Expanding Extracurricular Access: New Frameworks for Secondary Schools

The Enrichment Expansion Programme starts flowing January 2027, layered on top of a published Enrichment Framework. For anyone who loads tools onto a bike and rides into a neglected schoolyard, the mechanics of this rollout are worth studying.

How the program is built

The framework asks schools to deliver enrichment across five areas. Arts, languages, and school sports are named outright; the remaining two aren't detailed in what we have. The Department paired the funding with new Enrichment Benchmarks — quality controls meant to measure breadth, not just headcount.

Coverage spans all nine English regions. Named locations include Birmingham, Blackpool, County Durham, Croydon, Hull, Liverpool, Manchester, Middlesbrough, Newcastle, Nottingham, Plymouth, Portsmouth, Sheffield, Stoke-on-Trent, and Sunderland. Schools were selected by deprivation and local need — mainstream, special, and alternative provision secondary schools all sit in the cohort.

The friction here is the same one we hit on every ride: kids in postcodes with thin resources don't get the same menu as kids three miles down the road. The UK is putting public money behind closing that gap at the secondary level. Whether it lands is a different question.

What rebuilding looks like when the ground moves

United Way Colombia is operating in the aftermath of a 7.4-magnitude earthquake that struck on August 10. More than 400 communities across 15 states — about 40% of the country — lost homes, schools, and essential spaces. Officials estimated more than 400,000 people impacted.

Their early childhood learning centers for ages 3 to 6 took severe structural damage. In Cali, one of two Cuna de Campeones centers, opened less than a year earlier, is completely destroyed. In Manizales, where United Way supports 17 centers, 9 have reported severe damage so far. The organization reaches 15,000 teachers and 275,000 children across 30 municipalities annually.

Cristina Gutiérrez de Piñeres Scarpetta, CEO of United Way Colombia, is steering the recovery through the United for Colombia Fund — keeping children learning while the buildings come back. Her framing: recovery covers more than infrastructure. It covers safety, nutrition, health security, emotional well-being, education, and community connections. Rebuilding timelines are months to years, not weeks.

Kenya on the board

Education News is running a piece on rethinking what "comprehensive school" means in Kenya's education system. We don't have the full text yet — the title is all that's on record — but the framing alone signals the comprehensive model is under review there.

What to track

• Disbursement over announcements. £22.5 million sounds clean. Watch what actually lands in school accounts by mid-2027.
• The Enrichment Benchmarks. Quality controls matter more than participation numbers.
• Which of the 400+ schools deliver breadth, not one-off events.
• Colombia timelines. Months-to-years recovery means volunteer coordination has to be sustained, not one convoy and out.
• Kenya's comprehensive school rethink. Watch what filters out of that conversation.