Nurture groups are a multi-dimensional group intervention with a whole-school focus, and running them successfully depends on a wide array of different factors. In thisarticle exploring nurture groups, Batul Al-Khatib considers parental involvement in the groups and the ways that staff and parents can establish positive relationships and work well together.

Finding strategies to support your less-engaged parents means looking at how things seem from their perspective. Matthew Nuttall provides us with some examples of what has worked in his experience and how his schools have broken the cycle.

School staff can make a real difference to improving attendance but they may need to access people with additional skills. Ben Whitney helps schools find the balance between internal welfare approaches and referral for outside support.

The family is often the key to attendance issues. In this article, Stephen Burnage argues that engagement through the use of supportive strategies is more likely to be successful in improving attendance.

When a pupil is on the edge of being excluded from school, a good relationship with parents can make all the difference. In this article, Dr Trisha Waters outlines how the Story Links approach improved the school experience for one boy and his mother.

Tania Tirraoro provides a personal viewpoint, as a parent, about how schools can work with parents where a disability is impacting on attendance.

Steve Baker gives his view of partnership working, and how to work with those in your community to improve attendance.

Emma Ferrey shows how employing well-established coaching techniques in meetings with parents can be effective in changing behaviour and finding meaningful solutions to attendance problems.

In this article, Ben Whitney discusses how tackling absenteeism may require schools to work in partnership with a number of outside agencies – including health services, child protection agencies or specialist programmes.