The Enrichment Diary is designed for flexible use. We wanted to create a method of managing, recording and monitoring enrichment activities that could be adapted to suit the way in which you work in your centre. How you and your students use the Enrichment Diary is largely determined by you.
1. How often should students make entries in the Enrichment Diary?
You can guide your students to make entries in the Enrichment Diary as often as you choose. Some centres ask their students to make an entry to their Enrichment Diary every time they do an activity, some centres ask their students to make entries against their activities once a week and some centres ask their students to make entries once a month. There are different advantages to how often students
record their activities. For example, activities that take place more than once a week might best be recorded on a weekly basis whereas once-a-week activities and one-off activities might best be recorded when they occur.
2. How much evidence do students need to record?
Each entry in the Enrichment Diary can simply be used to record hours and should, minimally, state the nature of the activity. The quantity of evidence recorded in the Enrichment Diary should be determined by you and your students, although we hope that students will be motivated to describe their activities and what they have gained from them. As guidance, you might ask your students to make at least one substantial entry per activity per term in addition to using the Enrichment Diary to record hours and their reflections and comments about their activities on a more regular basis. A substantial entry would describe the activity; where it takes place
and how often, what involvement in the activity entails and what skills or qualities this helps the student to develop. Students might make this kind of entry when they first start to record their involvement in a particular activity.
Students might also be encouraged to use entries to their Enrichment Diary to, once a term, describe a particular event or experience such as a hockey tournament or practice session for a hockey activity, a performance or rehearsal for a choir activity or a visit or typical day for a community activity or work related activity etc. Students might also want to describe particular experiences or episodes in an activity in detail as they feel that that particular experience or episode highlights their achievements in the activity.
The responsibility for ensuring that your students have completed the hours they record in their Enrichment Diaries rests principally with the Enrichment Supervisor. You might already have a system whereby participation in in-school activities is verified by the signature of the leader of that activity against hours spent. Participation in out-of-school activities might be verified with a signed statement by a supervisor/employer.
Your students can upload these documents to the Enrichment Diary by scanning them or taking a photograph of them with a camera or mobile phone.
