The important role of Enrichment Days for primary aged children

The important role of Enrichment Days for primary aged children

Giving children an education is more than just mastering English and Maths, it’s also about the activities that encompass children’s learning through new involvements and opportunities. So how do enrichments days benefit primary school pupils?

Let’s take a trip down memory lane… what do you remember most from your primary school days?

Is it the day you mastered Bodmas?

Or… the day you learnt the terms ‘root words, prefixes and suffixes’?

My guess is that you remember school trips? Activity days? A themed day in school where you were off the curriculum?

Days like this are called Enrichment Days. They play an essential role in children's learning, important for providing children with new experiences, extending their learning, and making the school day more fun!

Although there’s no statutory requirement for schools to provide enrichment opportunities, it’s encouraged by the Department for Education (DfE) and Ofsted.

Ofsted’s inspection framework emphasises the importance of personal development and extending the curriculum beyond academic achievement.

It assesses schools on whether they:

• Help children develop their interests and talents
• Enable children to develop their character, including resilience, confidence and independence
• Teach children how to keep physically and mentally healthy
• Prepare them for future success
• Equip children to be responsible, respectful, and active citizens

Some of this is covered in the National Curriculum, but a lot of it falls under the banner of enrichment.

Enrichment days are not just about children being excited and having fun.

Enrichment Days...

• Help provide children with a rounded, culturally rich education through activities that enhance their learning.
• Give children opportunities to try new and varied activities that may not strictly fit into the curriculum, but that develop character, resilience and motivation, and encourage them to pursue wider goals.
• Help to teach life skills that benefit children beyond the classroom, and can develop an appreciation for cultural and community issues, teamwork and social responsibility.
• Allow disadvantaged pupils also benefit from taking part in experiences and activities that they may not get access to out of school.
• Create memories for children to look back on their primary school days.

Discover how you can enrich your P.E, Sport & Health and Well Being Curriculum with RB Gym and Sport