School Attendance Digital Conference

Dr Emma Moore is a Senior Research Manager and the Strategic Lead for Social Mobility at the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER). Her research interests centre around helping all children thrive and achieve their potential.

Her current projects include research exploring what secondary schools are currently doing to support pupils returning to school after absence and an evaluation of the Enrichment Partnerships Pilot (EPP) for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport and Department for Education. This evaluation is testing a partnership approach to improving the enrichment offer available to disadvantaged pupils with the long-term aims of improving pupil wellbeing and school attendance.

Prior to joining NFER, Emma was a Research Manager at the NSPCC. There she led the evaluation of the NSPCC’s Together for Childhood initiative across Glasgow and Grimsby, which aims to prevent abuse and neglect in families facing adversities including mental health difficulties, substance misuse and domestic abuse. She has also previously researched the potential of musical activities to support literacy skills in 7-to-11-year-old children with dyslexia.

Dr Emma Moore is a Senior Research Manager and the Strategic Lead for Social Mobility at the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER). Her research interests centre around helping all children thrive and achieve their potential.

Her current projects include research exploring what secondary schools are currently doing to support pupils returning to school after absence and an evaluation of the Enrichment Partnerships Pilot (EPP) for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport and Department for Education. This evaluation is testing a partnership approach to improving the enrichment offer available to disadvantaged pupils with the long-term aims of improving pupil wellbeing and school attendance.

Prior to joining NFER, Emma was a Research Manager at the NSPCC. There she led the evaluation of the NSPCC’s Together for Childhood initiative across Glasgow and Grimsby, which aims to prevent abuse and neglect in families facing adversities including mental health difficulties, substance misuse and domestic abuse. She has also previously researched the potential of musical activities to support literacy skills in 7-to-11-year-old children with dyslexia.

Luke Ramsden is an award-winning senior deputy headmaster and senior safeguarding lead at St Benedict’s School in Ealing.  He started his teaching career at Tonbridge School where he was Head of History and was then a Housemaster at Ampleforth College before moving to Ealing.  In his role as Senior Deputy Head he is responsible for the day-to-day running of the school, as well as the pastoral oversight of all the students and overseeing the school’s PSHE programme (among a number of other roles) In his time at St Benedict’s the school has become a flagship school for safeguarding and pastoral care, with the happiness of every student placed firmly at the heart of all the school does. This led to the award of Pastoral Leader of the Year 2021-22 by the NACPE (National Association for Child Protection in Education). Luke regularly talks at educational conferences, and also writes on safeguarding, pastoral care, and in particular the use of data to inform excellence in both these areas.  Among other positions Luke holds outside St Benedict’s he is chair of the Independent Safeguarding Advisory board for The Safeguarding Company, is a trustee of the School’s Consent Project charity, and has recently joined the National Executive Committee for the NAPCE.

Tim Oates is Group Director of Assessment Research and Development at Cambridge University Press & Assessment, focusing on national and international research on assessment and measurement. In 2010 he published ‘Could do better’ which laid down the principles for the review of the National Curriculum in England. He was chair of the Expert Panel for Review of the National Curriculum in England. Emerging from this review, subsequent research on the quality and function of textbooks and other resources has been taken up around the world and discussed at two international summits on learning resources. He chairs various curriculum groups for the Department for Education in England, and has undertaken system evaluation and curriculum review in various nations around the world. He has published widely on assessment and curriculum issues, and routinely provides briefings and advice to UK and other governments. He has worked with OECD on curriculum policy and, with Nuno Crato, recently has published analysis of the 2018 PISA results for England. He is Fellow of Churchill College Cambridge and in 2015 received a CBE for services to education

As Chief Programmes and Communities Officer, Susie leads the delivery and development of The Brilliant Club’s programmes, working with 20,000 young people annually to support them to access university and succeed when there. Susie has been committed to tackling educational disadvantage throughout her career. As part of Teach First, Susie taught English in a London secondary school and set up a charity to support pupils to run charitable campaigns. She subsequently worked as a Literacy Consultant for the DFE’s National Strategies programme. As Executive Director of Services at School-Home Support, Susie oversaw a range of programmes tackling the barriers to learning within the home, including the Parent Support Advisor initiative.

Daniel oversees the contract delivery of NCB’s Education and Equalities team, focussing on strands of work that promote best practice around inclusion and special education provision – including the Information, Advice and Support Service Network (IASSN) – enhancing inclusive practice and advancing children and young people’s social, emotional and physical wellbeing.

He is also Policy Vice Chair of NCB family member Special Educational Consortium and has represented the SEC giving evidence to parliamentary Select Committees; delivers training on SEND topics, including pedagogy and inclusion; is the National Coordinator for UK (England) on the European Agency for Special Needs and Inclusive Education.

He is a qualified teacher, with previous experience as TA / LSA and has worked predominantly in the further education sector, both in mainstream and specialist provision, with additional experience managing post-16 preparation for work and adult life for young people with SEND in the third sector.

With over 20 years of teaching experience, including 10 years specialising in SEND, Lucy has worked as a teacher, SENCO and SEND Lead Practitioner across primary, secondary, and specialist settings. With a background in primary leadership, she has led initiatives in inclusion, safeguarding, and attendance, always advocating for our most vulnerable learners. Passionate about helping students with SEND reach their potential, Lucy is dedicated to ensuring every student can achieve success.

As the Trust Strategic Attendance Manager for JTMAT I support 20 schools, 2 infant schools, 12 primary schools and 6 secondary and sixth form schools.  In September 2025 the Trust opens a new all through school and my role is maintaining a strategic oversight as well as offering operational support when needed.  JTMAT is the 4^th largest MAT in the West Midlands and delivers education for over 10,000 children and young people across Staffordshire and Derbyshire.

I was always interested in working in Education, wanting to teach but opportunities to progress in this as a career did not come to fruition.  However, an opportunity to take part in work experience in a school for children with profound and multiple learning difficulties whilst I was at college developed an interest in working directly with children and young people.  After spending some time working with children and young people in a residential ASD provision, I joined a southwest local authority as an Education Welfare Officer, a job that gave me direct contact with children and young people and their families as well as a wide experience across schools and teams within the local authority.  It was also an introduction to the world of attendance.  Since then I have always worked in roles directly linked to attendance, either managing a local authority attendance team, a learning partnership, within a multi-academy trust or a further education provision.  In additional to attendance roles I have held safeguarding roles – the role of Designated Safeguarding Lead and a Head of Student Services in further education.      I am a member of the Association of Education Welfare Management (AEWM) and for a short period of time I was a member of the National Executive Committee and a Regional Representative.

Becky is Head of Framingham Earl High School an urban fringe 11 – 16 school with just over 800 students in Norfolk.

She has worked in Norfolk throughout her career and had roles as English & Drama teacher, Head of Department, Progress Lead and Deputy Headteacher Curriculum.

Post Covid the school has been focused on created in inclusive atmosphere to allow all young people to flourish.  As part of this drive they have been part of the DfE Behaviour Hub Programme, worked with Norfolk schools on SEND provision and developed areas of the Personal Development including Careers Curriculum with Becky completing the Careers Leader Teach First qualification.

Alongside her work within Sapientia Education Trust Becky is also a member of ASCL and has chaired the Women Leaders Network in recent years and this year has become a representative on council for the East of England.

Becky has always championed coaching and has worked with coaches to support her own development and supported other staff.

Lisa Ingleby is Lead for Inclusive Provision & Pastoral Support in the Education Durham Team within Children and Young People’s Services at Durham County Council. Lisa’s role includes full oversight of the use of alternative provision by schools across County Durham including the development and implementation of a quality assurance framework to monitor curriculum provision delivered through alternative provision. Lisa has extensive experience of leading pastoral provision within secondary and special schools at a senior level and developing practices within alternative provision across other local authorities.

Darren Northcott is National Official for Education at NASUWT. Previously, he was a National Officer at the FDA, the senior Civil and Public Service Union. Darren began his career as a primary school teacher and has worked in schools in Newham, East London and in Cheshire.

His particular interests are early years education and the impact of poverty and social deprivation on educational opportunities. Born and bought up in London, he was educated at a genuinely comprehensive, mixed-ability secondary school and graduated with a degree in history from the University of York.

Andy is the Policy and Practice Manager (Young Carers and Young Adult Carers) at Carers Trust and leads on their UK policy activity relating to young carers and young adult carers. He has over 20 years’ experience of raising awareness and seeking to improve identification and support for young carers and young adult carers on a local, national and international level. In 2022, Andy founded the Young Carers Alliance, a growing network of over 180 organisations and 500 individuals, all looking to improve support for young carers and young adult carers.

Andy sits on a number of national steering groups and advisory panels and is a regular keynote speaker on topics relating to young carers and young adult carers.

Frank Young is Director of Policy and Research at Parentkind, a national charity representing the voice of parents. Parentkind works with PTAs and parents in schools across the UK and publishes regular research on parents and topical policy issues.

Frank joined Parentkind in 2024 to lead the research and policy work of the charity. Earlier this year Parentkind published the National Parent Survey, the UK’s biggest parent poll which is available at www.nationalparentsurvey.com

Prior to working at Parentkind Frank spent almost a decade working for the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) and Civitas think tanks on family policy and regularly appeared in the media to discuss issues related to children and families. He is a former trustee of a children’s charity and since 2022 had been a non-executive director on the board of Ofsted

Frank graduated from the University of York with a degree in social policy a long time ago…

Sarah was elected to the regional steering group role in early 2020, and was elected as co-chair in spring 2023.

Sarah was previously the chair of her local parent carer forum in Wokingham for many years, and continues to hold a lead role within the forum.  Sarah is very active in strategic work locally, regionally, and nationally.

Sarah has two teenagers with Autism, who have vastly different needs and diagnoses.

Sarah was previously an office manager but retrained as holistic practitioner when her children were small to help support their needs.  Sarah has also been a governor at her local primary and secondary schools.

To contact Sarah, please email southeast@nnpcf.org.uk

Charlotte is an Executive Leader for the Community Schools Trust, a high-performing national trust specialising in rapid school improvement particularly in areas of high deprivation.  Charlotte’s strengths lie in developing a school culture of high expectations and achievement, organising teams, implementing systems and pastoral care.  Her mission is to ensure that every single child has opportunities to develop their passion and excel. Charlotte oversees a group of schools and also leads pastoral care across the Trust.  Recent impact has seen rapid improvements in attendance bucking the national trend with two schools in the Trust being in top 1% of schools nationally for attendance ( FFT). Charlotte has been a Headteacher of both Forest Gate Community School and Waterside Academy and is a mother of two teenage boys.

Maxine O’Neill is a psychologically responsive Headteacher and lead for the HEARTs project with significant experience with trauma informed schooling.  Maxine is passionate about the outcomes for children who find the traditional education system difficult to access and works across a number of schools in the Liverpool region in support of those children. Maxine has a particular focus on children with PDA.

Anna Robinson has worked at a both a system leadership and operational level across health, social care, education and voluntary sector with children and families for over 20 years.   In her role as Director of Mental Health at Birmingham Education Partnership she works closely with Mental Health Providers, Education Psychology, Public Health, Social Care and academic partners on the development and implementation of whole school approaches to mental health.

Anna is a UCKP registered Psychotherapist and Clinical Supervisor, specialising in a developmental relational approach to trauma recovery.  She also teaches on Foundation and Masters level Psychotherapy trainings and works in private practice.  She knows therefore how important relationships and collaboration are to making lasting change and is passionate about how the psychotherapy field can support both individual change and growth but also influence wider population-level approaches to wellness.

Dr Emma Moore is a Senior Research Manager and the Strategic Lead for Social Mobility at the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER). Her research interests centre around helping all children thrive and achieve their potential.

Her current projects include research exploring what secondary schools are currently doing to support pupils returning to school after absence and an evaluation of the Enrichment Partnerships Pilot (EPP) for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport and Department for Education. This evaluation is testing a partnership approach to improving the enrichment offer available to disadvantaged pupils with the long-term aims of improving pupil wellbeing and school attendance.

Prior to joining NFER, Emma was a Research Manager at the NSPCC. There she led the evaluation of the NSPCC’s Together for Childhood initiative across Glasgow and Grimsby, which aims to prevent abuse and neglect in families facing adversities including mental health difficulties, substance misuse and domestic abuse. She has also previously researched the potential of musical activities to support literacy skills in 7-to-11-year-old children with dyslexia.