What’s the point of Enrichment in schools?

[Fusedspur]

My children’s school has enrichment week and on the face of it there are lots of interesting things to do but actually, lots of the kids hate the break in the routines. What is the point of it?

But how will he know about other options if he doesn't get involved in careers education?
In fact, things like careers days are an important part of widening horizons. Especially for kids whose parents have already decided what their career path will look like.

Have you sked the school how they evaluated their career day? They have to do this so there will be an evaluation.

I didn’t say it should be scrapped. Or that the school was wrong. Or that schools can’t win. I ASKED how the school assesses whether it’s been a success given that some of the cohort find it incredibly stressful.

And yes this has been fed back to school, in a constructive and carefully worded feedback, and the response so far has been “it isn’t that often, suck it up.”

Then they got shitty about attendance of these activities. As it happened one of mine had a hospital appointment anyway, but I had the attendance person on to me demanding a copy of the appointment letter.

What do you suggest that parents of kids like this do?

I don’t disagree that it’s important. But he (and his similar profile peers) couldn’t take anything in in a noisy hall and found the whole thing chaotic and overwhelming. As it happens he has an EHCP and the Preparing for Adulthood team are involved past year 9 anyway.

Because your kid didn’t want to do it you are interested in measuring the success of it?

I’ve been involved in these sorts of activities and they can be incredibly rewarding. For those who take part.

But there is always someone wanting to piss on the chips of the hard work of schools.

Honestly, this sort of thing makes teachers not want to bother.

What is there to measure? It’s pretty obvious what the point or success of a careers day in a school is - to open children’s eyes to paths open to them they wouldn’t have otherwise known and help children understand possible pathways after formal education ends.

It likely exists exactly for the children of parents who keep their kids home over every little thing.

That’s an incredibly defensive post - and part of the greater issue around SEN in schools - feedback that some activities caused massive upset and stress to SOME kids, entirely predictably, is met with accusations of chip-pissing.

Honestly it’s not like that! I would love my son to have leant into it all and experienced what was on offer. I’d love to have high and bright ambitions for him and in many ways I do. He did the careers fair and called me in tears. I managed to get him on the bus for the theatre trip and he masked all day, didn’t eat his packed lunch of all his best favorite things and then came home and I caught him stripping the skin off his fingers. It was all too much. He doesn’t do routine change.

That doesn’t detract from the efforts of the school, but in his case and the case of the significant cohort of kids like him, it was pointless to the extent of being detrimental.

So you kept him at home but also he went and found it chaotic?

Well, perhaps one measure next year would be the number and profile of the kids who, if given the option not to attend, and do something else including something completely boring on the face of it, take them up on the offer.

My DS’s school have 3 enrichment days over the year and are mostly day trips to various attractions and generally I think the kids enjoy them and benefit from the break in routine. As a parent I’m glad the school provides this as the school curriculum can be far too intense.

The events were over 5 days. I took him home for
some of it.

TBH, and I mean this respectfully, for kids like mine, it’s better if you don’t.

School is pretty boring without it.

Try 2020-22. No parties, no school field trips, no school bonding trips, very little sport. It was awful for those who missed out.

You want the entire mandatory education system to benefit your child alone and not the vast majority of the children at the school? Do you hear yourself?

So because your child has additional needs all the other children have to lose out on opportunities? How very inclusive of you.

I had two that loved it and one that hated it. We worked around it. I certainly didn’t go moaning to the school because the whole school’s curriculum wasn’t structured around his autism.

Could you show me where I’m asking for all the other kids to miss out? I think you’ll find I didn’t say that. I asked what was the point of it for kids like this.

Could you show me where I’ve said that? I’ve asked what the school thinks is the point of it for kids like this.

@Fusedspur The issue is if a child with SEN is in a mainstream school then there will be parts he will struggle with.
It sucks. I know - my child has SEN.
But mainstream is aimed at the "majority".
It does sound poor if they aren't offering alternatives.
I'm mean how hard would it be that the children with sensory issues get to go to the careers fair first when the hall isn't noisy and crowded?

Thankyou, for hearing me. That’s the point I’m making, apparently quite badly.

I used to love these kind of things. I found the routine of school very uninspiring. Your children get it their way most of the year.

Not everything in schools is designed to appeal to everyone. Didn’t you go to school and have your tolerate sports days despite not being sporty, school plays despite not wanting to perform, group singing despite not being musical etc?

These enrichment days are an attempt to bridge the National Curriculum and the list of things that people think parents should do but can’t /won’t like the careers advice. The school system is designed with GCSE-A-level-Uni progression in mind and it’s good that the kids who won’t be on that progression get a day to discuss other stuff like college, apprenticeships and work. Just because it’s not of interest to your child, doesn’t mean that it’s pointless. It’s one of those things to tolerate because the schools don’t have resources to make the days relevant to everyone. In an ideal world that could happen but this world isn’t ideal.

Schools should take reasonable adjustments into account. I think your initial post OP seemed to imply that you thought these types of events shouldn't happen. Having a quiet hour for certain children at the careers fair would make sense. Offering alternatives, where feasible.

Has your DC never been on theatre trips with school before (most schools offer them for set texts) @Fusedspur

Is school usually supportive, especially if there is an EHCP in place?

I have an ND teen and yes, changes to her routine are often difficult.

But - it's something we work through with her beforehand, also the school is aware and SEN pupils can be going in smaller groups if it is in the school itself, can take breaks if overwhelmed and/or leave earlier.

On trips, again, teacher are aware and the pupils have adjustments in place or don't go. Luckily my DD loves trips as long as she knows where to go and what is happening.

I think it's something you could raise with the SEN department so next year the SEN pupils can either be offered something different or there is a plan B, C and D in place.

It's important for schools to offer this and I think it's wrong to say because it may not be fully suitable for one group of pupils, noone gets it. It just needs to be planned better.

”their way”?

Im assuming that you mean routine predictability? Yes they do.