Wembrook Primary School is the largest primary school in Warwickshire. Based in Nuneaton, in the West Midlands, Wembrook has over 680 pupils on roll with 37% eligible for free school meals.

The school motto is “Believe and achieve”, which represents a commitment to building self-esteem and working hard to succeed. In its June 2025 Ofsted inspection, Wembrook received praise for being a “welcoming and ambitious school” where “pupils benefit from exceptional personal development opportunities”.

Offering timely interventions

To support pupil outcomes, Wembrook employs a range of focussed interventions. Chapter One's Early Literacy Intervention (ELI) Programme has been providing daily, phonics ‘keep up’ sessions for children in Reception and Year 1 since April 2021.

During the four years that Wembrook has used the ELI Programme, it has seen consistently strong results. Teachers especially value the one-to-one format of the sessions and the fact that they happen daily, without fail. As deputy headteacher, Lisa Bayliss commented, “The dedicated ELI is highly effective in protecting her intervention time with individual children… she ensures that the sessions remain consistent and uninterrupted”.

Maximising impact

Wembrook has 30 places on the ELI Programme, which it uses to support children in Reception and Year 1. Children are selected for the programme using a combination
of assessment data and input from class teachers.

Each child attends daily, short-burst phonics sessions, which take place in school. The sessions are run by a dedicated ELI practitioner, Katie, who is employed by Chapter One and is responsible for leading the sessions, and tracking each child’s progress using Chapter One's specialised platform.

Katie keeps teachers updated on pupil progress and makes recommendations about when each pupil might be ready to leave the intervention.

This flexibility allows the programme to benefit around 60 learners per year, as children move on and off the programme according to their needs.

Ensuring fidelity

The Chapter One platform enables Katie to adapt and tailor her approach for each child and allows her to closely align her sessions with the school’s core SSP (Little Wandle Letters and Sounds).

As Lisa explains: “ELI fits seamlessly alongside our phonics scheme, Little Wandle. The planning and content of the ELI sessions are closely aligned with whole-class phonics teaching, which means children receive reinforcement of the exact sounds and skills they’re learning in class.”

Katie uses the Chapter One platform to keep an ongoing record of which sounds children have mastered, and which sounds they are continuing to work on, so that class teachers always have access to an up-to-date record of each child’s progress.

Improving outcomes

Wembrook’s phonics results continue to demonstrate the ongoing benefits of
the programme.

As Lisa explains: “We’ve seen a clear and positive impact from ELI. Children who participate make rapid gains in their phonics knowledge, fluency, and reading confidence.”

In addition, Lisa said that the increased one-to-one support has positively influenced children’s attitudes to learning. She said: “their improved resilience and determination in reading is noticeable.”

When speaking to staff, teachers in Reception and Year 1 also explained that the insights Katie provides help them to better support children in their whole class lessons, so it is a true “win-win” for everyone involved.

A safe space to practise

Since many children do not experience regular one-to-one reading time at home, the ELI Programme is especially valuable – offering a safe space for children to practise and build their skills, which can sometimes feel challenging in a whole-class environment. Katie described this as one of the most powerful features of the programme. She said: “working one-to-one means I develop a meaningful relationship with the children, helping to create a positive environment where children aren't afraid to make mistakes.”

She believes this offers them more scope to experience success in reading.

Find out more

To learn more about how your pupils could benefit from Chapter One’s Early Literacy Interventionists, contact Kathryn Taylor at kathryn.taylor@chapterone.org