Evaluation of the Enrichment Partnerships Pilot
28 August 2026
Enrichment activities encompass a range of activities that happen in addition to the school curriculum and that pupils can choose to take part in. Previous research indicates that participating in these activities has the potential to offer a wide range of benefits to pupils such as making friends, improving resilience, motivation and school attendance. However, not all pupils get the same opportunities to take part in enrichment activities, with socio-economically disadvantaged pupils less likely to participate.
The Enrichment Partnerships Pilot (EPP) ran from November 2023 to March 2025 and was designed to help improve enrichment opportunities and increase participation among pupils that are not otherwise taking part in any enrichment activities.
The EPP was delivered by The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award and National Citizen’s Service Trust. They recruited and supported 17 coordinating organisations (including local authorities, multi-academy trusts and third sector organisations), across the North East, North West and East of England, to work with local mainstream secondary schools and enrichment providers with the aim of improving the range of, quality of, and access to enrichment opportunities for young people.
The aims of the evaluation were to understand:
- How the EPP was delivered
- If the intended outcomes of the programme were achieved
- What learning can be applied to future delivery and contribute to the literature about enrichment.
Method
The evaluation was a mixed methods process and outcomes evaluation. It combined pilot-wide data collection approaches with school case studies.
The pilot-wide data collection activities included:
- Surveys with schools and enrichment providers
- Monitoring information collected from schools and enrichment providers to understand what enrichment activities were delivered and how many pupils participated
- Interviews with key stakeholders.
The school case studies included:
- Pupil surveys (pre- and post-intervention)
- Pupil focus groups
- Interviews or focus groups with school staff
- Interviews with enrichment providers.
Key Findings
- Where pupil voice activities were used to inform the types of enrichment activities on offer, this was felt to have helped the activities on offer appeal to a greater number of pupils.
- At the end of the pilot, more schools reported using external enrichment providers to deliver enrichment activities (67% compared with 56% at baseline) and having established links with them (72% at follow-up compared with 45% at baseline). Furthermore, 65% of schools felt the quality of their relationships with local enrichment providers had improved.
- At the end of the EPP, three-quarters of schools (74%) still wanted more information about what external providers could offer and 42% of schools said they could not afford to use external enrichment providers.
- On average, schools indicated that they had added a small number of additional activities to their enrichment offer and were more satisfied with their enrichment offer at the end of the pilot. However, there were schools that reported that the EPP had led to ‘no changes’ in specific aspects of their enrichment offer such as the number of external enrichment providers used (32% of schools), understanding of pupil enrichment needs or interests (23% of schools) and ability to identify additional funding sources to support enrichment delivery (40%).
- Despite schools reporting an increase in enrichment provision, evidence about whether pupil uptake of enrichment activities had increased was mixed.
- Pupils felt enrichment activities had offered them a range of benefits including improving their physical or mental health, making new friends, learning new skills and improving their confidence. However, not all these benefits can be attributed to the pilot as many of the enrichment activities pupils talked about in the focus groups already existed prior to the EPP.
- For schools and pupils, a good enrichment offer provides a choice of activities, allows pupils to meet and build relationships with likeminded people, allows pupils to develop new skills and have new experiences, is inclusive, is fun and enjoyable, and is informed by youth voice.
- There were three routes to improving uptake of enrichment activities among pupils. This included:
- Using pupil voice to inform enrichment activities
- Offering at least some new enrichment activities during the school day and on school premises
- Providing schools with funding.