Abingdon is an independent school in Oxford that began working with ImpactEd Evaluation with the ambition of developing a more robust and systematic approach to impact evaluation in their partnerships work. 

Before Abingdon started working with ImpactEd Evaluation in 2019, while there was some evidence of the success of their partnership work, they largely depended on informal ad hoc surveys and written feedback. Abingdon was keen to do more. Over the years, ImpactEd Evaluation has supported their partnership work to move from being largely reactive, to being more strategic, targeted and proactive as the newly launched OX14 Learning Partnership. 

 The evaluation work with Abingdon developed over time:

1. The initial focus was on developing the quality of survey measures. 

The project introduced using existing validated tools to assess changes in outcomes such as pupils’ motivation and established a clear baseline at the beginning of a programme. 

2. Subsequently, Abingdon worked to capitalise on areas of known strength from evaluation findings.  

For example, findings from the evaluation of Abingdon’s Academic Mentoring programme showed the partnership had a considerable impact on improving mentees’ academic resilience and motivation. Abingdon has now used this knowledge to look at their impact more holistically. 

In November 2021 the OX14 Learning Partnership was launched. This is a town-wide partnership of three state and three independent schools to raise educational aspirations across the postcode. 

3. Most recently, ImpactEd Evaluation’s work has supported schools in the OX14 project to reach a shared understanding of desired long-term outcomes, through a Theory of Change workshop with key stakeholders to articulate the challenge the Learning Partnership is addressing.  

This has helped stakeholders in the partnership to define and align on their aims which will help the partnership use its resources most effectively and understand its impact better.

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Jess Burns, Partnership Coordinator at Abingdon School‍

"The insights that ImpactEd Evaluation have provided for the OX14 have been really valuable. They’ve helped us keep impact assessment at the core of the partnership.”

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