What is OxEd Whole Class and NELI?

OxEd Whole Class is a 20-week programme which aims to improve the language skills of all reception pupils through three weekly whole-class language enrichment sessions delivered by the classroom teacher.

This programme has been developed following the same principles as the Nuffield Early Language Intervention (NELI). NELI provides targeted support for up to six pupils with the weakest language skills in each class through two 15-minute individual sessions and three 30-minute small-group sessions each week. As with NELI, OxEd Whole Class focuses on three key areas: vocabulary development, narrative skills, and active listening. Content is structured into topics and includes a bank of activities with the flexibility for teachers to select tailored activities for their class.

Who is leading this project?

The project is delivered by OxEd, a University of Oxford spin-out company set up by researchers to share their research-based programmes with schools. OxEd will support delivery in all participating schools.

What will this project look like in your school?

Schools will be randomly assigned to one of three groups:

• Control groupAs part of a Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT), settings will be randomised into either the intervention or control group. Settings in the control group continue with their usual practices and help provide a comparison to measure the intervention’s impact. They are usually offered a monetary compensation as thanks for their contribution. – continue with teaching as usual.
• OxEd Whole Class only – deliver the whole-class programme.
• OxEd Whole Class plus NELI – deliver both the whole-class programme and targeted NELI programme.

All staff delivering the programmes will complete an online, flexible training course before starting delivery.

For schools allocated to deliver OxEd Whole Class, teachers will deliver three 20-minute whole-class language enrichment sessions each week for 20 weeks in Spring and Summer terms of 2026 – 27.

For schools allocated to deliver both OxEd Whole Class and NELI, teaching support staff (usually a TA) will deliver three 25-minute small-group and two 15-minute individual sessions each week to six pupils per class.

There is no cost to participate in this project.

As this is a research evaluation, schools in the intervention and control groups will be asked to complete some evaluation requirements during the project. This includes short pupil assessments (using LanguageScreen) in Autumn 2026/27, as well surveys and/​or interviews with the evaluators. Exact evaluation requirements will be set out in the information materials if you express an interest in this project. Schools will receive the following payments for completing evaluation activities: 

• Whole Class only group: £400 per participating class.
• Whole Class plus NELI group: £500 per participating class.
• Control groupAs part of a Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT), settings will be randomised into either the intervention or control group. Settings in the control group continue with their usual practices and help provide a comparison to measure the intervention’s impact. They are usually offered a monetary compensation as thanks for their contribution.: £500, plus £300 per participating class.

Who can take part?

• Be a state-funded mainstream primary or infant school in England.
• Have at least one reception class (pupils aged 4 – 5 years).
• Have a minimum of 20 reception pupils during the academic year 2025 – 26 (schools with slightly fewer pupils may be considered for a reserve list).
• Be able to confirm availability of a teacher to deliver the OxEd Whole Class programme and at least one additional teaching support staff member available to support participating class/​es (in case the school is randomly allocated to deliver OxEd Whole Class plus NELI).
• Not currently delivering NELI or OxEd Whole Class to reception pupils in 2025 – 26.
• Not taking part in any other EEF-funded reception projects in 2026 – 27.
• Not participating in Hillingdon Evidence into Action partnership.

How can you register your interest?

Complete the short form at the bottom of this page.

Early language development is a strong predictor of later reading attainment and wider academic success. Evidence shows that communication and language approaches in the early years can improve children’s spoken language and early reading skills, supporting later attainment.

NELI is EEF’s most evidenced early years programme, with evidence of impact at national level in a number of EEF evaluations. The latest scale-up evaluation found children receiving NELI made an additional four months’ progress compared to children not receiving the programme. The impact was even greater for disadvantaged children, who made seven months’ additional progress.

OxEd Whole Class builds on the effective principles of the NELI programme and applies them in a whole-class context to support language development for all pupils. It is designed to provide structured language teaching to ensure strong language foundations for every child, including those who may not access the targeted intervention. When delivered alongside NELI, OxEd Whole Class is expected to boost and reinforce the skills of those receiving the intervention. 

This trial will evaluate the impact of OxEd Whole Class both as a standalone programme and when delivered alongside NELI. This will provide a better understanding of the impact of the OxEd Whole Class for all children in a reception class, and the impact of combining whole-class provision with targeted intervention for pupils who need the most support.

This programme will be evaluated by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) through a three-armed randomised controlled trialAn RCT is used evaluate an educational programme by assigning settings to one of two groups: the intervention group, who receive the programme or the control group, who continue with business as usual. This ensures that any differences in outcomes can be confidently attributed to the programme, providing a robust estimate of the impact and contributing to the evidence for what works in improving educational outcomes., randomised at school level. Schools that sign up will be randomly assigned to one of three groups: OxEd Whole Class only, OxEd Whole Class plus NELI and Control groupAs part of a Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT), settings will be randomised into either the intervention or control group. Settings in the control group continue with their usual practices and help provide a comparison to measure the intervention’s impact. They are usually offered a monetary compensation as thanks for their contribution. (business as usual).

An impact evaluation will assess the impact of both programmes on pupils’ early language development. Alongside this, an implementation and process evaluationAn IPE is used to understand how and why an intervention has (or has not) been successful. Data is analysed to explore programme quality, reach, adaptation and differentiation, as well as setting fidelity and responsiveness to the trial design. will be conducted to explore how schools implement the programmes and perceptions of the OxEd Whole Class and NELI programmes.