About the National Schools Innovation Blueprint
Preparing students for life beyond the classroom.
The National Schools Innovation Blueprint helps secondary schools deliver ready-to-use enrichment activities that develop leadership, careers education and future skills — without creating unnecessary staff workload.
Our Mission
Our 2030 Mission
By 2030, we aim to support more than 150 secondary schools and engage over 20,000 students through high-quality enrichment activities.
Why the Blueprint exists
The National Schools Innovation Blueprint was created to help schools provide high-quality enrichment without increasing staff workload.
Our long-term ambition is to build a growing national collection of school case studies, practical resources and evidence showing what helps students develop the knowledge, skills and confidence needed beyond the classroom.
A shared national resource
Every school that takes part contributes to improving future resources, strengthening the evidence base and helping other schools deliver meaningful enrichment.
Everything is designed to be straightforward to deliver and easy for schools to adapt to their own context.
Why We Exist
Why was the National Schools Innovation Blueprint created?
Schools want to provide opportunities that help students grow beyond the classroom, but creating enrichment programmes from scratch takes significant planning, preparation and staff time.
Teachers already manage teaching, assessment, meetings, safeguarding and pastoral responsibilities. Developing new enrichment activities from nothing is often unrealistic alongside existing commitments.
The National Schools Innovation Blueprint provides schools with ready-to-use resources that reduce preparation while maintaining meaningful learning. Students work in professional roles, complete practical challenges and create real outcomes rather than simply completing classroom exercises.
Schools receive structured resources, worksheets, delivery guidance, evaluation tools and recognition materials so staff can focus on supporting students instead of creating resources.
Our Principles
Everything is built around six simple principles
Select a principle to read more.
Students are encouraged to organise activities, lead teams, present ideas and support one another. Staff guide the process while students take increasing responsibility throughout the programme.
Schools receive ready-to-use resources including session plans, worksheets, presentation slides and evaluation materials, so preparation is kept to a minimum.
Students create work that reflects real professional practice, including presentations, campaigns, reports, prototypes and portfolios rather than isolated classroom tasks.
The National Schools Innovation Blueprint draws on educational research, school pilots and continuous evaluation to improve every programme over time.
Resources are written in straightforward language for secondary schools and remain usable even when technology is unavailable.
Every school pilot provides feedback, evaluation and case studies that help improve future versions of the National Schools Innovation Blueprint.
How It Works
How schools use the National Schools Innovation Blueprint
Getting started is designed to be straightforward.
Choose a programme
Browse the available programmes and select the one that best matches the needs of your students.
Deliver ready-to-use sessions
Students complete practical challenges using ready-made resources, while staff supervise and support learning.
Review the impact
Use the evaluation resources and case study guidance to understand participation, engagement and student development.
Comparison
How is the National Schools Innovation Blueprint different?
| Traditional enrichment | National Schools Innovation Blueprint |
|---|---|
| Staff create resources from scratch. | Schools receive ready-to-use resources. |
| Activities often depend on individual staff members. | A consistent framework supports delivery across schools. |
| Limited opportunities for student leadership. | Student leadership is built into every programme. |
| Evaluation is often informal. | Simple evaluation resources support consistent review. |
| Resources vary between schools. | Schools use a shared national framework with continual improvements. |
Looking Ahead
Building a stronger evidence base for school enrichment
Growing with schools
Every school that delivers a National Schools Innovation Blueprint programme helps improve future versions through practical feedback and honest evaluation.
Successful approaches are shared through case studies so other schools can learn from real classroom experience rather than theory.
A national collection of evidence
Our long-term aim is to create one of the UK's largest collections of enrichment case studies, practical examples and implementation guidance.
Schools remain in control of their own delivery while contributing to a shared understanding of what works in secondary school enrichment.
Next Step
Ready to explore the National Schools Innovation Blueprint?
Browse every programme and choose the one that best fits your school.