This information is brought to you by Slough Borough Council's Early Years team, on behalf of OxEd, for the attention of all Early Years settings.
OxEd Whole Class aims to improve Reception pupils’ oral language through three weekly whole-class enrichment sessions delivered by the classroom teacher over 20 weeks. It can be delivered on its own or alongside NELI, which provides small-group and individual sessions for children with the weakest language skills. NELI has gone through multiple rigorous evaluations with positive results; the most recent evaluation found that children who received NELI made four months’ additional progress in language skills.
This evaluation funded by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) represents a landmark trial in early language development. Delivered by the OxEd team and independently evaluated by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER), the evaluation will be run as a randomised controlled trial (RCT) during the 2026-2027 academic year, involving Reception classes from 308 eligible schools in England.
By rigorously assessing the impact of OxEd Whole Class and NELI, this trial has the potential to shape future educational policy and practice, ensuring that evidence-based approaches to language development reach the children who need them most.