Assertive Mentoring
YEAR 7
Notes for Parents
All year 7 students should have met with their Mentors on a couple of occasions this year to review their academic progress. Overall our Year 7 students have settled in well and are on target to reach the end of year goals we have set them.
Parents will have received their daughter’s report at the end of term 4. If you haven’t already done so, take a few moments to sit down with your daughter and see just how well she has done. If you have any concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact your daughter’s Form Tutor or Mentor.
Notes for students
The summer terms can be the most fun at Helenswood School. A chance to enjoy the grounds at break and lunch time and have fun PE lessons in the sun and many more events that take place at this time of year. You have made a good start and should be pleased with your efforts. Carry on trying hard in lessons and enjoy the last two terms of the year.
YEAR 11
This is probably the most important time since you started at Helenswood.
Your GCSE Exams will be finished by the end of June. Once they are over there is nothing you can do to improve the results. Until then you should spend as much time as you can preparing yourself so that you do as well as possible.
The results you get will determine what you can do next year – almost every place in our Sixth form or other establishment is dependant on you getting good results – you will have been told what these are for you. If you don’t get these results you will be letting yourself down.
Important steps:
Academically
Revision Scheme/Plan/Timetable/Checklist – whatever you call it – have one and stick to it, checking off when you have done something – be honest you will only be cheating yourself if you are not.
Prepare thoroughly – the best way to avoid exam stress is to be well prepared, to have done plenty of revision and to have answered all the questions on as many exam papers that you can get hold of.
Lifestyle
Put your social life on hold for two months, you will have loads of time after the exam to enjoy yourself.
Eat, drink and sleep sensibly. Your body and brain both need to be well prepared for the ordeal of exams. A balanced, healthy diet with plenty of sleep, revision a couple of hours each day in the run up to the exam, and sleeping from 10.00pm to 7.00am is much better preparation than revision at 12.00 the night before the exam - not a good idea!
Relaxation and exercise are important. Take breaks between revision sessions, allow yourself a short TV break each day, get some exercise, take the dog for a walk, or cat or rabbit, or possibly someone else’s dog. If we have a sunny weekend before the exams don’t get sunburnt, there is nothing worse than sitting in an exam in pain, if you suffer from hay fever, make sure you have the right medication before the exams start. Prepare your mind and body in everyway possible.
If you are seriously worried about anything, don’t just worry – do something about it. Your subject teacher, Form tutor, Mentor or anyone in school will be happy to help.
Students’ FAQs
What is it?
At Helenswood it will mean setting realistic target GCSE grades, regularly assessing you against the targets, congratulating you if you are on target and putting action in place if you're not.
Where do the targets come from?
We work these out by seeing how well you did at primary school and then expecting you to make the same amount of progress at secondary. We have predictions based on thousands of girls in similar schools throughout the country (we only use girls results as they usually do better than boys). We also take into account when your birthday is and where you live, but we don't set lower standards just because some think that people who live in Hastings have no ambition!
Can I do better than my target?
Definitely – Some girls don't do as well at Primary school as they could, these will have lower target grades, with hard work at Helenswood they can easily exceed their targets. If we think that you're one of those, we'll put your targets up.
What if I don't think I can reach my target grades?
Some girls don't carry their enthusiasm for learning from primary schools into secondary, others are 'distracted'. This doesn't mean we will lower your target grades. We will remind you what you are capable of and help you to get back on track.
A very few, perhaps one or two each year have serious problems during their first few years at secondary school and miss out on some of the teaching – for these we will make every effort to help you get back on track, but we will be honest with every student and let them know what a realistic target should be in this case. But this really is only one or two students – we won't let you let yourselves down.
How will I be assessed?
Your teachers will mark key pieces of class work, coursework, homework or tests and assess how you will do in the final GCSE exam if you carry on working as hard as you have done to produce those pieces.
What will actually happen if I am below my target?
You should ask your teacher how to get back on track– you are old enough to do some things for your self! Your Mentor will be asking your teacher as well and he or she will check that you know what you have to do and make sure that you do it.
What if I get so far behind I can't see any point in trying?
Your Mentor will be able to help you organise your work, he or she might negotiate for a little bit of extra time or arrange for someone to help you after school? We all want you to get back on track.
Isn't after school work just a nice way of putting me in detention?
Definitely not! Just keeping you after school is a waste of everyone's time. We will expect you to want to get back on target; if it means staying behind to give you more time then we will do it. Taking time after school will mean you have more individual attention – You should aim to do all of your work in class, but we know that sometimes things don't go the way we want.
What if I really can't get on with my Mentor?
Your Mentor is there to keep you on track, you don't have to like him, if there is a real problem we may consider changing.
Where does my Form tutor fit into Mentoring?
He or she will be interested in how you are getting on, and will tell you Mentor if there are any serious problems they ought to know about. Your Form tutor is still your first point of contact for all of the little things that can go wrong in school, and for things outside school that they have always helped you with. Your Mentor will just focus on your academic progress, how well you are doing in each subject – it won't be that they don't care about you – many will be form tutors as well, but as a Mentor they will just concentrate on helping you reach your targets – it may seem a bit hard at the time, but good grades at GCSE are your passport to choice and success in the future.
For more information refer to the Mentoring section that will soon be in place on the Helenswood Learning Platform.
Any queries email me: bchild@helenswood.e-sussex.sch.uk
