Continuous Professional Development (CPD)

Liliana Ghilardi is a BAPT and BACP-registered therapist specialising in Play Therapy, Filial Therapy and trauma-informed interventions for children and families. As a Director of CATS, she is committed to supporting individuals in processing early trauma and attachment disruptions. Liliana also plays a key role in staff wellbeing initiatives, ensuring professionals receive the support they need to work effectively in challenging environments.

David Stimson is a UKCP-registered therapist with expertise in trauma and attachment-focused therapy. As a Director of CATS, he works closely with families, schools, and social care to develop effective therapeutic interventions. In addition to his clinical work, David supports staff wellbeing initiatives, helping organisations create psychologically safe environments for their teams.

Jill Robson is the Director of A Star Attendance Solutions. Up until six years ago she had worked for over twenty-two years for a local authority as an Attendance Officer, she decided to take a depth breath, leave her job and start A Star Attendance Solutions using her breadth of experience and skills.

Jill has always been passionate about school attendance as she believes that non- school attendance is just a symptom of further concerns, and that with early identification these issues are more likely to be resolved.

She decided to create The A Star System to support schools to manage their attendance in a transparent, fair and robust way, which hopefully means that no child’s non-attendance will go under the radar.  As a parent herself, Jill implicitly understand the importance of education and school attendance.

Melissa comes to A Star Attendance Solutions from a leadership background in Education having had over 9 years’ experience of working within the sector and strategically leading Whole School Attendance Improvement across two schools in Sunderland, North East England. Having previous senior leadership roles with responsibility for attendance and inclusion, she is passionate about improving attendance rates and implementing innovative approaches to improve outcomes for students, and knows the impact attendance to school has on these outcomes. Melissa has always been invested in Education and holds a BA Hons in Education and Music.

As a previous user of the A Star Attendance System, Melissa knows how impactful the system is for improving school attendance and she is thrilled to now be able to work nationally with schools, driving attendance improvement and reducing persistent absence.

Amy has over 10 years of experience working in an infant school, starting as an EYFS teacher before progressing to Deputy Headteacher and later taking on the role of Attendance Lead. Throughout her career, she has been dedicated to supporting the development of young children and fostering a love for learning. Amy’s passion for early education is matched by her commitment to building positive, supportive relationships with families, understanding that collaboration is key to maximising children’s learning potential. As Attendance Lead, Amy focused on improving attendance rates, working closely with families to overcome barriers and ensure that every child had the opportunity to succeed. Her experience in both teaching and leadership has provided a well-rounded understanding of how to support children, families, and schools in achieving the best outcomes.

Amy is now working with a dedicated team at A Star Attendance as Training Consultant to help schools implement the A Star Attendance System effectively and sharing strategies that improve attendance, to ensure every student has the opportunity to succeed and thrive in their education.

Luke is the CEO and Founder of The Excellence Hub, an Education Solutions company. Luke is a experienced former school leader and MAT executive leader and has a passion for creating a positive culture of attendance in all education establishments. He is renowned for his unwavering commitment to improving attendance and outcomes for children and young people. His extensive expertise spans all phases of education, where he has consistently demonstrated his ability to foster positive change and drive improvement.

Hannah has had a career of over 20 years in Education, and specialises in behaviour, SEMH and SEND. However, her expertise and passion for whole School Improvement & sustainable change, means she also provides guidance & practical strategy on curriculum design, implementation, teaching & learning & parental partnership, ensuring accessibility and equity for all.

She works nationally and internationally supporting schools & colleges, local authorities and trusts in reviewing, implementing, and developing cultural change, policies, systems and provision.

Ian Cooper is an experienced senior leader with a strong track record of driving school improvement in behaviour, attendance, and safeguarding. As Deputy Principal for Pastoral Care and Inclusion, Ian plays a pivotal role in strategically leading a positive and supportive school culture.

With previous roles including Assistant Principal for Behaviour, Attendance and Safeguarding, Head of Year, Assistant Head of Year and Teacher in Charge of Computer Science, Ian brings a wealth of practical leadership experience from both academic and pastoral perspectives. His leadership contributed significantly to his current school achieving a ‘Good’ rating from Ofsted after a decade of ‘Requires Improvement’.