Elin de Zoete

Group Director and Co-Founder, ImpactEd Group

Elin de Zoete is Group Director and Co-Founder of ImpactEd Group and brings 20 years of experience in education policy, government relations and impact communications. At ImpactEd, she has led high-profile, cross sector convening projects on inclusion, oracy, school improvement, AI, critical thinking and resilience. Prior to ImpactEd, Elin was Managing Director of PLMR, an award-winning education public affairs and communications agency. She also served as Government Relations Director at Bite Back (Jamie Oliver's campaigning charity). Outside of work Elin sits on the Board of Inspiration Trust and is the lead trustee for SEND and inclusion and AI. She is also the Vice Chair of intergenerational charity, The Together Project.

Hall 8a

1 Breakout sessions: Series two

How do we know it’s working? Linking school improvement priorities to evidence of impact

This practical workshop explores how trusts can move from improvement priorities to credible, usable evidence about what is actually working across their schools. Leaders have access to more data than ever before, face growing expectations to demonstrate impact, and must make difficult decisions about where to focus limited time and resources. Through a trust case study on attendance, we will examine how leaders can move beyond data tracking towards targeted evaluation. We will explore practical approaches to building evidence, identifying which initiatives are making the greatest difference, and using evaluation to strengthen decision-making. You will gain ideas and tools to help prioritise improvement activity and focus resources where they can have the greatest impact. Ideal for CEOs, directors of education, executive principals and school improvement leaders.

15:35

1 15 October

Keynote: School improvement: Where we go next, together

When schools improve together what makes the difference - and how can more children benefit? In September, CST published major research tracking attainment across England’s state schools since 2007. It found that schools in trusts have, on average, improved more than other types of state-funded school, with particularly strong gains in disadvantaged communities. These findings pose a productive challenge: how do we move from evidence of improvement to a deeper understanding of what drives it? And how can we identify, codify and share the practices that make the greatest difference?