A Birthday Loop-de-Loop: Lessons from Queuing , Enrichment Weeks, and Growing Up Under Supervision
- Fliss Falconer
- Dec 26, 2025
- 8 min read
As close to a YES DAY as I hope to have!
27 July 2025
Fliss Falconer
'Adventure is out there!'
On Saturday, we were packed and we headed out of the close at 6am on the dot, sailing off to a major UK theme park, ready with sunscreen and snacks for a birthday treat. It had been booked for a month or two and so much of me was glad that it was just we two, as opposed to the 50+ students and odd (number of) staff that accompanied me last time I went there. Gone was the clipboard, the first aid kits, the lists of names and numbers. The Risk Assessment.
One backpack, two bottles of water, a phone, its charger and two broad smiles.
I tried in vain not to start every sentence with 'When I was here last...' but it cropped up quite a bit.
I saw more of the place yesterday than I did last time. Then, I set up camp in the coffee shop and students came and went as necessary. I think I opted for more 'duties' than was strictly necessary (meaning I stayed in the coffee shop in case any students needed a teacher for first aid or friendship counselling) more out of having time to relax following the rigmarole of actually getting there.
Ah, the joys of Enrichment Week.
I've done all sorts over the years - I've abseiled down a wooden building in the middle of a wood; I've been flung into the distance on an overgrown swing; I've taught students how to pack a suitcase and plan a trip from start to finish; I've quietly sung under my breath the lyrics for School of Rock's and Blood Brothers's best ballads; I've even told off a French family for being too loud thinking their room belonged to our students... that one made my colleagues laugh!
Trips and enrichment activities have been equally exasperating and exhilarating. Lots of the places I've visited have been at the expense of my schools, but I hope I chipped in enough with preparation and delivery that my students let feeling fully enriched. It's also given me plenty of experiences I wanted to share with my own children. Hence my joy in booking the tickets when the big one said he'd like to go for his birthday.
Overall, the day was great, but writing this after the trip rather than before, as planned, serves my purpose more. I have given my feedback to the place in question as soon as the expected 'So how did we do?' email pinged into my inbox this morning. I will spare you the details, but I had hoped for more bang for my buck.
Nevertheless, as I said, it serves my purpose.
Yesterday, the whole day was the choice of the big one. He was in charge, and I promised to go at his pace. 5 1/2 stone lighter than last year, it was still challenging to keep up with an energetic nine-year-old who couldn't keep to his own plan and who zigzagged across the whole park. It was great fun. He kept asking if I wanted to choose which ride we went on next, but I deferred to his judgement. So much of his youth has been dictated by Covid-restrictions and the needs of the little one (and more recently, a needier border collie) that he more than deserved a day to do as he pleased.
We did start on a ride inspired a 1973 film that led to a lot of questions. A lot of questions. I also had great fun letting two Year 10-ish girls behind us, who voiced their concerns about the ride itself, that they'd better avoid the film unless they really wanted nightmares. Ah, I miss teaching teens!
The story-start and the ride itself made the big one opt for more gentler rides for a bit, but his trepidation was short-lived, and we experienced many thrills during the day. We did stop for lunch just to get a burst of energy, and I did say that 9pm was late enough for a birthday bedtime. But for the rest of the day, he was in charge.
Enticing Enrichment
So many parents opt to remove their children from their school's Enrichment Week.
They see it as a week where their kids 'aren't actually learning' and choose to spend the nominal fee they are asked to pay towards a family trip so they can make memories together. The holidays during term time are cheaper and many of them factor in the cost of a fine from their local authority as part of the cost of the time away. This view comes from conversations as a teacher, a parent, and in my current role.
I have read many absence request forms that say that family holidays and family memories are important to experience. Children are enriched by experiencing the place their parents and/or carers choose rather than the choice made by the school.
I imagine - and I can only imagine - that the children then experience holidays and experiences that are similar to those I have described from yesterday. All being well, the children are catered for and their whims are made reality. They come back with experience of alternative sights, scenery and sensations. Cuisine and culture aplenty. And if the parents are going to be forking out for a bill, they want to be a part of it, too. 18 summers go past quickly... and other similar epithets.
I am biased... in some ways. My mother was a teacher, so she and I had holidays together all my childhood. We got to have those lovely weeks off. We also had weeks each summer in her classroom - her preparing for the year ahead and me, well, I drew on her chalk board, I pulled staples out of the walls. I once painted a school wall yellow, I've been told.
I swore when I had children that they would never spend holiday time in school. May I be forgiven.
What are the benefits of being a part of the school’s plans?
According to a 2025 report titled Beyond the Classroom: The Role of Enrichment in Tackling the School Absence Crisis, published by the Centre for Young Lives in collaboration with The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award and NCS Trust, it says that children who participate in enrichment activities can have boosts in self-confidence, increased emotion-management, are 'more able to take responsibility' and gain more employability skills, among a host of other benefits.
This report presents compelling evidence that school enrichment activities directly boost attendance, engagement, and wellbeing, especially among disadvantaged students. It highlights how enrichment builds confidence and friendships and encourages school attendance through positive incentives
It also shows how the benefits are not just for the children: for teachers, there is an '[i]mproved understanding of young people and better able to develop positive relationships' and for parents, an ‘[i]mproved confidence in institutions'.
They don't even realise they're learning
I am not unsympathetic to parents wanting to spend time with their children. Why on earth would I want to deprive any parent from time with their children?
What I am considering is that Enrichment Weeks offer crucial holistic learning opportunities.
Yesterday, the big one had the luxury of having every whim catered to. (Thinking about it, he probably wanted even more, but it was a close to a 'Yes Day' as he'll get.) It was a special occasion after all. How often would I be able to recreate that for him, though?
For one thing, we try to make it fair for both boys so we most likely be back in 2030 for the little one's ninth. We probably won't be able to escape a ticket for the big one as he will be tall enough for all the rides by then, so I won't be able to recreate it fully for Small Fry. Then we will have to take it in turns or divide and conquer, and that's a whole different ball game. Waiting in line is one thing but waiting for your turn, waiting for your choice, waiting for your chance? Following someone else's schedule, working out what works best for everyone and having to prepare for even more contingencies. Suddenly, memories of school trips are coming screaming back to me...
When can these experiences best be experienced? Enrichment Week.
Hardly a 'Hard-Knock Life'
Students who go on school trips are already learning because they are taking part and therefore accessing so much more information than they do when in a classroom learning from a page or a screen. But to get there... there are forms to take home, get signed, return on time. There are checks to do. There are passports to find (I nearly left mine at home for one trip and I was in charge of the passports!).
There are lunch and snacks to remember and eke out through the day. There are toilet breaks to take before you board and the experience of holding on for the designated stop. There are bus mates to choose. There is pocket money to keep a hold of and to spend wisely. Instructions. Timing. Responsibility.
Children and teachers bond and transform when out of their natural habitat and let loose in the wild. I've known a handful of teens by sight and come home with them as 'my crew' ('O Captain! My Captain!').
If everything was bent and ground down for the whim of all of us - not just children - but all of us, how are we to cope when things don't go as planned, when mistakes happen, when things get lost? When are the lessons learned?
And how fair is it to deprive our children of the chance to strike out on their own and have some responsibility for themselves? Their teachers are experienced, DBS-checked and there is a clear and well-documented risk assessment in every teacher's trip pack, I assure you. There’s magic in letting them lead the day. But there’s also magic - earned, not given - in the team rituals of a well-planned school trip. The accountability, the independence, the joy of negotiating friendships beyond familiar circles. There’s also great learning to be had when it goes wrong. £5 lost this time. How will you make sure it doesn’t happen next time?
Opting out of these experiences for a cheaper week in Spain may rob your child of their chance to experience their own choice of friendships and fun. And as much as it can be a difficult moment for a child to enter a classroom when the day has already started, missing out on a mutual experience - the in-jokes, the shared experiences, the sudden flashbacks - there may be the same sense of alienation and feeling of being on the outside when they come back from their holiday after missing a school trip. They may be able to talk about the room they stayed in that had an incredible view but without the others sharing that vision, it might as well be unbelievable.
Thirteen weeks per year are set aside for children's time outside of school. There are so many arguments to be made about how they are planned, spent or should be redistributed. Those arguments are for the comments section and for another day. For now, I am glad that yesterday was an experience for us both, but I will always opt in my kids for their enrichment. Adventure is out there - let us let them experience it.
Comments