More than 400 secondary schools in 58 of the most deprived local areas in England are being contacted from Friday to confirm they will take part in a £22.5 million programme to expand sport, music, debating and outdoor activities for their pupils, the Department for Education has announced.
The Enrichment Expansion Programme, funded by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and delivered with the DfE, will be run by the Youth Sport Trust, the announcement said. It is the first confirmed delivery step for the enrichment commitments made in the government's National Youth Strategy, published in December last year, and for the target of halving the gap in participation in enriching activities between disadvantaged young people and their peers by 2035.
Under the model set out in the announcement, dedicated Enrichment Coordinators will manage clusters of local schools, identify gaps in what those schools currently offer, draw up enrichment plans and connect schools to local partners. Schools are described as receiving "tailored support" to strengthen and grow their provision. The announcement does not state how much money, if any, individual schools will receive directly.
The £22.5 million figure and the 400 schools were first announced on 15 June, when the government published its Enrichment Framework and eight enrichment benchmarks, alongside the £132.5 million Every Child Can programme. That announcement referred to 400 schools in the most deprived areas of England; Friday's announcement refers to more than 400, and does not explain the change.
The headline figure is larger than the sum DCMS put out to competition for the programme's delivery. A grant competition page published by the department in May offered £16,833,400 "of grant funding to a delivery partner/consortium to improve and enhance enrichment provision and support secondary schools to improve their offer", and gov.uk's own summary describes it as "the £16.8 million Enrichment Expansion Programme". The department's published competition guidance says £2.8 million will be allocated separately to school grants to cover staff costs and about £1 million to evaluation, but it has not set out publicly how the rest of the £22.5 million envelope is to be spent.
Areas were selected, according to the announcement, using a measure combining the Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index and the Community Needs Index, weighted to give representation across all nine English regions and to align with the DfE's Place Missions. The 58 areas named in the announcement include Blackpool, Birmingham, Blackburn with Darwen, Hull, Knowsley, Liverpool, Manchester, Middlesbrough, Nottingham, Sandwell, Sheffield, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland, Thanet and Torbay. No list of individual schools has been published.
The government has linked participation in enrichment to attendance, attainment and the risk of young people becoming not in education, employment or training. The announcement cites the Youth Matters: State of the Nation report, published on 10 December last year, which drew on engagement with more than 14,000 young people.
Vicky Foxcroft, the DCMS minister whose brief includes youth and who is described in the announcement as Minister for Young People, said: "Through our landmark State of a Nation survey we heard from more than 14,000 young people who told us that they feel they are missing out on safe, supportive environments where they can connect with others and find a community to belong to.
"Every young person should have somewhere to go, something to do and someone they can trust, where they can discover new interests that help them develop the confidence they need to thrive.
"That's why we're supporting more than 400 schools to develop their enrichment offers, helping thousands more children access activities and opportunities that build skills, confidence and a stronger sense of belonging."
Ali Oliver MBE, chief executive of the Youth Sport Trust, said the organisation was "honoured and incredibly excited to have been selected to deliver the new Enrichment Expansion Programme", and that it would be working with partners described as "Enrichment Builders".
"We know access to enrichment can have a positive impact across school life, supporting attendance, behaviour and academic achievement. Through the Enrichment Expansion Programme, we want to support the DCMS and DfE in giving more schools the support, opportunities and connections they need to strengthen and broaden their enrichment offer, in particular, helping more disadvantaged young people access opportunities which may otherwise be out of reach."
Marcus Davey, now Lord Davey of Chalk Farm, one of five enrichment ambassadors appointed in June and the ambassador for arts and culture, said: "Schools are a vital gateway to the creative and enriching experiences that help young people discover their interests, develop confidence and feel a sense of belonging. 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."
The programme has begun inviting and onboarding mainstream, special and alternative provision schools in the selected areas, and will be working with all participating schools from January 2027, according to the announcement. Funding runs until March 2029.
The announcement states that the schools minister, Georgia Gould, is attending the Royal Shakespeare Company's Building Partnerships: A 20-Year Story symposium on Friday. No comment from her was issued with the announcement.
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