The Business Mentoring Project was wound down after the retirement of the co-ordinator.

. . . but I've included details here of how the business mentoring project used to work. If you're looking for ideas of how to go about setting up a mentoring scheme which involves mentors from the business world and / or the local community, then this might give you an idea of what's involved - and maybe what to avoid!

Have a look also at a typical mentoring session, students' views, a case study and more about the SRB Project at Rhyddings which included teacher mentoring as one of its strategies.

Background

At Rhyddings Business and Enterprise School, the involvement of people from business, industry and the local community, was central to the SRB Project in Years 10 and 11. Some mentors also started working with Y8 and 9 students. At the end of the Project, we had the services of fifteen mentors from a variety of backgrounds who saw their student/s once every two or three weeks. Without their commitment and that of their employers the Project could not have worked. Where employers could not continue to allow a mentor company time the mentor often continued in their own time.

For 2005-2006, the last year of the project,  mentors were: 

Mentor recruitment

Mentors were recruited through either Lancs Education Business Partnerships (LEBP) or the school. Those mentors who were recruited through the school have been personal contacts recommended by Staff. When recommended, mentors were contacted by the SRB Co-ordinator who explained the SRB Project to them and what mentoring involves. If they were willing to join the Project their names were forwarded to LEBP which sends them further details regarding mentoring and also forms for them to fill in so that Police clearance can be gained.

Mentor induction

LEBP provided the initial training of mentors, then, when police clearance was given, mentors were invited in by the SRB Co-ordinator, either singly or in small groups. Here they were shown round the school and, if possible, met one or more members of the Senior Management. Additionally, and again if possible, mentors also met their student's form tutor. If this latter was not possible then an arrangement was made for a meeting at a later date.

The Project was explained to the mentors in more detail and they had the opportunity to discuss it with Simon Midgley (the SRB Mentoring Scheme Coordinator) and ask any questions they might have had.

The procedures to follow when meeting their student were explained to them: matters like who to contact in school, how to contact their student, where to meet their student and so on. All of this and other necessary information was contained in the Mentors' Handbook (203K .pdf file) which each mentor is given. This handbook was updated each year to reflect changes such as school staffing, rooms and time-tabling. The version here (2003-2004) shows the kind of information which mentors find useful.

At this first meeting Simon Midgley assessed the character and experiences of the mentor and used this information together with knowledge of the prospective mentees, to match mentors to students.  This procedure is described in the sections below on mentor-student pairing and mentor meetings.

Student Enrolment

At the start of Year 10, or end of Year 9, SRB and / or additional students suggested by other school staff, were asked if they wished to take part in the SRB Business and Industry mentoring scheme. The benefits of this were outlined to them and if they wished to speak to a student who was already being mentored in Y11 this was arranged.

If the student expressed an interest an initial meeting with a mentor was arranged. (See Mentor-Student Pairing below) If mentor and mentee were happy with the pairing, a brochure and letter was sent home explaining the scheme to their parents.

Mentor - Student pairing

When pairing mentor and student, the SRB / Mentoring Co-ordinator took into account student interests and barriers to learning; mentor and student personalities; gender and ethnicity and mentor experiences.

When a mentor was provisionally identified they were given background information on the student and asked if they were willing to act as mentor to them.

When a mentor agreed to a pairing the student was informed and a first meeting arranged by the SRB Co-ordinator in collaboration with the mentor and student. This first meeting, during school time, was to allow the mentor and student to assess if they were likely to be able to form a good, mentoring relationship.

If mentor and student agreed to continue meeting, a letter was sent home to inform parents who would be working with their child. Parents were invited to contact the SRB Co-ordinator (Simon Midgley), by letter, phone or email, if they needed any further information. If they agreed to their child being included on the Project they signed and returned a permission slip. The mentor was provided with further, more detailed information on the student contained in that student's Individual Programme or from subject staff or form tutor. A meeting with the student's form tutor or a particular subject teacher might be set up if the mentor felt this would help them with the mentoring process.

Mentor - student meetings

Location
These normally took place in a Mentors' Room. These were part of the school's Student Support Suite and provided a comfortable and relaxing environment to help reinforce the more adult and business-like nature of the mentoring process.

Timing
Meetings between mentor and student were usually every two to three weeks, although some mentors preferred to meet more regularly for the first few meetings. Sessions took place during normal lesson time but mentors tried to vary times of meetings so as not to affect the same lesson each time. Each session usually lasted for 50 minutes - one school period.

The dates and times of meetings were entered in an on-line calendar and also in a file in the support suite. Appointment stickers were given to students with the time and date of the next meeting on them to stick in their school diary. These validated students being allowed out of lessons. Students usually received a reminder via form tutors before each meeting. 

Content of meetings
The mentor and mentoring  co-ordinator would have discussed the particular barriers to achievement which a particular student has and what could usefully be discussed during mentoring meetings. The actual content of the mentoring sessions was left to the mentor themselves who would develop it to suit their individual student. In general terms, sessions were likely to focus on what a student could be doing now to raise their achievement in school and to increase their chances of getting on a suitable course or obtaining an appropriate job when leaving school.

In an end-of-project trial, where mentors were working with students in the lower school (Years 8 and 9), they may have been given a more detailed programme of work which they could follow to help enhance their student's achievements. This was the case recently where mentors worked with students with very weak literacy skills. It gave them a structure within which they could base their mentoring.

Individual mentors might have set either short-term or longer-term targets for students to achieve.

Look here at one example of a mentoring session.

Feedback

Mentors provided feedback on what was happening during mentoring sessions to the SRB Co-ordinator. This feedback ideally took place immediately after the meeting, or, immediately before the next meeting. Additionally, the SRB Co-ordinator sometimes contacted the mentor by phone or email later if this was felt necessary. Feedback was also received during the regular mentors' meetings which took place each term.

After mentors' discussion of the issue, formal records of meetings with students were not kept as mentors expressed the feeling that this would detract from the informal nature of the mentor - student relationship. The aim of the mentoring relationship was to be unlike other school-based adult-student relationships. However, most mentors did keep informal notes of what happened in sessions to help them plan the next session, and the mentoring co-ordinator knew what each mentor was doing after listening to feedback from the mentor.

SRB Mentoring Project Meetings

These meetings were held once per term subject to mentors' commitments. The meetings were convened by the SRB Mentoring Co-ordinator, Simon Midgley, who sent an agenda to all mentors, the Lancs Education Business Partnerships contact and the Student Support line manager.

Minutes from the meetings were distributed to all those invited to the meeting either by post or email, as well as to the school's senior management team. They were also available for school staff to access should they have wished.

Evaluation

Mentors and students completed mentoring evaluation forms towards the end of Y11.  (Click here to download the RHS mentoring evaluation form in Adobe Acrobat format.)
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Mentoring was one of the strategies employed at Rhyddings by the SRB Raising Achievement - Enhancing Employability project.

The academic year 1998-99 saw the first SRB students to graduate who had had been part of the SRB mentoring project. Since then the mentoring project become an established feature of our work with students.

IAt the Project close in 2006, there were sixteen mentors involved in the Project. Each year some mentors may leave and others join. Additionally, there were mentors from the local Ittefaq Centre who work with Rhyddings Asian Heritage students only.

Systems were in place to induct new mentors and provide them with guidance.

Communication between mentors, student and co-ordinator were an issue to be resolved initially. Communication routines existed with Simon Midgley, the SRB Project and mentoring co-ordinator playing a key part. Where a mentor has email this is the preferred route for communication.

Regular meetings between mentors were a pivotal part of this communication. Once each term seemed to be a suitable interval, although Simon would talk to each mentor every few weeks, either when they came into school or by phone / email afterwards. Communication is a keystone of successful mentoring.

Email has played a part in maintaining communication and was an area for development as more mentors came on-line. It was also a method of reaching our contact at LEBP,  who may be unavailable by other methods.

In June 2005 the Project fulfilled the criteria for the Excellence in Mentoring Award (now merged into the Approved Provider Standard quality award) from the Mentoring and Befriending Foundation. (This new organisation was launched on Wednesday 15th June 2005 at HM The Tower of London.).

Barriers to the mentoring project

As well as the successes noted above there were issues in the first year of the mentoring project which slowed or blocked development.

The problem with finding a suitable room held up progress initially. Building works in 2001 adversely affected the mentoring project with once again no room available for mentors except on an ad hoc basis. This was resolved once the works were completed but has become an issue again as mentor numbers have increased. Another new build, completed in 2005 may help to ease this issue.

Lack of regular meetings in the first six months of the Project also hampered development. This has now been resolved. Termly meetings of the whole group seem most convenient to mentors. This is supplemented by very regular contact between individual mentors and Simon Midgley, mentor co-ordinator, and between Asian Heritage mentors and Mohammed Akhlaq, Rhyddings Asian community mentoring liaison.

Mentors commented on initial difficulties in contacting the SRB co-ordinator. Now contact details are regularly publicised and Simon is proactive in contacting mentors.

Withdrawing students from normal lessons for mentoring is a concern with some staff. Mentors have responded to this by trying to vary the times at which they meet with students so that the same lesson is not affected each week or fortnight, but as meetings are only once a fortnight or three weeks then this should not be a major issue.

Refreshments are an aid to the mentoring process but are currently difficult to provide. 

A Co-ordinator is necessary and as from December 2005 one was not available and so the Project slowly disintegrated.

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

A co-ordinator is necessary if the Project is to continue past the end of the 2005-06 school year.  

In June 2006 with the early retirement of the co-ordinator, the Project faltered and mentors began to leave the project. In September 2007 the Project had disintegrated and was replaced by the more standard Learning Mentors who are cheaper than teachers . . . . . which means more can be employed. . . .  but their focus is different and they may not have the same high-level qualifications which specialist teachers need.