The DfE Enrichment Framework, published on 15 June 2026, gives every multi-academy trust a fresh planning question: how do you build a trust-wide enrichment offer that is consistent across academies yet shaped by each school’s pupils? The framework is non-statutory, but from September 2026 Ofsted considers enrichment under Personal Development. New parent-facing school profiles will make your trust’s consistency visible. For the full framework, start with our pillar guide.
How should a MAT plan enrichment across schools?
A trust-wide enrichment offer aligns Benchmark 1, "a strategically aligned enrichment offer", and Benchmark 4, "an enrichment offer shaped by the school or college community", across every academy while letting each school tailor activities to its pupils. The framework wants "the explicit backing of senior leadership and governors", so at trust level your central team sets the strategic spine and each headteacher fills in the detail.
Start with the five Benchmark 2 categories the DfE names: civic engagement; arts and culture; nature, outdoors and adventure; sport and physical activity; and "wider life and future skills". That last category holds STEM clubs, digital literacy, cooking, managing finances and enterprise, and STEM is the only domain the DfE names in this shorthand. A trust map of which category each academy covers well, and where gaps sit, gives your board a single planning view. Our guide to multi-academy trust workshops shows how a shared STEM strand runs across every school on a coordinated calendar.
What are school profiles for enrichment?
School profiles are new parent-facing pages that will show each school’s enrichment offer, piloted this academic year and fully launched in 2026/27. They sit separately from Ofsted as a soft accountability lever, integrated with its point-in-time report cards but adding breadth that grades do not capture.
For a trust, profiles raise the stakes on consistency. A parent comparing two academies will see two offers side by side, and if one runs a rich programme while another shows little, that gap becomes a public fact. A shared baseline across academies, with each free to build above it, keeps your profiles coherent. The DfE frames enrichment as "a common entitlement for all, not just those who can afford to pay", the standard families will read your profiles against.
How do you keep enrichment equitable across a trust?
Equity across a trust means every pupil reaches a shared minimum offer regardless of which academy they attend or what their family can pay. The framework explicitly covers "free, subsidised and paid activities", so a central budget that levels up the schools with the most deprived intakes is a direct way to close gaps. Reaching pupils with SEND and those in alternative provision across the trust is part of the same equity duty under Benchmark 5.
Targeted government funding supports this. A £132.5m "Every Child Can" programme, funded through the Dormant Assets Scheme with The National Lottery Community Fund, delivers activities through schools, weekends and holiday provision. Separately, 400 schools in the most deprived areas are being invited into a £22.5m Enrichment Expansion Programme. Funding is targeted, not universal, so not every academy will receive it, and where it does not reach, a pooled trust budget can carry the same offer into every school. Across eight academic years we have delivered 711 funded STEM workshops to 588 schools that might otherwise have gone without. For how to fund a fair mix, read funding enrichment fairly.
Can a trust commission enrichment centrally?
Yes. A trust can commission enrichment centrally and treat external partners as legitimate Benchmark 6 partners, since the framework asks schools to "work in partnership locally, nationally or virtually to broaden and improve the quality of their offer". One provider across every academy gives consistent quality, a single point of accountability and stronger pricing than ten schools booking alone.
Central commissioning also fits Benchmark 7, "an outcomes-focused enrichment offer", which asks for "effective systems for collecting and monitoring outcome-related data". A trust already runs a shared MIS, so participation and impact data roll up from every academy into one dashboard your board reviews each term. That feeds Benchmark 8, "a continually improving enrichment offer", letting you see which schools thrive and which need support. Our comparison of in-house STEM days against external providers covers when commissioning out beats building in-house at trust scale, where specialist kit and trained staff are hard to replicate ten times.
What does a STEM strand contribute to a trust offer?
A STEM strand covers the "wider life and future skills" category and gives a trust a repeatable activity that travels well between academies. The same workshop runs in a primary in one town and a secondary in another, the consistency school profiles will surface. Concrete activities anchor the offer. Year 5s program a robot to navigate a maze using sequencing and selection in our beginner robotics workshop, and older pupils fly drones to a flight plan or model parts in CAD before printing them. Pricing starts from £597 per day as a floor, and a trust booking several academies together can shape one multi-school programme rather than negotiating ten times.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the DfE Enrichment Framework mandatory for academy trusts?
No. The framework, published on 15 June 2026, is non-statutory for all schools including academies. From September 2026 Ofsted will look at enrichment under Personal Development, having regard to the framework where applicable, but meeting it is not a standard a school must hit to be graded "expected".
How much enrichment funding will my trust receive?
It depends, because funding is targeted rather than universal. The £132.5m Every Child Can programme and the £22.5m Enrichment Expansion Programme, which invites 400 schools in the most deprived areas, reach specific schools, so many academies will receive nothing directly and fund enrichment from existing budgets.
When do school profiles launch?
School profiles are being piloted with small user groups during the 2025/26 academic year and fully launch in 2026/27. They will show each school’s enrichment offer to parents alongside Ofsted report cards, making differences between academies in one trust visible.
Can paid workshop providers count towards the benchmarks?
Yes. The framework explicitly includes "free, subsidised and paid activities" and asks schools to work in partnership under Benchmark 6. A commissioned external STEM provider is a legitimate partner, and central commissioning across a trust gives consistent quality and clearer data.
Planning a trust-wide enrichment offer is now a board-level task with a public face through school profiles. A shared STEM strand gives a consistent, evidence-friendly activity that travels between academies, and you can shape a multi-school programme through our instant quote tool or talk through a plan on the contact page. For how this fits the framework, our pillar guide to school enrichment sets out the foundations to build on.
