Every Child A Chance

What We Do - and Why We Do IT

Too many children from disadvantaged backgrounds are not making it in our society. And with the number of low skilled jobs predicted to shrink from over three million to just 600,000 by 2020, the economy cannot afford to leave any child without qualifications.

That’s why our business-led charity supports Every Child a Reader and Every Child Counts – providing skilled one-to-one tuition for the lowest achieving six and seven year olds, to bring them up to the level of their peers. Businesses like Barclays, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, KPMG and Man Group are major donors, as are the Mercers’ Company and charitable foundations set up by philanthropists - Esmée Fairbairn, Eureka, SHINE, Sofronie, the Charles Dunstone Trust, the JJ Charitable Trust and the Private Equity Foundation. These donors know that it is in the interests of business and the economy that everyone is numerate and financially literate.

Every Child a Reader

14,200 children taught since 2005
Average Reading Age gain 21 months after 41 hours of 1-1 teaching
Nearly five times the ‘normal’ rate of progress
At follow up, children outperformed the national average for all children in their test results at age seven

Every Child Counts

2,600 children taught this year
Average Number Age gain 13.5 months after 20 hours of 1-1 teaching
Over four times ‘normal’ rate of progress

Alfie’s story

‘I don’t need help. I’m clever now.’ Alfie

Alfie is the fourth in a family of five. He is as bright as a button, but at six could read only a few words. He just wasn’t switched on to learning. He had speech problems and struggled with phonics. But one-to-one help from Every Child a Reader has turned things around. Alfie is now a keen and fluent reader.

Zina's Story

'She has now completely caught up with her classmates.' Class teacher

Zina is determined little girl who is always cheerful, despite a curvature of the spine that sometimes makes life uncomfortable. After two and a half full years in school she had made very little progress in maths. Tests showed that the biggest problem for her was understanding and using mathematics language. But as a result of Every Child Counts, her Number Age has gone up over two years in six months.

Alex's Story

‘He’s a different boy now – the first to put up his hand in class.’ Class teacher

At the age of seven, Alex could count only as far as two. His early life was not easy and his parents split up in troubled circumstances. He has problems with his eyesight. Though keen on school, he hated maths. But after thirty hours on the Every Child Counts programme his number age had risen by two years - he had caught up completely with his classmates.

Bryan's Story

Click to see Bryan's writing

Bryan is one of twins. He and his brother Ryan have both taken part in Every Child a Reader, and this is what Bryan wrote after he had successfully completed his Reading Recovery lessons. The twins live with their mother in one room. She has now chosen to attend sessions in school with the Reading Recovery teacher so that she can improve her understanding of the reading process and help her children better.