The government’s recent curriculum and assessment review has brought renewed attention to enrichment and its place in education.

Proposals for a core enrichment entitlement signal an important shift. With national benchmarks planned, Ofsted considering delivery as part of inspection, and clearer information required for parents, enrichment is becoming a more central focus for schools.

At Ormiston Academies Trust, this is not a new conversation. Enrichment is fundamental to our founding principles, and we have long believed in a broad and rich vision of education for all pupils.

The importance of enrichment

The evidence for high-quality enrichment is well established.

In the short term, it can support engagement, behaviour and attendance. Over time, it helps young people develop self-esteem, a sense of belonging and supports stronger academic outcomes.

Yet we also know that access to enrichment is unequal. Disadvantaged pupils are often those who stand to gain the most, while being the least likely to participate.

Part of this challenge is structural - in many schools, enrichment sits outside the formal timetable. Clubs and activities may be thoughtfully designed, but when participation depends on staying after school, access is shaped by transport, caring responsibilities and family circumstances.

Over time, this can turn enrichment into a privilege rather than an entitlement.

Ring-fencing time for activities

At Ormiston, we are working to address this across the trust. We have set ourselves an ambitious goal: every pupil in every Ormiston school will access at least 80 hours of guaranteed enrichment each year.

To this end, each school is developing an Enrichment Charter, rooted in our shared principles but shaped by local context, so that provision reflects the identities, strengths and values of the communities we serve, while also opening up new experiences and aspirations.

Ormiston Ilkeston Enterprise Academy (OIEA) in Derbyshire provides a clear example of how this thinking translates into practice. In 2023/24, staff reviewed participation in enrichment and identified a consistent pattern.

Pupils were interested and enthusiastic, but take-up of after-school activities was uneven. Leaders recognised that the issue was not motivation, but access.

Reformatting the timetable

In response, from September 2024, the academy introduced a weekly extended school day, embedding a timetabled enrichment period into Thursday afternoons for all pupils in Years 7 to 10.

This was achieved by redesigning the weekly timetable, adding 30 minutes to Thursday and adjusting provision earlier in the week, with no overall increase in total teaching time.

This approach guarantees 35 enrichment sessions across the year and ensures that every pupil is able to access high-quality enrichment provision simply by coming to school.

The programme, known as “Enrichment Thursday”, is carefully planned and deliberately broad. Pupils rotate through five activities such as football, dance, and the Duke of Edinburgh Award, alongside opportunities like jewellery-making, digital animation and crochet.

Some activities act as a mirror, reflecting pupils’ identities, interests and local culture, and others act as a window, opening up new experiences and aspirations.

Because enrichment is built into the timetable, participation is universal and expectations are clear from the outset.

The programme runs with the same consistency and seriousness as any other part of the curriculum, which staff say has shifted how pupils perceive it.

Immediate impact

Pupil feedback reflects that change. Many describe Thursday as the most positive day of the week, and value having protected time to focus on activities they enjoy or feel proud of.

Teachers also point to wider benefits, particularly for pupils who previously struggled to engage with school in more traditional ways.

As part of a broader approach to engagement and attendance, the academy has also seen changes in attendance patterns. Thursday is now the school’s best-attended day, with a 2.64 per cent year-on-year increase.

The academy has reached its record level of Year 7 applications for two years in a row and is now oversubscribed. While this change reflects a range of factors, staff believe that the universal approach to enrichment has played a positive role.

As the national conversation around enrichment develops, this example from OIEA reinforces a simple point: if enrichment is to deliver on its promise, it must be designed with equity and quality in mind.

When it is built into the school day and treated as an entitlement, it becomes a powerful part of how schools support young people to thrive both inside and outside the classroom.

Joe Bradley is head of enrichment at Ormiston Academies Trust, and Simon Leach is principal at Ormiston Ilkeston Enterprise Academy

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