Mentoring Programme for Bilingual Learners in Camberley
University of the third age stepped in to help a school who had a significant number of students who were speakers of other languages. The result was a mentoring project which has been hailed as a great success by all.
The mentoring programme started early in 2008 as a result of a meeting at the Surrey Heath Community Learning Partnership when John Edwards, Headteacher of King’s International College in Camberley, spoke about difficulties integrating significant numbers of newly arrived Nepali students. Trevor Mitchell of the area’s University of the Third Age was looking for opportunities for his members and a meeting was arranged together with ELMS (Surrey County Council Ethnic and Language Minority Support).
ELMS was completing a brief on a Learning Mentoring Programme for Bilingual students in Surrey Secondary schools, and was beginning to consider the selection of pilot schools to implement the programme. The target group for this project, would be Year 12 Nepali students facing English Literature re-sits in GCSE. Mentors would support the students for 1-2 hours per week until the end of May and the start of the examination period.
All the volunteer mentors (12 in total) met to be trained by ELMS in school during January. A second training session was held jointly by ELMS and the 6th Form English teacher on relevant features of the examination course. Work began in February. The Mentors both gave and received a great deal from participation in this programme, finding the experience enjoyable and sometimes challenging. They strongly felt they were making a significant contribution to the lives of their students and in return welcomed the friendships and the diverse experiences they were sharing with them. The students rated four of the mentors excellent and five as very good. The teacher concerned rated the overall effort as excellent.
The Head teacher, John Edwards said: “It has been an overwhelmingly successful project which has seen clear benefits gained by the implementation of mentors throughout the student group. These benefits relate largely to improved understanding shown in class discussion and work undertaken by mentors in a whole class context. It has sent a very strong signal that the target students, requiring additional support to access their courses, have a valued place in school, have people to whom they can turn for help and guidance and have opportunities to make progress in a non-threatening environment.”
Students who were paired with a mentor have felt special. Many students, who were not directly supported by mentors, wished they had been! As a result, many mentors doubled up to provide support for non-EAL (English as an additional language) vulnerable students. They then benefited in turn from the support and conversation from a friendly and non-judgmental adult, whose sole aim was guidance. Students have genuinely valued their Mentors’ input, and in doing so have demonstrated improved behaviour and attitudes.
ELMS was asked about the significance to the local community: “Essentially there is now a core of retired professional adults in the locality who are willing the school and its students to do well, and who want to support us. It is hoped that the project will foster far closer links with this community, and begin to bridge the cultural and generation gaps which may currently prevail. This Learning Mentoring Programme is exactly the sort of project that typifies our commitment to the community cohesion agenda.”
The programme is now operating in other areas and the challenge is for a lead person to make use of U3A’s generous offer to help those children who have problems with English in our schools.
