Books Council for Wales (2023)

The Books Council for Wales preprogramme provided every learner in state schools across Wales with their own book to keep. The books were distributed directly to schools and books were also made available to families via book boxes delivered to food banks. Arad’s evaluation focussed on the impact this initiative had on encouraging children and families to read for pleasure.

WLGA (2022-23)

Arad carried out a process and impact evaluation of Food and Fun school holiday enrichment Improvement Programme. The Food and Fun programme was implemented in 2015 as a pilot developed in response to growing concerns about food poverty and summer learning loss among children Cardiff. The objectives of the evaluation were to explore how local authority and school delivery models were comprised. The objectives of the impact evaluation were to explore to what degree the project was achieving the intended outcomes.

Reports available here

Welsh Government (2021-22)

Arad Research was commissioned by Welsh Government to evaluate the first year of the Playworks Holiday Project. The aim was to provide better play opportunities for children in vulnerable communities and to realise the benefits this brings in terms of child development and activity levels. To address the aims of the evaluation, the team reviewed a range of documents and monitoring data and conducted interviews with stakeholders including policy and delivery leads.

Report available here.

(Welsh Government, 2015-18)

Flying Start provides a programme of targeted support services (including enhanced health visiting and parenting support) to children and families in the most deprived areas of Wales in order to make a decisive difference to the lives of children in the areas in which it is delivered. Arad undertook longitudinal, qualitative research over three years to gather the views of families who access these services, gathering evidence on their engagement with the services and the impact of the services on the family’s well-being.