Positive Parental Engagement - Speakers

Dr Maureen Nash
LPPA Adviser and Verifier, National LPPA Team

Maureen has over 20 years’ experience in schools as a primary teacher. She was Teacher Adviser for Lancashire’s Parental Involvement Team, enhancing the confidence, knowledge and skills of parents to help them support their child’s learning and as Teacher Adviser for School Workforce Development she promoted the recruitment, development and progression of support staff.

Emma Beresford
Director, Parental Engagement Network

Emma has over 30 years’ experience of innovative work with parents as a teacher, consultant for Manchester City Council, researcher and member of national steering groups. Over the past 7 years she has developed the Parental Engagement Network ( www.penetwork.co.uk ) – a dynamic specialist social enterprise supporting schools locally and nationally to develop their parental engagement through networks, training courses, funded projects and high-quality resources.

Racheal Baker
Family Link Coordinator and Safeguarding Officer, RSA Academy

Racheal comes from a challenging home and school background which has given her the insight to work with Hard to Reach families, ensuring the best outcomes for families in the school.  Racheal believes that building relationships between families and other agencies holds the key to success.

Elisabeth Broers
Headteacher, Robin Hood Junior School

Elisabeth joined Robin Hood Junior School in January 2015 and, with a newly formed Senior Leadership team, made developing Parental Engagement a school priority. The school is one of the London Mayor’s Schools for Success, an award which celebrates schools that are achieving academic success with disadvantaged or vulnerable students.

Jimmy Cartledge
Senior Teacher, Woodchurch High School

Jimmy works as part of a team coordinating provision for disadvantaged students; with a focus on identifying and tracking ‘priority groups’ within the school. Jimmy is responsible for promoting engagement, particularly working with parents and enabling them to be involved in the education of their child where possible.

Ruth Lowe
External Affairs Manager, PTA UK

Ruth Lowe, LLB MBA, is External Affairs Manager for PTA UK where she leads on policy, campaigns and research. She leads PTA UK’s Annual Parent Survey. Ruth has over 15 years’ experience in the voluntary sector, including senior roles within YWCA, Platform 51 and WAGGGS. During her time with local authority, Ruth was responsible for managing an Ofsted-registered programme within the Early Years Framework. She is also a mum of two.
Ruth tweets at @rosalegacy.