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Small Charity – Huge Impact

We have undergone two large-scale Randomised Control Trial (RCT) evaluations that have proven impact in young people going through our programmes.

Teachers consistently rate us as Good or Outstanding against the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime recommendations for effective substance misuse programmes.

Our Outcomes Framework allows us to measure our impact against our learning intentions for our entire range of primary-level resources.

Our outcomes framework and Evaluations that have proven impact
Independent Evaluations that have proven impact by Nottingham and Nottingham Trent Universities
Funded by the Youth Endowment fund.
Evaluated by Sheffield hallam Uni.
During COVID-19

In 2018
Nottingham Trent and
Nottingham University
undertook a Randomised
Control Trial (RCT) on
our Primary Programme.
Their research showed we
were effective against our
learning outcomes:

*The full peer reviewed, published report can be provided upon request.

Evaluations that have proven impact.

Getting help from others

Pupils in the trial schools had a pre ‐ post intervention score difference at least 5.4 times greater than that of the control group, regardless of the programme’s delivery method;

Improving communication and listening skills

Pupils in the trial schools had a pre ‐ post intervention score difference at least 3.4 times greater than that of the control group, varying between three and 7 times greater improvement across delivery methods;

Knowledge about drugs, alcohol and substance misuse

Pupils in the trial schools had a pre – post
intervention score difference 2.4 higher to that of the control group with no discernible variation across delivery methods;

Making safe and responsible choices

Finally, pupils in the trial schools had a pre ‐ post intervention score difference twice as high as that of the control group, whereas the Teacher‐led plus delivery method showed four fold improvement.

Making a positive (non statistical) impact upon

  • dealing with bullying and peer pressure
  • managing personal stress
  • attitudes towards the police
  • assessing risks and consequences of behaviour
  • and personal experiences with substance abuse.

Proud of Our Evidence Base
and Committed to Expanding It

550,000+
Young people recieved an intervention
30,000+
Evaluation Responses from young people
8,000+
Parent feedback forms recieved

We were one of the first YEF funded intervention programmes

With the evaluation published in 2022*, we were one of the first cohort of Youth Endowment Fund projects to receive funding to deliver and evaluate our resources. We facilitated this despite disruption from the pandemic.

*Impacts were shown on reducing children’s self-reported behavioural and emotional problems, children reported slightly lower levels of behavioural or emotional difficulty and in reducing self-reported verbal aggression, substance use and the amount of physical attacks and threats they received. It had a high impact on reducing self-reported non-violent, low-level crime.

*Pupils consulted via interviews and focus groups perceived that their confidence, ability to resist peer pressure, decision making and communication skills had improved.

Moving Forward

We are committed to maintianing the exceptionally high standards we have held our programmes to across our entire suite of programmes.  Working with Community Impact CIC, we are working towards the implemtation of a set of tools that will allow schools and our charity to assess how well we are doing against our Outcomes Framework.

We have a massive amount of data and two evaluations that have proven our impact. It is incredibly important to us that we continue to take this research further. We are now planning longer-term studies on impact and effects by developing connections with parents that allow us to evaluate young peoples’ responses over time.

All of our programnmes ae backed by research. Based on Social Learning Theory and designed using the UNOoDC recomendations on effective substance misuse prevention programmes. Evaluations that have proven impact.

Research Driven

From the ground up
Fully evaluated - 2 large scale RCT's proving the effectiveness of our work, by Three universities - NottinghamUni, Nottingham Trent and Shefiield Hallam.  Evaluations that have proven impact.

Proven to work

Independently evaluated
Continual feedback.  Thousands of feedback forms are collected termly from young people who assess the programmes and their ability to use what they have learned in real life. Available to schools across our range of resources.  Evaluations that have proven impact.

Every Young Person

Has the opportunity to feedback
Hundreds of teachers and aprents tell us that the programmes work.  Evaluations that have proven impact.

Teacher and Parent Feedback

Received online and via paper pull outs

Independently evaluated, 80% of teacher responses rate our courses as ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ against Mentor ADEPIS Quality Standards.

Have Questions?

Want to know more about our programmes, how they are built, delivered and evaluated?  Then please feel free to get in touch, we’d love to tell you more.

Life Skills Education STaRS - drug, alcohol and resilience training

STaRS for years 1 through 4 is designed to get young people acquainted with using decision making models to help them make good decisions.

From £7.50 per year group
Web Warriors

Web Warriors is an Online Harms resource for years 5 or 6, that uses our SKILL Decision Making Model.

From £2 per child

Our primary programme equips young people with a range of knowledge and skills that aid in the transition from primary to secondary school. It equips them with the social and emotional skills required to overcome the challenges they may face.

From £12 per child (11 weeks)

The Life Skills Game is a resource that allows facilitators to engage young people in discussion and explore a range of issues linked to risky situations. There are four modules available which cover internet safety, drug and alcohol awareness, knife crime and hate crime.

From £10 per module
    Life Skills Education Charity