Catch Up (the working name of the Caxton Trust) is a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee (03476510) and a registered charity (1072425). Established in 1997, its mission is to address the problem of underachievement that has its roots in literacy and numeracy difficulties.

Catch Up is based in Thetford, Norfolk, and it works across England and Wales. It comprises a core office team (including the Director, Julie Lawes) and a team of local authority or self-employed Catch Up Accredited Trainers. It also works with specialist consultants in education, research, IT, communications, book distribution and multi-media. Catch Up is governed by a board of trustees.

Click here for information about the Catch Up team.

‘Catch Up’ is a registered trademark (2171237).

In the UK, very many children struggle with literacy (approximately 16% of children at age 7, and 6% of children at age 11 have reading difficulties that restrict their access to the National Curriculum (Brooks, 2007)). In addition, very many children struggle with mathematics (‘Some 5% of 11-year olds (30,000 in 2008) leave primary school with mathematical skills that are, at best, at the level of those expected of a seven year old.’ (House of Commons Public Accounts Committee, 2009).

Catch Up provides two interventions to support struggling learners: Catch Up Literacy and Catch Up Numeracy (both in English and Welsh). Both interventions are targeted to the needs of individual learners and enable personalised learning, both are grounded in rigorous academic research.

Each intervention begins with diagnostic/formative assessments which enable the adult to identify an appropriate focus for teaching for the individual learner (for literacy, a book of an appropriate level of difficulty; for numeracy, activities of an appropriate level of difficulty that address a specific component of numeracy).

Each intervention then comprises two 15 minute individual teaching sessions per week, delivered in most cases by teaching assistants/carers, in which the learner reads from the chosen book/takes part in the chosen numeracy activity, and completes some linked writing/recording that addresses identified miscues. Throughout both interventions, the emphasis is on providing effective personalised learning support for the individual learner within a positive, supportive and enabling framework.

Currently, the Catch Up interventions are being used in more than 4000 schools across England and Wales and have been implemented in clusters of schools in 70 local authorities. We are also working with carers of looked-after children and traveller children. We estimate that almost 180,000 learners in England and Wales have benefited from Catch Up support.

Both Catch Up interventions have been identified by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) as evidence-based Wave 3 interventions (interventions that have been shown to provide effective one-to-one support for struggling learners). See Brooks (2007) and Dowker (2009).

The Catch Up Literacy and Catch Up Numeracy interventions are available as part of comprehensive training and resource packages. Please click here for more details: Catch Up training.

Catch Up also provides:

• ongoing support for all who have participated in Catch Up training
  
• online tools (to enable staff who have been trained to deliver Catch Up to identify books and numeracy activities graded to Catch Up Levels, for use in Catch Up Individual teaching sessions)
  
• book and numeracy apparatus collections(for use in Catch Up Individual teaching sessions)
  
• collections of digital games to complement Catch Up Literacy

Catch Up also undertakes research into:

• the development and enhancement of the Catch Up interventions
  
• extending the support it provides to struggling learners
  

Recent research projects include: the development of the Catch Up Numeracy intervention; piloting Catch Up Literacy with looked-after children; and delivering Catch Up Literacy in Tasmania, Australia.