Ruth Charteris is a highly qualified business leader at Wessex Gardens Primary School.  She has extensive experience within leadership and in supporting leadership teams, teachers, support staff, children and families to significantly improve attendance within the Local Authority. 

Ruth provides whole staff training, and supports individual members of staff to develop strategies to improve class attendance.  She has successfully supported leadership, learning mentors and administrative teams in schools with low attendance to develop and implement effective action plans together with monitoring systems and polices.    

Ruth can offer support in all aspects of attendance: school-specific attendance reviews and action plans; reviewing areas of policy and practice; understanding and applying legislation; using data to identify areas/groups of concern; delivering training to senior leaders, teaching, administrative staff and learning mentors; implementing monitoring systems; delivering school specific advice and training; dealing with difficult parents to avoid conflict; reporting to the governing body.

Helen Myers has over 12 years’ experience in working with children and their families from diverse backgrounds. Helen can offer support on attendance and punctuality, implementing tracking, data collection and putting robust, consistent procedures in place.  Helen was recognised by the Local Authority to deliver a presentation at the Higher Level teaching assistant champions event in Westminster.  Helen has introduced initiatives to support vulnerable families and families with English as an Additional Language. She has delivered training and INSETS in effective use of teaching assistants within the classroom, as well as supporting schools with strategies for good practice in Ethnic Minority Achievement, attendance and punctuality.  Helen’s experience and passion for improving attendance and punctuality has been her motivation for initiating ‘robust and sustainable systems’ that have supported the increase in attendance figures at Queenswell Infant and Nursery School, where she is a Child and Family Support Worker. Helen strongly believes that engaging parents/carers, identifying and addressing their needs effectively, with empathy, building trust, whilst remaining professional and ensuring confidentiality is key to her success. Helen has experience in working with various outside agencies to offer support as very often poor attendance or punctuality are the result of underlying concerns.