Published: November 2025
After more than a decade, England’s national curriculum has finally received the thorough review it desperately needed. The Curriculum and Assessment Review Final Report, published on 5 November 2025 and led by Professor Becky Francis CBE, has landed with significant implications for how we think about education. Whilst much of the media focus has centred on assessment changes and subject-specific recommendations, there’s a golden thread running through this 196-page document that deserves our attention: curriculum enrichment.
For those of us working in education (whether you’re a classroom teacher, school leader, or education provider), the review’s stance on enrichment isn’t just encouraging; it’s potentially transformative. Let’s explore what the report actually says and, more importantly, what it means for practice.
The Big Picture: Enrichment Gets Its Due
Here’s the headline: the government has pledged to create a new enrichment entitlement for every child. This isn’t just a nice-to-have add-on buried in an appendix. The review explicitly acknowledges that education happens beyond textbooks and exam papers, and that the experiences we provide outside formal curriculum content are essential, not optional extras.
Professor Francis makes this clear in her foreword, noting the importance of “the enrichment activities, sports, performances, work experience and careers advice that provide young people with transferable skills, develop confidence, and bring their learning to life.” It’s refreshing to see this recognised at such a fundamental level in curriculum policy.
Beyond the National Curriculum: Recognising What Really Matters
The review pulls no punches in acknowledging that some of our most valuable educational moments happen outside the formal curriculum structure. It names enrichment activities specifically: clubs, trips, creative projects, and community engagement. These aren’t dismissed as distractions from “real learning”. They’re celebrated as essential components of a world-class education system.
This is particularly significant given the climate of the past decade, where many schools have felt pressured to narrow their curriculum offer in pursuit of exam results and performance measures. The review’s explicit validation of enrichment activities sends a powerful message: fostering a love of learning, building social and emotional skills, and supporting well-rounded development matters just as much as academic attainment.
For educators who’ve been fighting to maintain enrichment programmes despite budget pressures and accountability demands, this feels like vindication. More importantly, it provides the policy backing to argue for resources and time to deliver these experiences.
The Equity Gap: Addressing Uneven Access
However, the review doesn’t shy away from uncomfortable truths. One of its major concerns is that access to enrichment is deeply unequal across schools and regions. This inequality typically breaks down along predictable lines: funding, staffing capacity, and local partnerships.
Research from The Sutton Trust, cited in responses to the review, found that 68% of schools with the highest proportion of students eligible for free school meals had to cut back on trips and outings, compared to just 44% in the most affluent schools. This isn’t just about fairness. It’s about life chances.
The review’s recommendation is clear: enrichment opportunities must be more equitably available, with particular attention to disadvantaged pupils. This should be integrated into schools’ broader educational offer rather than treated as an add-on that gets squeezed out when budgets tighten.
What this means in practice: Schools will need to think strategically about how to provide high-quality enrichment experiences within existing resources. This is where innovative approaches can help level the playing field.
Take virtual reality workshops, for example. A school in Darlington can transport students to the Great Barrier Reef, inside the human heart, or to the surface of Mars without the costs and logistics of physical travel. At EduPeopleVR, we’ve seen firsthand how immersive technology breaks down barriers. Schools that couldn’t afford museum visits can now offer their students experiences that rival (and sometimes exceed) what physical trips provide. The year 4 class studying ancient Rome gets to walk through The Forum; witness the eruption in Pompei and experience first-hand what it would have been like to face opponents in The Colosseum. The science students exploring the solar system can float between planets at actual scale. And crucially, every student in the class gets the same experience, regardless of whether their parents can afford to contribute to trip costs.
This isn’t about replacing physical trips (nothing beats standing in a real castle or getting muddy on a geography field study). But when physical access is limited by budget, geography, or accessibility needs, immersive technology offers genuine alternatives that deliver educational value. For schools serving disadvantaged communities across the north of England, this can be transformative.
SEND and Inclusion: Alternative Routes to Success
One of the report’s strongest sections focuses on enrichment for children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). The review highlights enrichment as particularly beneficial for SEND students, offering alternative ways to engage, express themselves, and demonstrate their capabilities.
This recognition is crucial. Traditional classroom settings and formal assessments don’t work equally well for all learners. Enrichment activities, whether that’s a drama club, a coding workshop, a forest school session, or an immersive VR experience, can provide pathways to success for students who might struggle in conventional academic contexts.
The report calls for inclusive enrichment design, ensuring activities are accessible and meaningful for all learners. This isn’t about creating separate “SEND enrichment”; it’s about designing enrichment with accessibility built in from the start. Universal Design for Learning principles should guide our planning, ensuring that enrichment activities engage diverse learners without requiring retrofitted adaptations.
Practical consideration: When planning enrichment activities, ask yourself: “How does this experience engage multiple senses? Does it offer choice in how students participate? Can students demonstrate their learning in different ways?”
Virtual reality excels at meeting these criteria. In our workshops at EduPeopleVR, we’ve worked with students across the SEND spectrum. The immersive, multi-sensory nature of VR naturally supports diverse learners. Students with autism often thrive in VR environments where social pressures are reduced but engagement remains high. Students with attention difficulties find the immersive nature helps them focus. Those with physical disabilities can explore environments that might be physically inaccessible in reality. And because VR is inherently visual and spatial, it supports students who struggle with text-based learning.
Whether you’re organising a museum visit or an immersive workshop, these accessibility questions help ensure genuine inclusivity. The beauty of well-designed enrichment is that what benefits SEND students often enhances learning for everyone.
Supporting Teachers: Enrichment as Professional Practice
Here’s where things get really interesting. The review doesn’t just say “schools should do more enrichment”. It recognises that teachers need support to design and deliver high-quality enrichment activities. This means time and resources for planning and collaboration.
More significantly, the review suggests that enrichment should be recognised as part of professional practice, not just an add-on that teachers squeeze in during their lunch breaks or after school. This represents a fundamental shift in how we value this work.
For years, the teachers who run clubs, organise trips, and create extended learning opportunities have done so largely through goodwill and personal commitment. Recognising enrichment as core professional practice, rather than optional extra work, could transform how it’s planned, resourced, and delivered.
What schools need to do: Build enrichment planning into professional development time. Create leadership roles for enrichment coordination. Ensure that when staff are leading enrichment activities, it’s recognised as part of their workload, not invisible labour done out of dedication alone.
Curriculum Coherence: Joining the Dots
The review makes an important distinction between enrichment that simply exists alongside the curriculum and enrichment that actively reinforces and deepens curriculum learning. The recommendation is clear: enrichment should be linked to curriculum content, reinforcing learning in creative and experiential ways.
Think about a history field trip to a local castle. Done poorly, it’s just a day out. Done well, it becomes a powerful way to bring medieval history to life, allowing students to visualise scale, understand defensive architecture, and connect abstract historical concepts to tangible, physical spaces.
The same principle applies to science fairs, author visits, virtual reality experiences exploring the human body, or computing clubs building real applications. When enrichment activities connect meaningfully to curriculum content, they serve multiple purposes: they engage students, they reinforce learning, and they demonstrate why the curriculum matters beyond exam papers.
This doesn’t mean every enrichment activity needs to map directly to a scheme of work. Sometimes, fostering curiosity and joy for its own sake is valuable. But being intentional about how enrichment and curriculum connect creates more powerful learning experiences.
Practical tip: When planning enrichment, have conversations with classroom teachers about what students are studying. This is exactly how we approach our VR workshops at EduPeopleVR. Before delivering a session, we speak with teachers to understand their current schemes of work.
A workshop exploring the solar system has dramatically more impact when it coincides with space topics in science lessons. When we work with a Year 6 class studying the circulatory system, we don’t just show them a VR heart, we time it to reinforce what they’re learning in class, allowing them to walk through chambers and vessels they’ve been reading about. That connection between curriculum content and immersive experience cements understanding in ways that worksheets simply cannot.
Even creative clubs benefit from curriculum awareness. Knowing what students are learning helps you make connections and references that deepen understanding across subjects. Geography becomes real when you’ve stood on a glacier. History comes alive when you’ve explored a Roman villa. Science makes sense when you’ve travelled inside a plant cell.
Policy Recommendations: From Principles to Practice
The review includes several concrete policy recommendations to support enrichment:
- Develop guidance and frameworks to support schools in planning high-quality enrichment
- Monitor and evaluate enrichment provision to ensure it contributes to educational outcomes and pupil wellbeing
- Create mechanisms to ensure enrichment is genuinely accessible to all students
These recommendations matter because they suggest systemic support rather than leaving schools to figure it out alone. The call for monitoring and evaluation is particularly significant. It signals that enrichment should be taken seriously and assessed for impact, not just assumed to be worthwhile.
Ruth Marvel OBE, Chief Executive of The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, welcomed the review’s recommendations, calling it “a watershed moment that will ensure every pupil, no matter their background, can experience an enriched education.” The emphasis on equity runs throughout the report’s enrichment recommendations.
What This Means for Educational Providers (and EduPeopleVR)
If you’re an educational provider offering workshops, programmes, or resources to schools, the curriculum review presents both opportunities and responsibilities. And if you’re reading this as a school leader or teacher wondering how to implement enrichment more effectively, understanding what good providers offer can help you make informed choices.
Opportunities: Schools will be looking for high-quality enrichment partners who can deliver engaging experiences that align with curriculum goals. The explicit policy support for enrichment creates space for schools to invest in external partnerships. Providers who can demonstrate impact on engagement, wellbeing, and learning outcomes will be well-positioned.
At EduPeopleVR, we’ve built our workshops around exactly these principles. Serving schools across the north of England from our base in Darlington, we focus on delivering immersive VR experiences that directly support curriculum content whilst fostering the engagement and wonder that enrichment should provide. Our workshops aren’t just “cool technology” (though students certainly think they are). They’re carefully designed educational experiences that teachers can integrate into their schemes of work.
Responsibilities: With great power comes great responsibility. The review’s emphasis on equity means providers need to think seriously about accessibility and affordability. How can you ensure your enrichment offering reaches disadvantaged schools and SEND students? What pricing structures, outreach programmes, or partnership models can help break down barriers?
This is something we grapple with constantly. We’ve structured our pricing to be accessible to schools with limited budgets, and we’re actively working on partnerships that can bring VR enrichment to schools that might otherwise never experience it. Because the review is right: enrichment cannot be a privilege for affluent schools. It must be an entitlement for every child.
Innovation in this space will be crucial. Virtual and augmented reality technologies can bring enrichment experiences to schools that couldn’t otherwise access them, whether due to location, budget, or accessibility needs. A school in rural Northumberland faces the same travel costs to London museums as one in Newcastle. VR doesn’t eliminate those disparities, but it provides genuine alternatives. But technology is the means, not the end. The goal remains creating engaging, meaningful learning experiences that broaden horizons and build confidence.
The Funding Question
Let’s address the elephant in the room: money. The review calls for enrichment to be equitably available, but achieving this requires resources. Whilst the policy intent is clear, the funding mechanisms are less so.
Various organisations, including The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, have called for an “enrichment premium”—dedicated funding streams to support enrichment activities, particularly for disadvantaged pupils. Whether this materialises remains to be seen, but the principle is sound: if we believe enrichment is essential (which the review clearly does), we must fund it appropriately.
In the meantime, schools and providers need to be creative. Partnerships between schools can share costs. Technology can reduce per-pupil costs for certain experiences. Community organisations and volunteers can contribute expertise. Grant funding and sponsorship opportunities exist for those willing to seek them out.
Here’s a practical example: a residential trip to an outdoor education centre might cost £200-300 per pupil. For a class of 30, that’s £6,000-9,000. Some families can’t afford it, creating equity issues. A VR workshop costs a fraction of that per pupil whilst reaching every student in the year group. It’s not the same experience (and both have value), but it demonstrates how thoughtful use of technology can stretch enrichment budgets whilst maintaining quality.
At EduPeopleVR, we work with schools to maximise impact per pound spent. Multiple classes can experience our workshops in a single day, spreading costs. Sessions can be repeated across year groups. And because we’re based in the north east and serve the whole of the north of England, our travel costs are manageable for regional schools.
The review’s recognition of enrichment as essential rather than optional strengthens the case for every one of these funding approaches.
Looking Ahead: Implementing the Vision
The Curriculum and Assessment Review represents a significant moment for English education. The government has accepted the principle that enrichment matters and committed to creating an enrichment entitlement. But principles only become reality through implementation.
Schools will need time to develop enrichment strategies that work for their contexts and communities. Teachers will need training and support to design and deliver high-quality enrichment experiences. Leaders will need to champion enrichment as core educational practice, not an afterthought. And yes, the whole system will need adequate funding.
For those of us passionate about education—whether we’re teachers, school leaders, or educational providers—this review offers both validation and challenge. It validates what many of us have long known: that education is broader than curriculum content and exam results. And it challenges us to ensure enrichment opportunities reach every child, regardless of background or need.
Practical Next Steps
So, what should you actually do with this information?
If you’re a school leader:
- Audit your current enrichment provision: what do you offer, and who accesses it?
- Consider how enrichment connects to your curriculum and school priorities
- Build enrichment planning into professional development and leadership structures
- Explore partnerships that could enhance your enrichment offer sustainably
If you’re a classroom teacher:
- Think about how enrichment experiences could complement your teaching
- Consider running a club or activity that aligns with your subject expertise
- Connect with colleagues to plan enrichment that reinforces learning across subjects
- Make sure enrichment opportunities are visible and accessible to all your students
If you’re an educational provider:
- Review your offering through an equity and accessibility lens
- Develop clear impact measures that demonstrate value beyond engagement
- Build relationships with schools that allow you to understand their curriculum and priorities
- Consider how technology or innovation could extend your reach to underserved schools
Bringing Enrichment to Life: How EduPeopleVR Can Help
The Curriculum Review has made the case for enrichment. Now comes the practical challenge: how do you actually deliver high-quality, curriculum-linked, accessible enrichment experiences within the constraints of school budgets and timetables?
This is where EduPeopleVR comes in. We’ve designed our VR workshop programme specifically to address the challenges that schools across the north of England face:
Curriculum-linked content: Our workshops aren’t random VR experiences. They’re carefully designed to support specific curriculum areas, from Key Stage 2 science (exploring the human body, space, ecosystems) to Key Stage 3 geography (climate zones, tectonic activity, world landmarks) and history (ancient civilisations, World War experiences, industrial revolution).
Inclusive by design: VR is inherently multi-sensory and engaging. Students who struggle with traditional teaching methods often thrive in immersive environments. We’ve worked successfully with students across the SEND spectrum and can adapt our approach to meet diverse needs.
Cost-effective: Our per-pupil costs are significantly lower than residential trips or museum visits, and we can work with multiple classes in a single day to maximise your investment.
Accessible location: Based in Darlington and serving the whole of the north of England, we’re local enough to keep travel costs manageable whilst reaching schools from Yorkshire to Northumberland.
Measured impact: We don’t just deliver sessions and disappear. We work with schools to measure engagement, knowledge retention, and curriculum impact, providing the evidence base that the review emphasises.
Whether you’re looking to provide enrichment for a single year group, create a whole-school enrichment day, or develop an ongoing partnership that embeds immersive learning into your curriculum, we’d love to have a conversation about what might work for your school.
Get in touch: Visit www.edupeoplevr.co.uk to explore our workshop offerings, see examples of student experiences, and discuss how VR enrichment could support your school’s goals. Let’s make the Curriculum Review’s vision of enrichment for every child a reality in your school.
Final Thoughts
The Curriculum and Assessment Review’s treatment of enrichment represents a welcome and overdue recognition of what makes education truly valuable. We’re not just preparing young people to pass exams. We’re equipping them with skills, confidence, curiosity, and resilience to navigate an uncertain future.
Enrichment experiences (whether that’s a residential trip, a drama production, a coding club, a VR workshop exploring ancient Rome, or a community project) help young people discover passions, develop talents, build friendships, and see possibilities beyond their immediate experience. These aren’t luxuries to be cut when budgets tighten. They’re essential ingredients of an education worthy of the name.
The review has opened a door. Now we need to walk through it, together, purposefully, and with determination to ensure that every child, in every school, benefits from the enriching experiences that help them thrive.
At EduPeopleVR, we’re committed to being part of that journey. We believe that immersive technology can democratise enrichment, making extraordinary educational experiences accessible to schools and students who might otherwise miss out. But technology is just the tool. The real magic happens when curious young minds engage with new ideas, explore impossible places, and realise that learning can be joyful.
After all, education isn’t just about what students know. It’s about how their early experiences shape who they become.
Ready to explore how VR enrichment could transform learning in your school? Contact EduPeopleVR today to discuss workshops, whole-school enrichment days, or ongoing partnerships. Let’s work together to ensure every child in the north of England has access to the enriching experiences they deserve.
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What enrichment experiences transformed your own education? How are you ensuring enrichment reaches all the young people in your school or community? We’d love to hear your stories and ideas. The conversation continues.
