Mentoring is about unlocking a person's potential to maximise their own performance – it is helping them to learn rather than teaching them.

Mentoring involves the use of the same models and skills of questioning, listening, clarifying and reframing associated with coaching. Mentoring relationships work best when they move beyond the directive approach of a senior colleague ‘telling it how it is’, to one where both learn from each other. An effective mentoring relationship is a learning opportunity for both parties.

It is also important to note that once a match has been made, it's in the hands of the mentee to organise meetings and work with you to achieve their goals.  Handing ownership of the partnership to the mentee early on can help make great progress and lead to a strong relationship.

Mentoring Sixth Form pupils
For safeguarding purposes, if you are working with a current Sixth Form pupil, please do not offer or agree to share your private or work contact details and do not request that pupils share contact details or social media accounts with you.

Mentoring fellow alumna
These restrictions do not apply if you are working with a fellow alumna. You can, of course, discuss and agree the most mutually convenient way to be in touch – whether that’s over email, via a video meeting or face-to-face.

One way to approach your role as a mentor is through the ‘Grow’ method:

Goal
Going through the goal setting process with your mentee can help you to understand what their short- and long-term objectives are.

Reality
What is the mentee’s current position? How can you support them in creating a path from their current reality towards their goals?

Options
Consider all the options available to your mentee: are there paths that they might not have thought of? What are the pros and cons of each option?

Way Forward
Empower your mentee to make their own decision about the best way forward for them.

Here are some questions you can use to prompt your mentee at the beginning:

● What are you hoping to get out of this?
● What will you do first?
● How much energy/time are you willing to put into that?
● What does success look like?
● How will you know when you have reached your goal?
● What could I do to support you?
● What’s holding you back?
● What are you waiting for?

Communication

All communications should remain suitably formal in content and language and always be professional. Please try to respond to mentoring messages in a timely manner within a timescale you have agreed with the mentee.

Use the settings in your Holles Connect profile to limit the number of pupils who can approach you at any one time, if you’d like to, or to mark yourself temporarily unavailable during busy periods etc.

For safeguarding purposes, if you are working with a current Sixth Form pupil, please do not offer or agree to share your private or work contact details, or your social media accounts, and do not request that pupils share contact details or social media accounts with you.

As part of the measures we’ve taken to protect and ensure the safety and wellbeing of pupils, we have asked parents to give their written permission for Sixth Formers to take part in virtual mentoring by Holles Connect members and assured them that communication will only take place via the Holles Connect platform. It is imperative that communication with Sixth Form pupils must take place in writing via the Holles Connect messaging app only. 

These restrictions should stay in place until the pupil has graduated from the school after A levels. Once they have become a former student of LEH, you will be able to communicate directly should you wish to continue the mentor/mentee partnership.

If you are assisting an alumna, you are obviously free to communicate as you prefer.

Monitoring
The LEH Careers Team reserve the right to read messages to Sixth Form pupils sent through the Holles Connect system and will routinely monitor conversations at random for safeguarding purposes.