Handball, rowing, boccia and chess may not be what comes to mind when you think of popular school sports. But at Redhill Academy Trust, a group of 20 schools in the East Midlands, they have been the focus of an enrichment drive - to great effect.

Since introducing the sports in 2023, the trust has found that the more co-curricular sessions pupils attend, the better their overall school attendance is, with those who don’t go to any clubs averaging 86 per cent, and pupils who take part in 10 sessions annually averaging 95 per cent.

What’s more, the trust has found that enrichment has a particular benefit for disadvantaged pupils.

Young people eligible for pupil premium who went to just one co-curricular session experienced an average attendance boost of 4.4 percentage points (from 82 to 86.4 per cent) over the course of a term. And among pupils who attended these clubs, the attendance gap between disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged pupils reduced from 8 per cent to 5 per cent.

All this suggests the government’s current focus on enrichment could be the right one.

Government to introduce enrichment benchmarks

In its response to the curriculum and assessment review, the Department for Education insisted that “every child should be entitled to a strong and well-rounded extracurricular offer”, pointing out the lower participation rates of disadvantaged pupils and those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

The government is due to publish its enrichment benchmarks before Christmas. And from next year, when it updates its inspection toolkits, Ofsted will assess how well schools are meeting them.

It’s worth noting that an enrichment offer was not recommended by the curriculum and assessment review, and the reaction to the government’s announcement has not been wholly positive, with the Association of School and College Leaders describing the policy as being “randomly announced” and questioning how it will be resourced.

However, enrichment is clearly something to which every school will soon be expected to pay closer attention. So, how has success been achieved at Redhill?

‘We have enrichment in our DNA’

Adam Douglas, the trust’s sports development officer, tells Tes that the four core activities sit alongside a pre-existing offer - including other sports, as well as clubs such as drama and cooking - and none are compulsory.

But in introducing the core sports - and in having a trust sports development officer role at all, which was new when Douglas joined Redhill in May 2023 - “we’re saying, ‘This is in our DNA’”.

He says the attendance boost has been a welcome unintended consequence of the work, which was designed to aid belonging, giving pupils “a better chance of having strong friendships and relationships with teachers”, as well as for them to “broaden their horizons”.

All extracurricular activities offer this, Douglas says. But sports, with its focus on teamwork and competition, feels particularly vital.

Increasing access to sports

Vicci Wells, assistant director for children and young people at the Youth Sport Trust (YST), which supports Redhill, adds that while “schools have been living and breathing enrichment opportunities for a long time”, the current push is about reaching those pupils who have historically been left out.

“When you look at those who are currently accessing these opportunities, it isn’t the ones who would benefit the most,” she explains, for example, disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND. By seeing enrichment as part of the fabric of a school, that can change, she says - as exemplified by Redhill.

The trust introduced handball across its primary and secondary schools in September 2023, followed by rowing the following year (secondary students row on indoor machines and on water, while the size of the machines makes that difficult for primary pupils, who just experience water-based activities), and chess in all schools this year.

Meanwhile, boccia - in which players aim to get their balls closest to the jack, the target ball - has been continuously championed alongside the other three.

The sports were chosen because of “pupil interest”, Douglas says. They are “appealing to different personalities, and that’s important in making sure it’s not just the same pupils accessing all of the offer”.

Boccia, for instance, is a Paralympic sport that is played from a seated position and was chosen because “it is probably the most inclusive sport in the world”, Douglas says.

As for chess, while many might assume it would not appeal to young people, the game is growing in popularity among Gen Z, bolstered by the ease of playing digitally and the knowledge that many celebrities, including prominent footballers, are avid players.

From school into the community

The activities also make sense for the schools’ localities. “We’ve got some fantastic handball clubs in Nottingham,” Douglas explains, while at nearby Holme Pierrepont Country Park, pupils who have aced the rowing machines get out onto the water. “The idea is that it starts in school, then it leads into the community,” he explains.

What’s more, these are sports most pupils will never have played before, says Wells, adding: “Some young people don’t want to go to a netball or football club because they don’t perceive that they would be good enough. Introducing a new sport like handball levels the playing field.”

Of course, all this took investment in equipment and staff training. Douglas explains how part of his role is to help the trust access funding from organisations and charities, including the YST.

And there have been other challenges, including ensuring the offer is truly accessible.

By tracking who attends the clubs, Douglas knows that fewer girls than boys participate in sports, which is a national trend, too. This is where the expertise of the YST comes in: Redhill is working with the charity to develop a girls’ leadership conference and is about to receive a donation of 200 sports bras, both with the aim of getting more girls involved.

The trust has also learned that while the data shows that “the greatest gains are to be made” when disadvantaged pupils access sports, this only works if they can attend regularly. Douglas found that most young people who are eligible for pupil premium attend at lunchtime rather than after-school clubs, so the trust ensures there are options throughout the day.

When trying to encourage pupils who don’t attend any clubs to join in, the schools opt for a personalised approach, with teachers inviting them to a session by saying, “I think you’d be great at this”.

Teacher input

This brings us to another key part of the rollout: teacher buy-in. Increasing an enrichment offer runs the risk of adding yet another unwanted task to teachers’ ever-increasing workload.

At Redhill, it is not essential that every teacher runs a club. But, Douglas says, the whole-trust approach has encouraged “lots more staff members to say, ‘I want to do this as part of my professional development’”.

Each core sport has a nominated champion per school who receives CPD. For the weekly running of the club, they are paired with another teacher, so that when one has a meeting, sessions don’t get cancelled.

He adds that staff are encouraged to think about what they can commit to, and for activities beyond the four core sports, six-week masterclasses are as welcome as sessions that run for the whole year.

Most important is that teachers of all subjects are involved, firstly “because it’s not then putting all of the strain on just the PE team”, he says.

But also, Wells adds, because this encourages a wider variety of pupils to attend - and can even bear fruit in lessons. “The best stories I hear are where the maths teacher runs the rugby club, for example. That relationship between the staff member and pupils has been enhanced because of the club, so in the maths lesson, behaviour is suddenly improved.”

The future of enrichment

The fact that the government is now making noise about enrichment thrills both Douglas and Wells because they believe sport isn’t just for sport’s sake; it is an investment in school outcomes.

“It pays itself back later down the line,” says Douglas.

And, as Redhill has proven, as long as the challenges are carefully managed and teacher workload remains front and centre in the planning, it is possible to deliver an enrichment offer that works for everyone.

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