Volunteer Sixth Form mentors at Hemsworth Arts and Community College offer targeted support to Year 11 students on the C/D borderline in maths and English.
The mentors are students from Years 12 and 13 at the West Yorkshire college who gained a Grade C or higher in the subjects at GCSE. They have been through the GCSEs and know what it takes to get the grades, and can effectively communicate with the Year 11s to advise on issues such as exam technique.
Mentees are identified by the school's rigorous assessment point data, and selected for their willingness to take part. Marc Howell, Hemsworth's peer mentoring co-ordinator explains that it takes a level of maturity to commit to peer mentoring, and it would be counter-productive to force a student to be involved. But does it work?
