The role of enrichment on improving school attendance

Rachael Powell, Public Affairs and Policy Assistant at the Centre for Young Lives, discusses new research which shows how enrichment activities benefit young people’s mental and physical health, school attendance and help to foster positive relationships. 

What motivates a child or young person to go to school? With too many children missing out on their education, and those who do attend often feeling disengaged, we need to consider how we can inspire students to look forward to school.

Recent research by the Centre for Young Lives, commissioned by The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award and National Citizen Service (NCS) Trust, reveals that enrichment activities can transform school into a place where children want to be and benefit from. Our case studies show a direct link between enrichment and improved attendance, particularly for children and young people who face poverty.

Unsurprisingly, many children and young people we spoke with described enrichment activities as the most exciting part of their week. One young person told us, “I feel different on club days cos I’m looking forward to it. If there’s no club, it’s an average day.”

Enrichment activities, including sports, arts clubs, volunteering, social action and adventures away from home offer students something fun and exciting to look forward to, away from sitting in a classroom. They have been shown to have a positive impact on mental and physical health, wellbeing, positive relationships, learning and development, confidence, and a sense of belonging. Not only are these impacts valuable in themselves, they are also proven to be associated with higher school attendance.

This is especially true for disadvantaged children and young people. Many families struggle to afford extracurricular trips and outings, which means these children miss out on valuable enrichment activities. With a strong association between poverty and school absence, many schools and enrichment providers highlighted to us how these activities can improve attendance for students living in poverty.

Enrichment activities offer a space to foster positive relationships between pupils and teachers, which is associated with a better school experience and improved behaviour. As a result of the enrichment activities, staff at Unity City Academy in Middlesbrough told us that there was a shift in culture and improved relationships between staff and pupils, who were able to see each other in a new light. One staff member said, “Enrichment lets staff see something else in students that they don’t see in the day,” and another said, “Put them in an [enrichment] environment or leadership programme, they’re different students.”

Not only did the enrichment programme anecdotally improve school attendance and reduce rates of exclusions, but the young people felt an improved attitude to school and teachers. One young person said, “When you do enrichment with teachers you build up that connection, that bond,” and another felt their needs were met better, “You’re not sat down like in school, you can talk and move around, which is good if you got ADHD.”

Unity City Academy was just one example of schools and enrichment providers we spoke to who found that enrichment can have positive impacts on students’ attendance, relationships with teachers, and overall wellbeing and development. Many schools are deliberately using enrichment to boost attendance, such as by setting the expectation that good attendance will be rewarded with enrichment activities, holding activities on days with typically lower attendance, or requiring 100% attendance to access a youth centre’s activities.

Along with many other tools that schools need to boost attendance and improve children and young people’s wellbeing, enrichment is key to making children excited about coming to school. Many young people take great joy and many skills from enrichment activities, as well as building relationships and better wellbeing that formal education may not otherwise offer.

We know that many children find school to be a difficult or stressful place to be or feel as though their needs are not met. Some become more disengaged with their learning as it becomes focused more on test results and tick-boxing. By giving children and young people opportunities to explore new opportunities that may not otherwise have been offered to them, school can become a beacon of learning, development, and positive relationships – in short, a place where every child wants to be.

Click here to read the report ‘Beyond the classroom: The role of enrichment in tackling the school absence crisis’