ACADEMIC MENTORING AND COACHING IN SCHOOLS
“Fiona has been an amazing academic mentor to our Year 13 students. She is patient, calm and extremely knowledgeable. Fiona takes the time to understand each individual student and works with them to increase their confidence, raise their aspirations and help them to realise their full potential.
All our students who have been mentored by Fiona have improved their grades significantly and have learnt new techniques to deal with essay writing, revision and exam preparation.
It is clear to see that Fiona genuinely cares about each student and it is a pleasure to work with someone who is not only caring and passionate about young people, but who is a wonderful person too!”
Sixth form manager
We mentor sixth form and GCSE students as well as deliver revision workshops in study skills, revision techniques, exam preparation and UCAS applications.
We support students in achieving and exceeding they target grades through enabling them to find ways of studying that work for them and developing confidence in their own ability.
Our work in schools varies considerably depending on the needs and requirements of each school. We deliver a bespoke package of support and work very closely with the head of achievement and head of year.
Examples of our support in schools have been:
- One to one academic mentoring of cohorts of Year 11 students. These include pupil premium pupils and students who are falling behind their targets.
- One to one academic mentoring of Year 13 students. These include students who are falling behind their targets, students with high university offers or students with personal and emotional challenges to overcome.
- One to one academic coaching before mock exams and GCSEs of the pupil premium Year 11 cohort.
- Delivery of workshops to Year 11, Year 12 and Year 13 on study skills, revision techniques and exam preparation.
“We highly recommend using Student Navigator to support your exam cohorts.” (Assistant principal for student success)
Academic Mentoring
We mentor both GCSE and A level and BTEC students.
We work with students building confidence through teaching study, revision and exam skills. Our mentoring is effective across all subjects.
We coach students in exam skills.
We deliver bespoke one to one sessions.
We work closely with the Head of Year/Achievement to deliver the most effective results.
Academic Coaching
We deliver one to one academic coaching to students in short spells of time before they sit their mock exams, GCSEs or A levels.
The academic coaching focuses on teaching revision techniques and exam skills as well as motivating students to revise and aspire to do well.
Revision Workshops
UCAS Support
We support heads of sixth form in delivering their UCAS support to Y13 students.
This can be through:
All our secondary team of mentors and academic coaches are very experienced professionals who have worked or are still working at a senior level in schools or in higher education.
We work very closely with the school to tailor make our package according to their needs. If you would like to know more about the work we do in schools, or see some impact data, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us. We are also very happy to put you in touch with one of our schools
“As a busy Achievement Lead in a school serving a high proportion of Pupil Premium students, my key concern was finding a tutor who would be able to relate to our students in a meaningful way so that they could access this support. To my delight, Student Navigator were extremely considerate of my request, and paired us up with an idea tutor who has a background working with disadvantaged students.
Our students really enjoyed working with their Student Navigator tutor. They felt special and appreciative of receiving 1:1 time, which we knew that as a staff body we would not be able to afford them otherwise. During their sessions they received personalised support with all aspects of preparing for their exams – from subject specific flashcards to more general revision advice. Our students looked forward to their sessions, and engaged really well.
The level of organisation, and adaptability, was also really appreciated. This meant that when we had to reschedule sessions due to mock exams, or other school events, there was flexibility and ease to ensure we still received a high level of support.
We highly recommend using Student Navigator to support your exam cohorts. For us, selecting students who were generally good attenders, and who had good attitude to learning was key, as it supported them in engaging with a tutor.”
Assistant Principal for Student Success
“Students in both years 10 and 11 appreciated the support from Student Navigator and seemed to really benefit from the strategies and information shared with them. Many saw an increase in grades in comparison to previous grades / mock examinations. In the run up to GCSEs, year 11 students who had participated seemed calmed and had far more information to support them in revising and were also able to share this with their peers.
All students felt supported and were able to see how the information, resources and support provided helped them to increase their grades and benefit their general understanding of what was expected of them.
We would recommend Student Navigator”
Intervention Lead
Student Voice of School Mentored Students 2023/24
%
said that they would recommend the mentoring for other students
%
of the students thought they had made progress in their subjects with most listing Maths, English and/or Science.
When asked how useful students had found the mentoring, with 5 being very useful and 1 being not at all useful, the average response was 4.4.
“Helpful to understand what is needed to ensure you reach your target grade.” (Y11 student)
“Having someone to talk to about specific and niche problems and having somebody being
very understanding and open-minded.”
“It helps me schedule my revision better and improve my grades overall.”
“Organisation with work, knowing what to revise and progressing through work each session.”
“The one to one helps you achieve much better.” (Y11 student)
