Schoolchildren who had fallen behind in their class work have been demonstrating how they have progressed, thanks to pioneering lessons.

The youngsters at Holycroft Primary School, Keighley, impressed Jean Gross, director of the Every Child a Chance Trust, when she visited the school last week.

They have been involved in two national projects — Every Child Counts and Every Child a Reader — and a new pilot project, Unlocking Potential. The projects were set up to support Bradford district pupils who had fallen behind their peers.

They provide specialist teachers who work one-to-one with children in years one and two to improve their literacy or mathematics skills and a school home support worker to engage the parents of the children involved in the programmes.

Unlocking Potential — the newest project, which is being piloted by only six local authorities in the country — is being trialled in four Bradford district schools: Bowling Park Primary, Westminster Primary, in Bradford, and Eastwood Primary and Holycroft, in Keighley.

Holycroft is involved in all three projects which accelerate the progress of the lowest attaining pupils and help parents to support their children in the home with mathematics and reading.

Ten schools were involved in Every Child Counts last year — now 26 new schools are taking part. Twenty-six schools were involved in the Every Child a Reader project last year, which has increased to 35 this school year.

Jean Gross said: “The children who are helped are the very lowest achievers in their class but eight out of ten of them catch up completely with their classmates after just 20 to 40 hours of one-to-one help.”

She added: “The Prime Minister, writing in a national paper last week, even described the wonderful progress that one little Bradford girl — Zhaina — has made.”