Education Endowment Foundation:The ONE Programme – trial

The ONE Programme – trial

University of Oxford and University of Sheffield
Implementation costThe cost estimates in the Toolkits are based on the average cost of delivering the intervention.
Evidence strengthThis rating provides an overall estimate of the robustness of the evidence, to help support professional decision-making in schools.
Impact (months)The impact measure shows the number of additional months of progress made, on average, by children and young people who received the intervention, compared to similar children and young people who did not.
0
months
Project info

Independent Evaluator

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RAND

A research trial to test the impact of The Orchestrating Numeracy and the Executive (The ONE) Programme, a 12-week intervention consisting of practitioner development and guided play preschool activities to improve children’s numeracy and executive functions. Executive functions are thinking and self-regulation skills that support the control of attention and behaviour. 

Pupils: 2250 Schools: 150 Grant: £995,127
Key Stage: EY Type of Trial: Efficacy level evidence
Completed June 2026

The Orchestrating Numeracy and the Executive (The ONE) Programme is a 12-week intervention consisting of professional development for practitioners to run 25 fun, short, play-based activities designed to support children’s early thinking and numeracy skills. While all children in early years settings could participate in the activities, 3 – 4‑year-olds were the focus of this evaluation and were expected to be included in activities.

Educators undergo four weekly 30-minute face-to-face professional development sessions for the first four weeks of the programme, where they learn about early numeracy, executive functions, and their integration in everyday provision. There are further implementation support and reflection sessions in the eighth and twelfth week of the programme.

The ONE Programme

Each week of the programme, educators are expected to work through three activities which last between five to ten minutes as part of their continuous provision. Staff have flexibility to choose when and how they implement the activities, from small or big groups to one-to-one delivery. The concise training and integration of the programme into continuous provision programme was designed to be feasible to implement in settings who experience time and resource pressures.

Outcome/​Group
ImpactThe size of the difference between pupils in this trial and other pupils
SecurityHow confident are we in this result?
Early Years Toolbox Numeracy (EYTN) (overall sample)
0
Months' progress
(Effect size 0.01)
Early Years Toolbox Numeracy (EYTN) (EYPP subgroup)
+2
Months' progress
(Effect size 0.14)
N/A

EEF summary

Project type: Efficacy level evidenceKey Stage: Early YearsSubject: Maths

The ONE Programme was co-funded by the Department for Education (DfE). As part of the Department for Education’s Early Years Recovery Programme, the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) is working with Stronger Practice Hubs across England to fund Early Years settings’ access to evidence-informed programmes and study the programme’s influence on practice and children’s outcomes. This initiative aims to support education recovery following the pandemic, whilst also developing our understanding of effective professional development in the early years.

The ONE programme was trialled as evidence suggested that there is an interaction between early maths learning and executive functions. In addition, the ONE programme was previously piloted and evaluated in a small-scale study, which found that the programme was effective, had promise and would benefit from a larger, more rigorous evaluation of the programme.

The evaluation found that children in the ONE settings made no additional progress in maths on average, compared to children in control settings. This result has a high security rating. There were similar results for executive functioning results for children in the ONE programme settings, although these findings are less secure due to data collection issues.

Disadvantaged children who receive Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP) made two additional months’ progress in maths, on average, compared to disadvantaged children in control settings. While these findings were positive, they were also less secure due to the total number of EYPP children involved in the trial.

The training and support offered as part of the ONE programme was well received and led to changes in practitioner’s understanding of the importance of executive functioning to mathematical attainment.

Were the schools in the trial similar to my school?

Project type: Efficacy level evidenceKey Stage: Early YearsSubject: Maths
  • There were 150 early years settings involved in the trial
  • Maintained nurseries and Private, Voluntary and Independent early year years settings fromLondon, East of England, East Midlands, and Yorkshire and Humber took part in the trial: York, North Lincolnshire, North East Lincolnshire, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire (including Lincoln), Bedford, Central Bedfordshire, Derbyshire, Hertfordshire, Luton, Richmond, Hounslow, Wandsworth, Lambeth, Merton, Southwark, Hillingdon, Harrow, Ealing, Barnet, Brent, Camden, Hammersmith and Fulham, Kensington and Chelsea, Westminster, Havering, Tower Hamlets, Islington, Kingston upon Thames, Sutton, Croydon, Lewisham, Greenwich, Bexley, and Bromley.
  • 45% of settings which participated where school based or maintained settings, and 55% were Private, Voluntary or Independent (PVI) settings. 16% of children were eligible for Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP).

Could I implement this in my school?

Delivered by: Early YearsParticipant group: Whole SettingIntervention length: 12 week(s)
  • Alongside face-to-face training, a pack of 25 activity cards were provided by the delivery team.
  • These were designed to be used alongside of commonly available resources to implement the activities, such as sports equipment, whiteboards, and coloured blocks.
  • The programme and activity cards are currently not commercially available.

How much will it cost?

Cost per pupil: £69.00No. of teachers/TAs: 5Staff training duration: 0.5 days

From the perspective of a participating setting, the cost per pupil per year over 3 years is estimated at £69. This relates primarily to the cost of organising and delivery the training to practitioners.

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