guidance on setting up manga clubs in schools)
• signposting to events (from public library events to literary festivals which can be filtered by age, online or in-person, and free and paid for)
• virtual assemblies featuring author and celebrity ambassadors
• ways to get involved with national challenges and days

Schools can sign up for regular updates on the website, or follow the Instagram. The Go All In website also points to partners involved in the National Year of Reading, who may be able to provide further support, such as virtual author talks, volunteer reading helpers, book club guides and questions, and help selecting books for pupils.

STEM Learning

STEM Learning is a not-for-profit organisation that supports schools and colleges with STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) education, including through enrichment and the government-funded STEM ambassadors programme.

They provide a wide range of free STEM enrichment resources designed for primary schools, secondary schools and post-16 providers, including:

• resources and guidance for setting up STEM clubs
• competitions (for example, CANSAT)
• events (for example, Protecting Our Planet Day)
• challenges

They also coordinate the STEM Ambassadors programme, which is a network of over 26,000 volunteers from STEM backgrounds who come into schools and other educational settings to engage with students. This could be, for example, through:

• giving careers talks
• mentoring
• providing hands-on activities
• supporting with STEM club projects

STEM ambassadors come from a range of roles and sectors including tech and science, but also the creative industries, and are well placed to demonstrate the link between STEM and the arts. This network is free for schools and educational settings to use.

The School Games

School Games is a programme delivered by the school games organisers network, supported by the youth sport trust and active partnerships.

The network of 450 school games organisers supports pupils to participate in inclusive sport competitions across 40 different sports and activities and take part in 30 minutes of physical activity in the school day.

The School Games website includes free resources on how to run a variety of physical activities of varying durations, equipment requirements, and age suitability. The website also signposts to National Sport Governing Bodies that engage with schools and colleges, with sports represented ranging from goalball, to rounders, to American football. These governing bodies may be able to offer further support and guidance to schools.

Sector resources and organisations

Active Citizenship Toolkits

Active Citizenship Toolkits are toolkits for key stage 2 and 3 to 4, and GCSE pupils created by the Association for Citizenship Teaching to support pupils to plan, deliver and evaluate their own citizenship projects, either in the Citizenship curriculum, or as part of an enrichment offer.

The toolkits include step by step workbooks for pupils to decide on an issue either in school or in their community, plan what action they are going to take (such as how they can research, who they could involve, and ideas of potential actions), and evaluate their project, considering what went well and what could be better. There are also certificates available to reward pupils for completing their project, and guides to support teachers. Resources are all available to use with a free e-membership.

Basics of Business: Beginner to Boss

Basics of Business: Beginner to Boss is a free-to-access digital learning programme created by the Young Entrepreneurs Academy to introduce pupils aged 10 to 16 to entrepreneurship. The Young Entrepreneurs Academy is a non-profit organisation, with its digital series supported by UCL School of Management, UCL Institute of Education and entrepreneurs.

Pupils build an understanding of how real-life businesses work through a 20-part interactive series of:

• videos
• lesson plans
• resources
• quizzes
• founder stories

Topics covered include developing ideas, marketing, financial literacy, and how to lead, grow and run a responsible business. Learners are also supported to develop key skills such as resilience, communication, creativity, problem-solving, and teamwork. 

Pupils who complete the series receive a certificate endorsed by UCL School of Management and can enter an annual National Pitch Competition to win up to £2,000 for their business idea.

Canal & River Trust

The Canal & River Trust is a charity that cares for 2,000 miles of canals and rivers across England and Wales. They help children and young people connect with the outdoors by exploring nature, local heritage and the science of how waterways work.

The trust provides a number of programmes for schools that support:

• outdoor learning
• social action
• STEM engagement
• heritage learning
• water safety

This includes the Explorers programme for primary schools, offering curriculum‑linked workshops, school visits, and social action projects such as the School Plastics Challenge and Pocket Adoptions.

Secondary schools can access the trust’s STEM learning programme, which provides hands‑on activity resources and the STEM on the water campaign that connects young people with real careers across the waterways. The trust also offers self-guided canal‑side trails, downloadable learning packs, on-the-water activities, and heritage learning at 3 dedicated waterways museums.

The Country Trust

The Country Trust is a charity that works to connect children from areas of social and economic disadvantage with food, farming, and the countryside.

The Country Trust runs a range of programmes, aimed at primary schools with above average free school meal eligible pupil populations, SEND, SEMH and pupil referral unit settings. These include networks of educational practitioners who work to facilitate visits to working farms, periodic farm-in-a-box kits (which include resources for hands-on exploration of themes like wheat-growing and climate change) and running in-school, year-long food discovery sessions (such as growing and cooking sessions, mini farmers’ markets, and ‘food hero’ sessions).

These programmes are generally free for eligible schools, although, where possible, they ask schools to contribute towards the cost of the food discovery programme. They also maintain a list of organisations that can provide assistance with grants or equipment to support outdoor learning.

CREST Programme

CREST is the British Science Association’s education programme that provides STEM activities and projects for young people aged 3 to 19 of all abilities. The British Science Association is a charity working to enable science to be more relevant, representative, and connected to society, including improving young people’s experience of science in their education.

The CREST Resource Library provides free to download, flexible and curriculum-aligned STEM activities and projects, and adaptable and inclusive resources. This includes resources accessible for those with SEND requirements. Schools and colleges can use these projects to qualify students for CREST Awards at an extra cost to recognise their achievements and celebrate with certificates.

Teachers in eligible schools and colleges (such as those with higher levels of FSM eligibility, pupils from ethnic minority backgrounds, or in rural locations) can join their Engage Teacher Network for free, where they can access a community who share ideas and resources, and apply for grants to support practical STEM activities and cover the cost of CREST Award certificates.

English Heritage

English Heritage is a charity that cares for historically significant places and objects across England, from Stonehenge and Hadrian’s Wall, to the battleground of the Battle of Hastings and Charles Darwin’s laboratory.

English Heritage offers free self-led visits for schools and colleges, along with resources to use on and off site to support a visit. Teachers and leaders can access free planning visits to prepare for a trip, in addition to CPD opportunities. They also facilitate discovery workshops at many of their sites for all key stages at an extra cost. English Heritage is a partner for the Hyundai Great British School Trip bursary scheme, which can cover travel costs or the cost of discovery workshops.

Into Film

Into Film is a charity whose mission is to use film and the moving image to enrich the educational, personal and social development of every young person.

They support a variety of activities in primary, secondary and college, including:

• free school trips to local cinemas across the whole of the UK, with special guests and question and answer sessions, through the Into Film Festival
• school-based film watching and making clubs, including Into Film+, a dedicated schools streaming service with over 1,000 feature films and documentaries, free to schools and colleges in England
• support to help pupils make a film, including monthly competitions and the annual Into Film Awards

The King’s Trust 

The Kings Trust is a charity that supports young people aged 11 to 30 to develop the skills and confidence they need to succeed in education, employment and life.

The trust offers a range of free programmes and resources for schools, particularly at secondary level, focused on personal development, employability and enterprise. These include the Enterprise Challenge (an inter-school competition for 11 to 16 year olds), the Achieve programme (a personal development course with optional accredited qualifications for 11 to 19 year olds, up to 25 with SEND) and Mosaic (a group mentoring programme for pupils aged 11 to 18).  

Pupils can also independently access a range of free online and in-person courses, including industry focused courses in areas such as retail, music and hospitality. In-person programmes take place across the country.

Money Ready

Money Ready is a financial education charity working across the UK, supporting children, young people and adults to form positive money habits and understand topics like budgeting, banking, borrowing and student finance.

Money Ready provides free in-person and virtual workshops for schools and colleges (including alternative provision settings), which include a focus on positive money habits and mindsets in primary, short-term and long-term thinking about finances in secondary, and money management and student finance in sixth forms and colleges.

Neon

Neon is a free platform run by EngineeringUK that enables schools and colleges to find STEM enrichment opportunities. EngineeringUK brings together STEM activities and experiences that fit their quality assurance criteria from organisations across the UK, as well as case studies from STEM professionals and careers resources.

Schools and colleges can filter for activities according to:

• location
• education level
• age
• type (for example, competitions, events, projects, workshops)
• cost (for example, free, cost may apply, and provider bursaries available)
• duration
• relevant accreditations

They can also enter in their school or college name and bring up a view of only activities that apply to them. Free activities can range from national programmes to local experiences, for example, The Big Bang (connecting young people to the STEM industry and professionals and hands-on practical activities through the Big Bang Fair held at the NEC in Birmingham, STEM days delivered in school and the Big Bang Competition), to the Met Office Sprint (a project based on how the Met Office uses data to understand the weather), to STEM workshops at the Learning Lab in Bristol.

Raspberry Pi Foundation

The Raspberry Pi Foundation is a UK-based charity that works to enable any school to teach students about computing, AI, and how to create with digital technologies.

They run Code Club, which provides free resources, step-by-step guides on coding projects, and certificates, as well as events and training, both online and in person. They additionally run free challenges, such as the UK Bebras Challenge, where students explore computational thinking by solving interactive tasks, designed to encourage logical thinking and problem-solving skills.

Royal Ballet and Opera 

The Royal Ballet and Opera (RBO) is the home of The Royal Opera and The Royal Ballet performing companies. Their work includes widening access to the arts and diversifying the future of opera and ballet, including through resources and events that can be used as part of enrichment, like Live Lessons.

Live Lessons are free online sessions where pupils can receive an introduction to ballet, opera and stage design, or dive into a specific ballet or opera. These include being able to watch live performances or participate in live dance-alongs, sing-alongs or make-alongs, for example making a snake puppet from The Magic Flute alongside an RBO stage designer, or creating a dance based on Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. RBO also offer free nationwide dance events led and hosted by Royal Ballet artists, livestreamed from the Royal Opera House.

The Daily Mile

The Daily Mile is a free approach to physical activity in primary schools and nurseries that encourages children to spend 15 minutes walking, wheeling or running outdoors together, at their own pace, at least 3 times a week. This is designed as a way to encourage activity in a low cost and inclusive way. It requires no equipment, special clothing or additional planning and is led by the teacher during curriculum time. The Daily Mile is designed to be supplementary to PE in the curriculum, and to support physical activity in a social environment.

The Daily Mile has a free resource hub to suggest ways to support this initiative and enable it to be engaging and inclusive. This includes an inclusion toolkit to support children with additional needs and disabilities, a mental health toolkit that links movement to themes such as belonging, anxiety and wellbeing, and assembly packs with videos and activities.

The Woodland Trust

The Woodland Trust is a woodland conservation charity working across the UK to protect, restore, create and care for woods and trees.

Any educational establishment can apply to their ‘Free Trees for Schools and Communities’ scheme to receive packs of saplings suitable for their location, and resources to engage pupils both with the process and with trees and nature more generally. Schools can also take part in the Green Tree Schools Award for free through pupils completing eco-challenges, such as wildlife spotting, woodland Olympics, and tree-planting.

Young Enterprise

Young Enterprise is a charity that aims to support young people to manage money and build entrepreneurial skills.

They run a variety of free and paid for programmes and resources that schools and colleges can deliver to allow students to grow their entrepreneurial skills or financial understanding, from the Fiver Challenge and 10X, which encourage pupils to get their business ideas off the ground, to My Money Week, which provides activity plans on money matters.

Youth Social Action and Enrichment Resource Bank

The Youth Social Action and Enrichment Resource Bank contains guides on supporting staff and students with developing and delivering social action projects, created by the Association of Colleges (AoC) in partnership with the Pears Foundation, as part of a pilot programme supporting enrichment and youth social action activity in further education.

These resources can be used to help engage pupils and students in projects to support their communities, with a focus on youth voice and skills development, delivered through youth-led approaches. In addition, case studies have been created from previous phases of the programme to showcase how colleges have embedded youth social action in their enrichment offers. AoC member colleges may also access free webinars to share best practices on delivering youth social action activities

Youth Sport Trust

Youth Sport Trust is a UK charity working to improve the education and development of children and young people through sport and play.

Their website has a section dedicated to free resources, including:

• guidance on active breakfast clubs
• webinars supporting schools and colleges with SEND inclusion in sport
• youth voice toolkits
• a page of tools, case studies and a webinar on Enrichment

Youth Sport Trust also develops and provides a variety of programmes which schools and colleges may use for sport and physical activity-based enrichment.

What can help schools and colleges know what works?

Government-funded resources and organisations

Education Endowment Foundation

The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) is an independent charity that is funded by government to generate and summarise high-quality research evidence on effective teaching and learning interventions (including strength of evidence, cost, and level of impact on academic progress), and to support the education sector in using evidence effectively in order to improve pupil attainment and other education-related outcomes. It is the designated what works centre for education, covering early years, school and 16 to 19 phases.

Through its teaching and learning toolkit for schools, the EEF provides an assessment of the evidence base for a variety of education-related interventions, currently including strands on physical activity and arts participation. The EEF also provides guidance on how to plan, implement and monitor a school’s Pupil Premium strategy, which in DfE’s menu of approaches for Pupil Premium can include enrichment within the ‘wider strategies’ section.

Sector resources and organisations

Learning Outside the Classroom Quality Badge

The Learning Outside the Classroom Quality Badge independently assesses both the quality of the risk management and the education being offered by a learning outside the classroom provider (such as museums, outdoor centres, heritage sites and theme parks). This is awarded by the Council for Learning Outside the Classroom (CLOtC), who are a national charity that works to embed learning outside the classroom across curriculum and enrichment, including providing independent assurance of quality of educational provision and risk management across providers.

Looking for providers who have the badge is helpful in ensuring that external providers for enrichment activities, or locations for trips and visits, have been assessed against agreed standards. Many local authorities or academy trusts accept the LOtC Quality Badge in place of some or all provider checks, reducing the workload of arranging externally provided or hosted enrichment.

RSE toolkit for post-16 sector

This is an effective practice toolkit for relationships and sex education (RSE) in post-16, with resources validated by the DfE FE student support champion, Polly Harrow, hosted by the AoC.

RSE toolkit for post-16 sector contains an extensive variety of resources both sourced from existing materials, and made bespoke for the toolkit. These include:

• lesson plans
• campaigns (such as the student-led ‘Flag it!’ campaign)
• guidance
• materials for self-directed learning

Colleges may find these useful in a range of enrichment, including within tutorial RSE teaching, and resources for student-led civic engagement activities.

What can help schools and colleges connect and collaborate?

Government-funded resources and organisations

Holiday activities and food (HAF) programme

The holiday activities and food (HAF) programme is a DfE-funded programme, run by local authorities, to provide free nutritious meals, enriching activities, and safe environments for eligible school-age children to support health, wellbeing and learning and improve the accessibility and affordability of childcare, during school holidays. The programme is primarily designed for children from low-income families, but local authorities have discretion to use up to 15% of their funding to provide free or subsidised places for children who they believe would benefit, regardless of their family income.

Schools may wish to consider how they engage with their local authorities’ HAF programme as part of signposting to opportunities beyond their own offer or delivering the programme themselves, as many do already. For example, this might include encouraging take-up and attendance by eligible pupils and families, identifying pupils to the local authority who they believe would particularly benefit, and supporting with insights on what kinds of enrichment activities would be especially valuable and engaging. Local authorities are required to have a HAF website or dedicated pages on their website, and this should include information for schools on how they can get involved.

Sector resources and organisations

Inspiring the Future and Primary Futures

Inspiring the Future is a free national programme which enables secondary schools and colleges to connect with volunteers from the world of work. Primary Futures is an extension of Inspiring the Future, designed for primary schools focusing on raising and broadening aspirations at a younger age and challenging stereotypes. The aim is to help young people achieve their potential by providing inspiration, motivation, knowledge, skills and opportunities.

These programmes can enable pupils and students to meet and interact with a diverse range of real volunteers from the world of work, with the aim of raising aspirations, widening their understanding of the opportunities open to them, and making learning more relevant. Potential activities include career insight talks (both in-person and virtually), mock interviews, career ‘speed networking’ and ‘What’s my Line?’ career exploration activities focused on showing primary children how the subjects they are studying can open up possibilities for them in their future. 

RSC Associate Schools Programme

The Associate Schools Programme is the Royal Shakespeare Company’s (RSC) partnership programme with schools and regional theatres across England. The programme is open to primary, secondary and special state-funded schools, with a specific focus on schools serving areas of structural disadvantage. Activity within the programme combines Shakespeare’s plays with RSC rehearsal room approaches with the aim of transforming the way Shakespeare is experienced in schools.

Associate School partnership clusters work together to build a community of practice and research, collaboratively building an annual programme of activity. Alongside the curriculum support that is the programme’s primary focus, such as CPD and artist in residence opportunities, enrichment opportunities built into the programme include annual performance festivals for pupils, and access to the RSC’s talent development and youth leadership programmes.

Partnership clusters also receive an annual First Encounters with Shakespeare production for pupils aged 7 to 13. The programme offers activity at no cost to eligible schools, with some clusters agreeing together on a nominal contribution from each school to cover travel for activities, additional student workshops and management of regular cluster community of practice meetings

The Countryside Classroom

The Countryside Classroom is a resource managed by a partnership of organisations working in outdoor, agricultural and nature education, including Natural England. It works to support teachers to find resources, places to visit and school support relating to the themes of food, farming and the natural environment.

It provides guidance on planning farm visits, including:

• resources on risk assessment (including accreditations farmers may have, like the Countryside Education Visits Accreditation Scheme and the LOtC Quality Badge)
• pre-visit checklists
• activities to do
• a mapping tool to see what is available in your local area

They signpost to a wide range of educational expertise such as linking environment and farming (LEAF) who have Regional Consultants who are able to advise on opportunities in a local area, and support with any questions about organising trips.

Youth work and teaching: Lost in translation?

Youth work and teaching: Lost in translation? is a toolkit produced by the National Youth Agency on collaboration between the education and youth sector.

This toolkit explores how schools and colleges working in partnership with youth workers can add capacity and expertise in supporting young people, including case studies of partnership working.

Helping schools and colleges plan, monitor and evaluate

Government-funded resources and organisations

British council international visits toolkit

This toolkit contains information and planning material for schools engaging in exchanges, partner school visits and homestays, including outline timelines for planning, step-by-step checklists, and model forms and letters to parents. It also signposts to the Association of School and College Leaders’ advice on planning.

This can support school staff to plan and deliver international visits, and simplify the creation of pro-forma forms and letters for parents and pupils. It also supports school staff to consider their safeguarding arrangements and explaining cultural differences to their pupils, particularly with regard to homestay visits. The British Council also offers a free Partner Finder database to support finding a school overseas to connect and partner with.

Compass, Compass+ and OnTrack+

Compass, Compass+ and OnTrack+ are free digital products that help secondary schools and colleges to benchmark, manage, track and report on their careers provision, and integrate with a variety of MIS platforms.

These systems track careers related data and may therefore be useful in monitoring data connected to enrichment. This could include consideration of student-level data to consider where targeted support through enrichment is helpful, or using cohort-level data from the future skills questionnaire to assess weaknesses and strengths in young peoples’ work readiness that can be considered in the design and delivery of an enrichment offer.

OnTrack+ provides early insight within Compass+ to help schools and specialist settings recognise pupils who are at risk of becoming not in education, employment or training (NEET) or may benefit from additional support. OnTrack+ acts as a diagnostic tool, allowing schools to plan timely interventions, strengthen progression pathways and ensure pupils receive the right help at the right time.

Improve workload and wellbeing for school staff service

Improve workload and wellbeing for school staff service is a platform for sharing what works in schools, developed with school leaders, teachers and other sector experts. It provides accessible materials, including practical advice, tools and case studies that school leaders, teachers and other staff can use to address workload issues in their school and to help improve staff wellbeing and implement and request flexible working.

When considering the development of an enrichment offer in schools and colleges, the capacity and work-life balance of staff should be taken into account. Before embarking on any course of action, consider:

• directed time
• remuneration
• personnel
• resources
• staff working arrangements

School leaders may therefore wish to consider this toolkit to review practice in their setting and monitor any impact of changes to enrichment on their staff.

Sector resources and organisations

AoC student engagement charter

The student engagement charter is formed of 10 commitments that colleges can sign up to, and which support students to be partners in the education process. It is created by the AoC.

Colleges may consider these 10 commitments as principles to inform engagement with student voice, plan an enrichment offer shaped by the whole college community, and listen to student feedback on the success of their offer.

Future support from the government

Enrichment expansion programme

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport, in strategic partnership with DfE, will invest £22.5 million over 3 years to create a tailored enrichment offer in up to 400 schools. This will give pupils access to extra-curricular activities that support wellbeing and essential skills around the school day.

Erasmus+

The UK has taken the positive step to join Erasmus+ in 2027, following the successful conclusion of negotiations with the European Commission. This association covers the 2027 to 2028 academic year. Erasmus+ is the EU’s flagship education exchange and partnerships programme, and participation in 2027 to 2028 will open up world‑class opportunities for learners, educators, young people and communities across the UK, including within enrichment.

National centre for arts and music education

Backed by £13 million investment over 3 years, the National Centre for Arts and Music Education will support schools across the country to revitalise the arts in schools. National Centre will assist the delivery of the revised national curriculum and qualifications in music, art and design, dance, and drama, as well as boosting in-school enrichment in the arts. The intention is to establish the National Centre by September 2026.

PE and school sport partnerships

The PE and school sport partnership network is designed to build stronger links between schools, local clubs, and national governing bodies. Its aim is to identify and remove barriers to participation in PE, sport and physical activity, particularly for less active children, including girls and pupils with SEND.

We expect the partnerships to be operational from Autumn 2026. These will work to improve school-to-school collaboration and help develop school-to-club links to support coherent provision in schools and outside.

Tech Youth

Tech Youth is a strand of the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology’s £187 million flagship tech skills programme designed to open pathways into the UK’s fast-growing tech sector, aimed at young people aged 11 to 18. We aim to reach one million students in schools and colleges across the UK with opportunities to develop their tech skills, get confident with AI and gain insight into a range of potential tech careers.

Associated guidance

The guidance may be read in conjunction with:

Enrichment related guidance:

• Careers guidance and access for education and training providers
• PE and sport in schools
• School-age childcare guidance for local authorities

Safeguarding guidance:

• Keeping children safe in education
• Early years foundation stage (EYFS) statutory framework (for children in reception year)
• Working Together to Safeguard Children
• After-school clubs, community activities, and tuition

Guidance on inclusion for those additional needs or who are at risk, and mental wellbeing:

• SEND code of practice: 0 to 25 years
• Promoting Children and Young People’s Emotional Health and Wellbeing
• Identify and support young people at risk of being NEET

Funding guidance:

• Pupil premium
• Advice: funding rules for 16 to 19 provision 2025 to 2026
• 16 to 19 Bursary Fund guide: 2025 to 2026