The expectation is that Learning Mentors will participate in the comprehensive assessment of all secondary age children entering or returning to school, and in progress checks at the end of Years 7 and 9. (This will not include the assessment of special educational needs.) The aim will be to identify through the school's assessment process those who need extra help to overcome barriers to learning and who would benefit most from a Learning Mentor, building on effective pastoral and other arrangements already in place.
Learning Mentors should devote the majority of their time to those needing extra support to realise their full potential and will draw up and implement action plans for those identified as needing such support (except where the pupil was already subject to an individually tailored plan such as an Individual Education Plan). They will also monitor and report on action plans including those drawn up by others, for example the SENCO (Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator) or the gifted and talented co-ordinator.
Learning Mentors will work closely with the Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator and the senior member of staff responsible for gifted and talented provision, to ensure that all children receive appropriate help. It will also be important to ensure that the Learning Mentors work does not duplicate that of the SENCO and gifted and talented co-ordinator. For example, although Learning Mentors may have contact with SEN pupils, as indicated above, they will not be responsible for drawing up action plans for an SEN pupil who is already subject to an Individual Education Plan. The Learning Mentors will personally target efforts on those disproportionately at risk of underachieving, who would not be catered for by the SENCO or the gifted and talented co-ordinator.
A key role for Learning Mentors in supporting schools to improve the transfer and use of curriculum, assessment and other information from primary to secondary stage, and within and between schools. Learning Mentors will also be responsible for ensuring that the arrangements for those who leave the school mid term before 16, including teenage mothers, are managed properly. Working with others, the Learning Mentor will also need to ensure that children who are sick, for example for long periods, receive additional support whilst they are absent from school to enable them to keep up with their studies.
Learning Mentors will have a crucial role to promote the effective exchange of information between the various local authority and other external support agencies, to the benefit of pupils and their families. Learning Mentors will act as the single point of contact for accessing these specialist support services, for example, the Social and Youth Services, the Education Welfare Service, the Probation and Careers Services.
They will also be the point of contact for accessing a range of community and business based programmes including out of school study support and mentoring schemes. Learning Mentors will need to work closely with local business and community mentors. They will need to take an active role in co-ordinating and supporting the work of voluntary mentors working with young people both in and out of school, so that the mentor's efforts meet the needs of the child in a focused and integrated way.
Learning Mentors will work closely with local Personal Advisers responsible for co-ordinating support for 16 and 17 year olds who need extra help to access a mainstream learning opportunity. That help will be provided within the new Learning Gateway which Careers Services, working with other partners, will be responsible for delivering. The aim will be to ensure that the opportunities offered post 16 are set firmly in a continuum of support during schooling and beyond. Effective links with the Careers Service are also needed, to ensure young people receive sound advice and guidance on post-school options. The Learning Mentor role should be recognised in the partnership agreement between schools and the Careers Service.
