William Farr CE Comprehensive School – peer mentoring - attainment – Lincoln

“We have achieved some very impressive and tangible results… All of our mentees have improved their SATS levels.  This was particularly apparent in the number of pupils who moved from a level 6 to a level 7.  Academic peer mentoring is significantly boosting the confidence of our students and improving grades.”

Helen Hunter, Teacher and Project Co-ordinator

With the support of Aim Higher and the Mentoring and Befriending Foundation’s  resources, the school launched a STUDY BUDDIES scheme in 2006. This is an Academic Peer Mentoring scheme set up to mentor students primarily in Science.  Having been launched in September 2005, the scheme went live in January 2006 and had gained accreditation by October 2006. The approach is inclusive - anyone can be a study buddy (regardless of their grades).

The impact of the programme lies in its provision of personalised learning.  The peer mentors have the time to experiment with different methods of teaching – work out which is best suited to their mentee and use this knowledge to help them learn.  All peer mentoring takes place in 2-3 of the Science Labs, mentors see their mentees for ½ hour every week on a mutually convenient day.  On average, all the mentees improved their grade – this was particularly apparent in the number of pupils who moved from a Level 6 to a Level 7. 

Hannah (Yr 9 mentee) was not very confident in science and struggled with circuits and electricity.  With her mentor, Hannah made up a study plan and the mentor also worked with Hannah on what worked best for her and how she learned.  Hannah said:

“Having a peer mentor definitely helped a lot.  You can go over things one-to-one, at your own pace and ask even the silly little things you don’t like to ask in class… .  Looking back, I’d found circuits so hard I probably wouldn’t have even bothered revising them if I’d not had this extra help - but I was able to go into that exam feeling confident.  I definitely saw the results … I came out with A and A-star Double Science at GCSE!

I’m now doing Chemistry and Biology A’ Levels (if someone had told me I’d be doing this in Y9 I’d have said NO WAY … so I suppose it has also influenced my career-choices – I’d like to go to University to do dentistry (or something to do with medicine) so I will need ‘A’s in Chemistry and Biology”. 

Name:           William Farr CE Comprehensive School
Contact:        Helen Hunter
Telephone     01673 866 900  

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