Success for All (SfA) is a whole-school approach to improving literacy in primary schools. EEF evaluated a version of the programme which included the teaching of synthetic phonics, ongoing assessment, ability grouping, and collaborative learning. There was a major focus on whole-school professional staff development, parent involvement, and schoolwide structures, with all teaching assistants, teachers, and senior leaders involved.
A version of Success for All is currently available, with some differences, but the version evaluated here was a whole-school primary programme which followed children over two years, starting in Reception class through until the end of Year one.
EEF’s Teaching and Learning Toolkit shows that phonics interventions and collaborative learning approaches can have a high impact on pupil outcomes, with parental engagement approaches demonstrating a moderate impact. Each of these approaches constitutes significant components of SfA.
EEF evaluated this specific version of the programme at efficacy level. This means EEF has trialled SfA in a smaller number of schools in best possible conditions1. This showed that children who took part in SfA made one month’s additional progress, on average, after two years compared to children in other schools. This result has a moderate to high security rating of three padlocks. Children eligible for free school meals (FSM) made two additional months’ progress after two years, compared to equivalent children in comparison schools. Although the smaller number of children eligible for FSM limits how confident we can be, combined with other findings in the report it provides evidence that SfA improves literacy ability for children eligible for FSM.
These positive results have led EEF to designate this as a ‘Promising Programme’.
- This was an efficacy trial, that took place in 54 schools. The schools were located across the country.
- 22% of children in the trial schools were eligible for FSM. This is around national average.
- 85% of the schools involved were Ofsted-rated Good or Outstanding schools. This is slightly lower than national average.
- Around 15% of the pupils in the schools had English as a second language. This is slightly lower than national average.
Schools implementing SfA received 16 days of in-school training and continuous support from SfA-UK. Initial training, conducted by SfA-UK, involved the entire school staff, including teachers and teaching assistants, over two days at the start of the school year. The first day focused on cooperative learning, and on the second day, staff were grouped by the age they teach. The remaining 14 days consisted of ongoing in-school support tailored to the school’s needs, along with structured daily lesson plans and teaching materials. Implementation of the programme was over two years, with an identified impact on pupils found at the end of the second year, but not after one year, suggesting the changes take time.
The SfA strategy focuses on both prevention and early, intensive intervention to ensure children succeed in school and later in life. Prevention efforts begin in Nursery and Reception classes, using cooperative learning strategies, theme-based activities, and storytelling to develop vocabulary and phonemic awareness. Early intervention involves securing parental engagement and tutoring strategies to address potential issues early on. The programme embeds the use of cooperative learning, where children are put in mixed ability pairs or groups, with teams rewarded for collective learning progress. Group membership is reviewed and changed each term, and from Year one onward, groups are based on reading levels regardless of the children’s year.
The comprehensive, highly structured nature of Success for All involves significant change in school practices. For example, it requires grouping (and regularly re-grouping) children by reading level across year groups. Schools who were able to successfully deliver the programme valued it, however, several schools dropped out or were unable to meet the minimum implementation requirements. Given the closer the programme was delivered as intended, the greater the likely impact on children’s outcomes, schools should carefully consider their capacity to implement the necessary changes to deliver the programme.
The majority of teachers reported finding the programme prescriptive and some adapted the content and delivery. Smaller schools may have found it more challenging to sufficiently resource the requirements of the programme.
For the programme as trialled in the evaluation, the average cost of SfA for one school was £62 per pupil per year when averaged over three years.
This is an estimate of holistic school costs to implement the programme at the time of the evaluation and included substantive material purchase for the whole-school – elements which are now available online. Schools will need to check the current purchase cost of the programme through FFT Success for All Phonics – FFT.
FFT Education offer a version of SfA which covers many of the core pedagogies and practices of the version trialled by EEF.
SfA is no longer delivered as a whole school approach, but is available for delivery to children from Reception to Year 2. Schools decide on the extent, duration, and format of training delivery (online, face-to-face, on-demand), and who attends training, with a greater shift towards online training, support, and resources.
The programme focuses on synthetic phonics with a number of supporting packages including structured training provision for school leaders, teachers, and teaching assistants, teacher plans and resources, online reading assessment, supported pair working, decodable reading books, resources for parental engagement, and a suite of supporting resources. Reading tutoring was also an element of the Success for All approach, which is currently offered through ‘Tutoring with the lightening squad’. There is less emphasis on ability grouping in the version currently available than the version EEF trialled.
The programme is available nationally through FFT Success for All Phonics – FFT. It is the most similar version of the evaluated SfA programme available.
EEF’s guidance report Improving Literacy in Key Stage 1 provides key recommendations to help support children with literacy, particularly those who are struggling. EEF’s A Schools Guide to Implementation is also a useful resource to help consider how ready your school is to engage with a whole-school change programme.