Enrichment at Loughton School

Inspiring Children

At Loughton School, we believe that education is about much more than what happens in the classroom. Our enrichment offer is an important part of our commitment to Inspiring Children, giving every child opportunities to discover new interests, develop their talents, build confidence and enjoy experiences that broaden their horizons.

Our enrichment programme reflects our school values throughout. We want children to develop the independence to make choices and explore their own interests, use their creativity to express themselves and think differently and build the resilience to embrace new experiences and persevere when something is challenging. Through working with others and engaging with our wider community, children develop respect for themselves, each other and the world around them. Above all, we want our enrichment opportunities to be inspiring, opening children's eyes to new experiences and possibilities.

The Department for Education's enrichment benchmarks encourage schools to provide opportunities across civic engagement, arts and culture, nature, outdoors and adventure, sport and physical activity and wider life and future skills. They also emphasise that enrichment should be aligned with a school's values, context and curriculum intent. 

Providing a broad range of opportunities

We want every child to experience a broad, balanced and exciting range of enrichment opportunities throughout their time at Loughton School. Through clubs, trips, visitors, performances, competitions, leadership opportunities, outdoor experiences and involvement in our wider community, children are encouraged to try something new, develop their creativity and independence and discover interests and talents they may not have known they had.

We plan our enrichment offer across the school and throughout the year to give children experiences across different areas of enrichment and opportunities to develop beyond the classroom.

Making enrichment accessible to everyone

We believe enrichment should be for every child. We monitor participation to understand who is taking part, identify children who may be missing opportunities and consider how barriers to involvement can be removed.

Through inclusive opportunities, children are encouraged to develop the resilience to try new things, the independence to make choices and the confidence to become involved. In doing so, we aim to create a culture where children respect and celebrate not only their own achievements, but those of others.

This reflects the DfE benchmark that enrichment should be equitable, inclusive and accessible, particularly for pupils who may be at risk of missing out. 

Listening, reflecting and celebrating

Our children's voices are central to how we develop enrichment at Loughton School. We want children to tell us what they enjoy, what inspires them, what they would like to experience next and what they have learnt along the way.

We encourage children to reflect on new experiences, recognise when they have demonstrated independence or resilience, celebrate their creativity and show respect for the achievements and contributions of others.

By listening to our children and celebrating their participation and achievements, we can continue to develop an enrichment offer that reflects their interests, needs and aspirations. Pupil voice, reflection and the celebration of participation and achievement are also identified within the DfE enrichment benchmarks. 

Inspiring Children

Ultimately, enrichment at Loughton School is about Inspiring Children.

We want our children to leave us having tried new things, overcome challenges, discovered interests and talents, contributed to their community and experienced opportunities that extend beyond the classroom.

We want every child to develop the independence to explore, the creativity to imagine, the resilience to persevere and the respect to value themselves and others.

Most importantly, we want them to be inspired by the possibilities ahead of them.