'My mentor at school helps me so much – she is like an angel. I don’t find it easy to talk about my problems. I try to keep it back and put on my smile but sometimes it gets so heavy in my heart and I have to lay it out.'

All staff can contribute to welcoming and supporting new arrivals and their families, identifying needs and tracking and monitoring early progress. Many schools may wish to develop staff roles in order to support new arrivals’ curriculum induction.

Schools have a range of teaching assistants and other support staff whose roles can often be further developed to ensure the inclusion of all new arrivals.

These may include:

• administrative staff, including those working with visitors and parents at reception
• teaching and classroom assistants
• Connexions personal advisers
• learning mentors
• bilingual language assistants
• community development workers
• lunchtime supervisors
• home/school support staff
• other adults helping in the school.

Some may be involved in specific projects, including minority ethnic achievement projects that are linked closely to supporting new arrivals. They might already be working as part of a school-based coordinated multi-agency team, leading on pupil participation, leading out of school activities, making specific contributions to the PSHE and citizenship curriculum related to global citizenship, or involved with Healthy School activities.

The role of support staff: some suggestions

For staff roles to be developed effectively, they need to meet in order to plan strategies.

Support staff are more effective if they are involved in strategy planning meetings. Clear routines and admission procedures help planning. The 'School admission policies' and the 'Admission procedures' areas of this site provide guidance on this.

Teaching assistants and other support staff can make significant contributions to supporting new arrivals in a variety of ways.

• They can make newly arrived pupils and their families feel welcome. It is important to remember that many new pupils and their parents or carers might be anxious about their new environment. Some new arrivals, for example refugees and asylum seekers, might have experienced hostility and prejudice.
• They can provide families with access to interpretation and translation support. The 'Interpreting and translation' area of the site gives guidance on this.
• They can liaise with other agencies and services to ensure that new arrivals and their families are signposted or referred to the support and advocacy they need to manage and thrive in their new environment.
• They can contribute to the initial assessment of new arrivals’ needs. The 'Initial assessment' area of this site gives guidance on this.
• They can support the settling in of more vulnerable pupils. This might include setting short-term targets linked to success criteria for social and academic progress, tracking and monitoring progress and keeping records, and carrying out reviews with the new pupil, key staff and the pupil’s parent or carer.
• They can extend or set up peer support systems, for example through training, debriefing and accreditation. The peer support area of the site gives guidance on this.
• They can develop strategies and resources to acknowledge and celebrate diversity through assemblies, displays and festival-related and national event-related activities.
• Guidance on how bilingual language assistants and additional adults can further support new arrivals in the curriculum is given in the 'Children with little or no prior education' and 'Working with additional adults in the classroom' areas of the site.

Induction mentors

The DCSF's Managing pupil mobility: guidance was the culmination of a pupil mobility project involving 51 secondary schools with high mobility. Most of these schools piloted an induction mentor scheme where mentors were given the remit of supporting mobile pupils and identifying any barriers to learning. This meant that teachers were better able to manage competing priorities.

The DCSF guidance provides an introduction to the role of the induction mentors, the skills they need and some case studies giving accounts of their work. These show the beneficial effects of their role (chapter 4.2). Further case studies throughout the guidance give examples of good practice, and these include a case study example of an induction mentor’s tracking and record keeping (chapter 6.1).

Managing pupil mobility: a handbook for induction mentors provides guidance for schools wishing to develop induction mentoring strategies.

Guidance includes:

• how to develop the role within the context of whole-school procedures and practice
• understanding the needs of new arrivals
• effective procedures for induction
• interviewing new pupils and their families
• gathering, analysing and sharing information
• accessing further support for new arrivals.

Appendices include an induction mentor’s toolkit with proformas and guidance sheets, useful at both primary and secondary level.

The Managing pupil mobility: guidance and the Managing pupil mobility: a handbook for induction mentors can be found on the Pupil Mobility area of the DCSF website.

Useful weblinks

Please note: QCA is not responsible for the content of external sites

National Mentoring Network
The National Mentoring Network (NMN) exists to help support the growth of mentoring in its various forms. Its aims are to:

• promote the development of mentoring
• offer advice and support to those wishing to set up or develop mentoring programmes
• provide a forum for the exchange of information and good practice National Mentoring Network.

NMN: Peer mentoring – a resource pack for schools
The National Mentoring Network (NMN) and the DCSF, in partnership with experienced mentoring practitioners and schools, have developed this resource pack.

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