Bexley
Excellence Cluster
Learning Mentor Strand
Learning mentors, as part of the school staff, work with pupils,
parents, staff and other agencies to identify strategies that will help children
get more out of their time at school.
A learning mentor's aim is to help children to practise skills that will
help them to concentrate in the classroom and build positive relationships with
both children and adults. They also help children to develop confidence and positive
self-esteem as children learn best when they feel happy about themselves.
All sorts of children can benefit from working with a learning mentor. These
include children who have or who are:
- Poor record of attendance
- Lack enthusiasm to work
- Lacking confidence
- Do not feel good about themselves
- Do not adapt well to change
- Falling behind with work
- Not doing as well as they could
- Have difficulty in organising themselves
- Have difficulty in following instructions
- Lack direction and commitment
- Passive learners
- Variety of behaviour difficulties
- Young carers
- Suffered death/loss in the family
- Truants
- Have difficulty in settling in to school
- Have difficulty in making friends
- Have difficulty in controlling their emotions
So you can see that learning mentors work with a huge range of children across
the whole ability range.
Learning mentors can work with children on an individual basis and/or in small
groups. For both of these, children have to be chosen, and this is usually done
through a referral process. Although children might be taken out of their normal
classes for these sessions, it is expected that the improvement in the child's
progress will normally compensate for this. In most schools, children are taken
out of different classes each week to make sure that they do not miss the same
lessons.
If your child has been referred to a learning mentor in school, the learning
mentor will contact you so that you can be fully involved in the process, and
be kept up to date with your child's progress. Your child will not stop
receiving any other additional help they may be getting whilst at school.
Learning mentors can work with children for a short time, say just a few weeks,
or for a longer period of up to two terms.
Learning mentors also run clubs, based around interests, which any child can
join. These include breakfast clubs, lunch clubs and homework clubs.
If you have any concerns about your child working with a learning mentor, or
if you want more information about how learning mentors are working in your child's
school, then please contact the head teacher of your child's school.
Frequently Asked Questions about the Learning Mentor
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