At Seaham High School we believe that learning outside the classroom is a vital ingredient to providing a successful educational experience that engages students.  Our mission is “Engaging Minds, Broadening Horizons”.  Curriculum Enrichment is a core focus as it engages students in their learning and taking students out of their locality, helps raise aspirations and broaden horizons.

Enrichment Week has 240+ experiences on offer, develops independent thinking and encourages students to take responsibility for their learning by choosing their activities.  Beyond the norm out of school activities include Golf, Beach Ecology, Cycling, Hill-Walking, Snowboarding, Climbing and White Water rafting. Educational and Cultural Visits from Technology and History to London looking at the Imperial War Museum to further GCSE studies and the Technology Museum to support GCSE coursework.   Students can spend a week on a Tall Ship supported by the Ocean Youth Trust, learning to work as a team, problem-solving and developing thinking skills.  Students then pass on some of the skills they have learned in assemblies and team building sessions.  Enrichment Week is intended to promote SMSC, British Values, team work, citizenship and foster good community relations.

As an inclusive school we ensure no child is left out and support any child who wants to participate in any activity and partly use our Pupil Premium funding to engage FSM students in this way.  99% of students responded to our evaluation this year to say Enrichment Week was a valuable experience.

We use Evolve software, which allows us to track student participation- data indicates that there were 198 educational off-site visits last year a 52% increase on the previous year.  On average that figure equates to five visits a week in a 39-week year.  Over 4543 student visits are recorded on “Evolve” our visits software an increase of 44% on the previous academic year.  Next steps are to develop further, monitoring all curriculum enrichment and ensure that every student participates in ten enrichment experiences per year.

As an inclusive school we support students to participate- good attendance is promoted through reward visits.  The Year 11 Leavers Prom is a motivational tool to raise achievement.  Students collect points to be able to attend, these are gained for good attendance and positive behaviour. Over 150 students were paid for by the school in July as a result of this reward scheme.

The school has been commended at the national Education Business Awards Ceremony in London for its work on educational visits.