Government announces £22.5m expansion of school enrichment activities
More than 400 secondary schools in disadvantaged communities are to receive additional support to expand enrichment activities, including music and the arts, through a new £22.5 million government programme.
The Department for Education and Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport have announced funding and tailored support for schools through the Enrichment Expansion Programme, designed to increase access to activities both during and outside the school day.
The programme will support opportunities ranging from music groups and school productions to engineering clubs, debating societies, sport, volunteering and outdoor learning.
Government says the initiative is intended particularly to address inequalities in access to enrichment, with young people in disadvantaged communities less likely to have opportunities to take part.
More than 400 secondary schools will receive tailored support, with Enrichment Co-ordinators working with clusters of schools to assess gaps in provision, develop enrichment plans and build links with local organisations.
The participating schools are spread across all nine English regions, with areas including Birmingham, Blackpool, County Durham, Croydon, Hull, Liverpool, Manchester, Middlesbrough, Newcastle, Nottingham, Plymouth, Portsmouth, Sheffield, Stoke-on-Trent and Sunderland. Schools are due to start receiving support from January 2027.
Schools Minister Georgia Gould said, ‘A great education is about more than what happens in the classroom. It’s about the football team, the school play, the debate competition, the volunteering project and the outdoor adventure that help young people discover who they are and what they can achieve.
‘This investment will help hundreds of thousands more young people access the activities that build confidence, spark ambition and open up opportunities for the future.’
The scheme forms part of a wider government drive to increase young people's participation in enrichment activities and follows the introduction of new Enrichment Benchmarks for schools.
These cover five broad areas: arts and culture; sport and physical activity; civic engagement; nature, outdoors and adventure; and wider life and future skills.
Marcus Davey CBE, the government’s Arts and Culture Enrichment Ambassador, said schools were ‘a vital gateway to the creative and enriching experiences that help young people discover their interests, develop confidence and feel a sense of belonging’.
He added, ‘By strengthening the connections between schools, cultural institutions and local organisations, this programme will help ensure those opportunities reach the young people who stand to benefit most.’
Davey is one of five Enrichment Ambassadors appointed to represent the different areas of the government’s enrichment programme.
The programme will be delivered by the Youth Sport Trust alongside a group of national partners, with participating schools receiving support to strengthen existing provision and develop new opportunities.
It sits alongside the expansion of Young Futures Hubs and the government’s £132.5 million Every Child Can programme, announced earlier this year, and its stated ambition to halve the gap in participation in enriching activities between disadvantaged young people and their peers by 2035.