Obtaining a Mentor

Mentoring can be an effective tool in helping to motivate, support and inspire young people, to raise confidence and self-esteem and levels of achievement, whether personal, academic or work related. Mentoring is one way of helping someone develop and grow, acquire new skills and insights, identify and develop potential, assist transition, overcome barriers to learning and take increasing responsibility for his/her own learning and development.

There any many types and models of mentoring and mentoring can occur for many reasons. Mentors can work on a paid or voluntary basis depending on the nature of the mentoring programme. For instance, school-based learning mentors may work with students facing barriers to learning such as poor attendance/behaviour or social/emotional problems. Learning mentors also signpost learning opportunities for young people to help them achieve their potential and challenge their aspirations. Learning mentors are usually based within a specific school and are funded by the DFES through the Excellence in Cities programme.

Volunteer mentoring programmes generally rely on recruiting mentors from the business community and public sector, from further or higher education or the wider community, including retired people. Volunteer mentors may support young people at key points of transition, helping to boost their level of motivation, confidence and self-esteem, challenge their aspirations, improve their social/communication skills, raise awareness of employability skills and the world of work and develop their coping strategies/action plans for their future. The aim of this type of mentoring is to provide a role model and encourage learners to become more independent and take responsibility for themselves. Volunteer mentors are often attached to a specific school or recruited for a specific mentoring programme.

There are many different Peer Mentoring programmes running within Barnsley, which involve older students mentoring younger students such as secondary students mentoring primary students e.g. through the transition from primary to secondary and students from further/higher education mentoring secondary school students.

E-mentoring may occur to supplement face-to-face mentoring or where it is difficult for mentor and mentee to meet regularly.

What learning mentors do

All Barnsley secondary schools (and some primary schools) have learning mentors. These Learning Mentors work with any pupils who face barriers to learning such as poor attendance/behaviour and/or social/emotional problems. They will also work closely to support young people making the transition from primary to secondary schools.

Many Learning Mentors will also support students through difficult periods in their life such as when parents separate/divorce or when there has been bereavement in the family. Learning Mentors will work closely with parents/carers both to obtain their permission before mentoring the young person and to keep them updated on the child's progress once mentoring has begun.

Learning Mentors also run other, more informal programmes such as breakfast clubs, homework clubs, revision sessions and lunchtime drop in sessions where most pupils are free to attend.

Volunteer mentoring programmes are normally subject to specific project funding and aims and outcomes, for instance the NHSU Open Road Project operates a mentoring programme which involves mentors from the Primary Care Trust, Barnsley District General Hospital and Social Services mentoring students on Health and Social Care courses at targeted schools. The Promoting Positive Aspirations project will mentors involve mentors from business, the public sector and higher education student mentors supporting school students interested in engineering, construction and health-related occupations.

How students are allocated learning mentors

In some schools students can refer themselves for Learning Mentor support, but referrals are usually made via heads of year and other members of the pastoral system after teachers and other staff have raised concerns about the student involved.

Parents/carers are then contacted to ensure their permission has been granted prior to the mentoring process beginning. The student will then see their mentor on a one to one or small group basis depending on the nature of the referral.

The student will be exited from the programme when it is deemed that the student has made satisfactory progress against the targets that have been set for them. The support offered by Learning Mentors is usually time-limited (often for six weeks in the first instance) due to the very large numbers of pupils that they aim to support at any given time.

Some schools have developed a whole school mentoring philosophy, whereby all students are allocated a mentor whether a learning mentor, teacher mentor or volunteer business mentor for example. Schools interested in operating a volunteer business mentoring scheme should contact the Work Related Learning team.

Schools and pupils will be targeted when funding is available for specific mentoring purposes.

Helplines

Contact should be made with the student's school in the first instance and a discussion held with the learning mentor(s) or appropriate head of year.

More general information about learning mentors can be found on the DfES website and the Mentoring and Befriending Foundation website or by contacting the Excellence in Barnsley Co-ordinator on 01226 281961.

For more information about other types of mentoring contact the Work Related Learning team on 01226 281961.

The Barnsley Mentoring Network (BMN) is a forum for organisations, across education, business, voluntary and community sectors and represents both voluntary and paid mentoring provision, already running or interested in developing mentoring programmes. For more information about the BMN, contact the Work Related Learning team on 01226 281961.

Legislation

Excellence in Cities.

Owner Officer Contact Details

Work Related Learning Team
Telephone 01226 281961
Email: wrl@barnsley.gov.uk

Related Links:

• South Yorkshire Mentoring
• Department for Education and Skills
• The National Mentoring Network