The government will pilot a scaled-back version of an enrichment activities scheme that flourished under the now-defunct opportunity areas programme.
An evaluation of the £21 million essential life skills programme, which ran between 2018 and 2019, found young people “commonly reported beneficial outcomes relating to confidence, resilience, building relationships, and social and emotional intelligence”.
The programme “also enabled new partnerships to be formed and there was evidence of community level outcomes: bringing young people of different ages and backgrounds, who would not usually do so, together”.
But the scheme was not renewed beyond 2019. Now the DfE and Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport is seeking a provider for a much smaller, £2.7 million “enrichment partnerships pilot”.
