Activities & Enrichment
Enhancing the learning experience
We provide lots of opportunities for students to engage in learning activities and enrichment programmes. This helps them to find their passions and identify the skills they enjoy developing the most.
What learning activities do we offer?
To enhance physical development, wellbeing and personal growth, we make purposeful use of local community facilities and specialist providers as part of our inclusive curriculum. Activities are carefully planned to ensure clear progression and skill development, supporting pupils to build confidence, resilience and independence. All off‑site learning is underpinned by robust risk assessment and safeguarding arrangements, ensuring pupils are safe and able to benefit fully from these experiences.
Opportunities to learn beyond the classroom are embedded within our curriculum, enabling pupils to develop skills in a variety of real‑world settings. These may include activities such as swimming, gym access, animal care, horse riding and skiing plus practical vocational learning.
Planned enrichment time provides students with opportunities to take part in activities beyond the core curriculum, including creative experiences such as crafts and more physical pursuits like climbing and trampolining. A range of lunchtime options is also available, including sports, art, mindfulness activities and quiet reading time, ensuring students can engage in activities that support their interests and wellbeing throughout the school day.
We also organise educational visits to a variety of local and national destinations, including Yorkshire Wildlife Park, Clumber Park, Doncaster Dome, Xscape and National Trust houses and gardens. These experiences broaden students’ understanding of the world while supporting social, emotional and personal development.
What enrichment programmes do we offer?
We enrich our students' experiences through gardening, forest school, iDEA, outdoor adventurous activities, play-based approaches to learning, employability, enterprise, volunteering, and work experience, and we're constantly expanding these options.
For those students in residential care with either Esland or other companies, we have developed an additional set of curriculums called 'Learning Through Our Care'. The Learning Through Our Care curriculum harnesses the power of the relationships, routines, and secure attachments within home settings to ensure a positive outcome and successful transition into education.
The Learning Through Our Care subject areas include physical learning, preparation for adulthood, educational visits and community engagement opportunities. Tutors may set learning challenges to do at home based on a student's hobbies, interests, and talents. Or it could be based on a broader curriculum area like history or geography.
Our education and care teams work together in a therapeutically informed way to plan and provide opportunities that enhance a student's educational experience.
Everything we do links closely with the targets in a student's PEPs (Personal Education Plan) and, if applicable, their EHCP (Education, Health and Care Plan) and will embed knowledge and skills from the core curriculum.