What is an intervention

Schools, colleges and settings have many different ways of supporting children and developing their skills when they are at risk of not making the expected progress; or have difficulty with any of their learning. These are what they have planned to do, based on their assessment of what each child needs, on evidence from research and from measuring impact in their school, of what works.

This could include programmes to improve handwriting, spelling, reading or number work; physical skills and co-ordination; social skills; speech and language. It might include small group work to develop children’s friendship skills and to help them make friends. It could be making sure that the child has a ‘buddy’ on the playground. If a child needs help because of emotional problems, it could be by providing someone to check on how the child is feeling at certain times and to talk to them about their problems and help them find ways to manage their emotions.

The ways that school plan to help a child are called interventions.