New Project Alert!
We have recently been commissioned by NCS Trust and The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award (DofE) to deliver Enrichment Partnerships Pilot for young people in Tameside.
Thousands of marginalised young people in targeted areas of England will soon benefit from improved access to quality enrichment activities, as the first organisations to participate in a pioneering enrichment partnerships pilot – overseen by National Citizen Service (NCS Trust) and The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award (DofE) – are announced.
In November 2023, NCS and DofE revealed that they had been chosen to oversee a £2.7 million Enrichment Partnerships Pilot (EPP) for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and the Department for Education (DfE).
Fourteen organisations, including PIE, have now been commissioned for the pilot, which will give thousands of young people in schools, in Educational Improvement Areas, across the North East, North West and East of England, the chance to participate in high quality enrichment activities, ranging from sports and arts to volunteering and outdoor experiences.
PIE will work with 10 schools in Tameside until March 2025 to connect young people to a wide range of enrichment opportunities.
We are planning to do this by firstly understanding the school’s current enrichment offers and investigate the barriers schools face in encouraging enrichment participation. We aim to know which students do not attend enrichment opportunities, what is the reason for this and how can we change it. We are going to work with the schools to introduce new enrichment activities and/or enhance current enrichment activities. This will include encouraging collaborations between local schools and organisations, and establishing what enriching activities Tameside can offer to schools. We also aim to up-skill school staff ensuring long-term sustainability, identify efficiencies in staff resource and funding across schools and quality ensure delivery and impact. A key aim in this project is to make sure schools know the different funding opportunities they can access for enrichment. Later in the year we will co-design new enrichment offers with schools, incorporating youth voice, for the new academic year. PIE will be creating impact reports throughout this project to share with key stakeholders, schools, the council, and funding bodies detailing the progress, challenges, and successes of the program.
The NFER (National Foundation for Educational Research) are conducting an Evaluation of this pilot programme to inform future funding decisions for the Enrichment Partnerships Pilot and help navigate what is needed for future work in enrichment more widely.
The following quotes from the CEO of NCS and CEO of The Duke of Edinburgh’s Awards, outline how important this Enrichment Partnerships Pilot is:
Mark Gifford, CEO of NCS Trust, said: “Alongside The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, we’re excited to leverage the expertise of several youth sector organisations, as well as local authorities and multi-academy trusts to deliver the Enrichment Partnerships Pilot.
They’ve each seen the value in supporting schools, including many in the most underserved communities, to boost their enrichment offer. Efforts will soon be underway equipping young people with the experiences and skills to become work ready and world ready.”
Ruth Marvel, CEO of The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, said: “These exciting partnerships open the door of possibility for thousands of young people in some of England’s most disadvantaged areas. They will improve links between schools and their local communities to give young people access to experience that will boost their well-being and help them develop crucial skills and grow in self-belief and resilience.”
PIE is very excited to be part of this pilot project, we are passionate about making sure all young people can access enrichment activities and minimise any barriers that young people and schools face when trying to provide enrichment. Here's a sample of some of the responses we've had in our initial school visits: