Hi Liam, I’m sorry I have only just picked up this message. I’ve just launched this with our y12s for the fifth year. The kind of strategies we give the students are things like developing confidence of year 11 students and motivating them. We also talk about how to scaffold questions when students are unsure rather than just giving them the answers. If you send me an email, I will send you through our application forms and a study programme.

When you were speaking with your mentors about strategies they could use to help mentees, could I have information on this please?

Also, any other information you feel may be useful is greatly appreciated.

Many thanks

Liam

Hi Liam, thank you for your message. I will try and answer some of your questions below.
A1: I have an application form that they need to fill in. I select those that I feel would be able to do it without interfering with their own studies. I ask their teachers too.
A2: 1:1 ratio. It is the most effective way in my opinion.
A3: Due to the structure of our day, I was able to run it during tutor times. 30 minutes a week was the expectation. The structure of our school has changed now so will review this for next year.
A4: It is obviously difficult to accurately measure progress. I have compared those without a mentor and those with and there is obvious benefit to those students with a mentor. I get regular feedback off the mentees and the mentors to ensure quality. I also go round and drop into some of the sessions.

Overall it is definitely a strategy that I recommend. The feedback from the year 11 students is always positive and the year 12s, knowing how it has benefited their peers the previous year, are always enthusiastic about being involved. Please let me know if I can be of any further help.

I’m a maths teacher and i’m interested in setting up a similar scheme wherby current year 11’s mentor y 9’s and 10’s who are at risk of not achieving a grade C. I’d be grateful for more information and if you could answer the following questions?

How do you choose which pupils become mentors?
What is the ratio of mentors to mentees?
What time of the day is the scheme run? After school etc?
How do you measure and evaulate progress?

Many thanks.

Liam Johnston