With generous support from the Rory and Elizabeth Brooks Foundation, the National Saturday Club is delighted to be working in partnership with University College London (UCL) on the charity’s first UKRI-funded academic research study. This project will advance the understanding of how creative education impacts young people’s mental health and wellbeing.

“Creativity for All: An impact evaluation study of community-based creative education on young people’s mental health outcomes in the UK” will be the first national study of its kind to examine the impact of extracurricular creative education, in relation to the National Saturday Club programme, on young people’s mental health and wellbeing.

Drawing on the National Saturday Club’s experience of working in partnership with the HE, FE and cultural sector to deliver free, extracurricular creative education programmes to more than 18,000 young people across the UK and UCL’s academic expertise in psychology and education, the study aims to co-create creative ways of measuring and assessing changes in young people’s mental health over time. Findings, to be published in 2026/27, will offer valuable insights for the education and youth sectors at a time when young people’s wellbeing is of national concern.

While previous studies have shown creative arts education improves young people’s attitude to learning, social development and wellbeing (Fancourt & Finn, 2019), few have explored how ‘sociocultural’ conditions of creative arts education influence outcomes or have tracked impact over extended periods, at a national scale.

The project will measure how participation in the National Saturday Club influences mental wellbeing and engagement with learning. This research will provide evidence on practices and resources co-designed with young people, for our young people, and for our network of educators, with the potential to inform educational policy and society more widely.

Lucy Kennedy, Chief Executive of the National Saturday Club said:

“We are delighted to be partnering with UCL on the National Saturday Club’s first academic research project. Over the past sixteen years, through extensive monitoring and independent evaluation, we have developed a deep understanding of the programme’s impacts and outcomes for young people. This collaboration with UCL will enable a more detailed examination of the programme’s influence on young people’s mental health and wellbeing, grounded in the distinctive pedagogical approaches developed by our remarkable Club tutors.

We are incredibly grateful to the Rory and Elizabeth Brooks Foundation and UKRI for funding this vital research. Their support will help us to further understand how participation in the National Saturday Club affects young people’s mental health and wellbeing, while contributing valuable insights to the wider research community and informing practice across the sector.”

Dr Keri Wong, Associate Professor of Developmental Psychology and lead researcher, said:

“We’re excited to be partnering with the National Saturday Club. This project will empower young people through co-creating ‘creative’ methods of measuring mental wellbeing that are appropriate for them and the programme that goes beyond the standard research practices. In this process, we will work with creative educators to evidence the impact of their programmes, which can be shared more widely with the sector.”

UCL research page – Creativity for All: An impact evaluation study of community-based creative education on young people’s mental health outcomes in the UK

For enquiries, please contact emily@saturday-club.org