The OTTO Club Evaluation

The OTTO Club is a 10-week occupational therapy intervention designed to enhance children’s handwriting, fine motor skills and postural control.

About the study

The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) have asked the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen), to carry out an independent evaluation of The OTTO Club. The OTTO Club aims to improve Year 1 pupils’ handwriting and strengthen the underlying skills contributing to their handwriting development. Year 1 teachers and/or teaching assistants will receive training from The OTTO Club and will then deliver the 10-week intervention to their whole class. Teachers then have the option to deliver a follow-up targeted intervention, where they deliver the same programme again but to a smaller group of pupils who still require further support.

The findings from our evaluation will enable EEF and the developers of The OTTO Club to assess how effective the programme is in improving Year 1 pupils’ handwriting. It will also help inform future programmes and policy which are designed to improve pupil handwriting.

What does taking part involve?

In this study, we will test the impact of The OTTO Club on handwriting accuracy in Year 1 using a randomised controlled trial. To do this, 50% of schools will be assigned to The OTTO Club group and 50% to a Teaching As Usual (TAU) group. Schools in the TAU group will deliver their usual handwriting lessons. The evaluation will focus on Year 1 pupils during the 2025-2026 school year, although recruitment will take place in the current school year (2024-2025). Randomised controlled trials are considered the most robust type of evaluation to work out if a programme is having an impact.

The teachers in the intervention group will attend a 1.5-2 hour online training delivered by an occupational therapist. The training will explore The OTTO Club approach and introduce teachers to The OTTO Club manual and materials needed to deliver the programme.

During the period October 2025 to January 2026, teachers in the intervention group will teach weekly OTTO Club lessons to their Year 1 class. Lessons will be up to 1 hour in length and will last for 10 weeks. Teachers will also deliver daily 10-15-minute follow-up activities. In addition, they will attend monthly online support sessions.

From the end of February 2026 to May 2026, teachers who choose to deliver the targeted intervention will repeat the programme again, but to a smaller group of pupils who require additional support with their literacy.

All schools in the evaluation will be asked to:

  • Circulate parent/carer information letters provided by NatCen
  • Share information about participating pupils with NatCen
  • Facilitate baseline and endline assessment visits, where each pupil is assessed on elements of handwriting for a maximum of 20 minutes
  • Facilitate teachers to complete a survey at baseline and endline
  • Complete weekly delivery logs
  • Share participating pupils’ end-of-year writing attainment scores with NatCen.

Pupil data to be shared includes:

  • first name and surname
  • date of birth
  • Unique Pupil Number (UPN)
  • Free School Meal (FSM) status
  • pupil’s class
  • pupil’s teacher. 

Teachers assigned to The OTTO Club group will be asked to:

  • Take part in The OTTO Club programme. This includes:
    • Participating in a 1.5 - 2-hour online training session
    • Teaching a 45 minute - 1 hour OTTO Club lesson, weekly, for 10 weeks
    • Teaching a 10-15 minute follow up activity, daily
    • Participating in the monthly online support sessions
  • (If selected as a Case Study School) Facilitating case study data collection. This will involve a NatCen researcher visiting the school to observe a handwriting lesson, and to conduct an interview with a) the participating teacher and b) the Literacy Lead.

Teachers assigned to the Teaching As Usual group will be asked to:

  • Continue teaching as usual
  • (If selected as a Case Study School) Facilitating case study data collection. This will involve a NatCen researcher visiting the school to observe a handwriting lesson, and to conduct an interview with a) the participating teacher and b) the Literacy Lead.

Who is carrying out the research?

The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) are responsible for funding the study and overall management of programme delivery and evaluation. The EEF is an independent charity dedicated to breaking the link between family income and educational achievement. They run projects to test the effectiveness of education programmes to improve outcomes for children across the UK.

The OTTO Club are the programme developers and are responsible for school recruitment for the evaluation and development and delivery of the training and monthly support sessions. The OTTO Club programme is a 10-week Occupational Therapy intervention focusing on three crucial areas of development: core stability and gross motor skills; fine motor skills; and handwriting skills. This comprehensive programme addresses essential developmental needs for young children, helping them build vital skills in a structured and engaging environment. Skills are reinforced on a daily basis in a fun and motivating way.  

Contact us

You can contact NatCen with any questions related to the evaluation at ottoevaluation@natcen.ac.uk.

Privacy

We take great care to protect the confidentiality of the information people give us. To find out more about how your personal information will be used in this study, please see the full privacy notice here: natcen.ac.uk/otto-evaluation/privacy-notice