Broadening our horizons.
The purpose of enrichment at Reach Schools is to encourage aspiration and a love of learning by amplifying our taught subjects and introducing students to topics that they don’t have access to as part of the academic curriculum.
Our trips, clubs, and residential getaways are a chance for us to model the joy of academic pursuits and vocational activities, and provide exciting opportunities and experiences in the wider world.
Developing new skills.
Our range of enrichment opportunities help students to develop a plethora of skills they can use in the future. Enrichment builds leadership, communication, teamwork and competitive skills alongside allowing pupils to improve their health, become leaders for younger pupils and experience opportunities they may not see in the classroom.
Clubs, trips, and residentials
What’s the difference?
Clubs
All students are offered a wide range of different and enriching clubs after school. We offer clubs from all areas of teacher expertise to enrich the experiences of our students beyond the classroom. Many of our clubs include an aspect of competitive nature, particularly the sports clubs, allowing pupils to meet, and compete against students from other schools. Many of the clubs also expose the students to careers or skills they may not have experienced within the classroom such as the mock trial competition in which pupils compete against others in a mock law court case.
All our clubs are free except for martial arts clubs which are offered by a local external company. This is a purposeful decision to make sure all of our pupils have access to all of these enriching opportunities.
Trips
It is important that pupils are exposed to opportunities to see their classroom learning in the real world. As such, we try to provide all pupils with a trip related to their learning in each subject over the academic year. For example, at Reach Academy Feltham, in Year 1, the pupils learn about seasons and our trip to Kew Gardens in the Autumn term enriches this learning, by contextualising it in a real life experience of seasonal change.
Some of our trips have been planned to expose our students to cultural capital. The trip to a West-End musical production in Year 4 ensures that pupils have been exposed to different career paths and/or a passion for theatre and the arts more generally.
Residentials
Students begin taking part in residentials from Year 3, which is when it feels developmentally appropriate to spend time away from home. Our residentials aim to improve pupils’ independence with prolonged periods away from home, visit places they may not have visited before, enrich our curriculum with opportunities related to their studies and experience post-16 institutions to inform their future choices.
By taking part in all of our residentials pupils will have had the opportunity to engage in social actions projects, visit at least 2 different countries, see a variety of different universities and all have achieved the Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Award. Such experiences grant the skills important for their future success and making informed decisions about their futures.