Abronhill High School

Maggie McCallum, Headteacher, Abronhill High School, North Lanarkshire

Contents:

• Background
• Working definition
• Key principles of the approach
• S6 mentoring programme
• Key learning
• Looking ahead

Background

Abronhill High School is a small secondary school in Cumbernauld, North Lanarkshire. We have four staff trained in coaching and mentoring at present, Headteacher and Senior Depute trained as part of the Council’s response to the national initiative, one PT Pupil Support and a teacher of chemistry who was trained in coaching and mentoring as part of a 5-14 science strategy within the authority.

The piece of practice considered here is about culture and permeation.

Working definition

Coaching and mentoring is being seen as part of the continuum of ethos and culture development which takes in restorative practice, appropriate personnel policies, leadership development (at all levels), citizenship development, support for pupils and policies on better behaviour - better learning, formative assessment and anti-bullying. 

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Key principles of the approach

The quality of relationships within the school community is critical in seeking growth and improvement; coaching and mentoring techniques are put to use by trained personnel in conversations with different stakeholders in a range of contexts to support the development of productive relationships. 

To spread awareness and knowledge, the headteacher and the chemistry teacher ran a session on coaching and mentoring as part of our ‘learning forum’ model of in-house CPD and to support those staff who volunteer to mentor SQA exam candidates. The following year the session was jointly run by the PT PS and the chemistry teacher, generating considerable interest and a request for more!

With the senior school citizenship and leadership programme, several options for service are targeted to support self-confidence, leadership and further engagement of young people in their school community as active citizens. While we enjoy good support in this area, there is room for improvement, which we believe can impact upon all aspects of achievement.

Kick-start sessions were provided for seniors, with team building, communication and confidence building tasks. Volunteers from senior school were invited in the usual way to become involved in leadership and citizenship options for service:  paired work with younger pupils both in anti-bullying and in supporting learning, charities involvement, enterprise involvement.

Staff leading the different areas adopt some coaching and mentoring techniques in supporting young people to undertake and to develop their role to the full-goal-setting, listening and questioning. These options for service take place throughout the school session and there is evidence of very good levels of engagement and staying power.

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S6 mentoring programme

Within the options for service referred to above, a well developed example is the paired working of seniors with young people experiencing literacy difficulties. As a very focused development from the more familiar paired reading, a group of S6 are undertaking a well structured course in Working With Others. 

• The certificated course supports S6s to deliver effective support for younger learners in writing, reading and in the classroom.
• The confidence levels of the S6s involved have developed: they have been mentored by the teacher in charge of the project and in their turn support the group of younger pupils with literacy skills. 
• The programme is innovative: the S6s have developed games to make learning fun, games which have generated interest within the Council’s literacy strategy team.
• The S6s have been supported to generate high quality work, for example the games already referred to and insightful essays on topics such as dyslexia.
• The group adapts and combines different approaches to arrive at a mix suited to the young learners they are mentoring, for example the use of different IT packages.
• A positive impact has been identified in the work of the S6s on the literacy development and confidence of the supported learners and on classes where the S6s provide input.

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Key learning

Coaching and mentoring can make a valuable contribution to the development of a professional learning community where all of us are learners. The use of listening and questioning techniques to assist participants to share ownership of some potentially difficult conversations.

Looking ahead

The following are planned:

• More integration of techniques from coaching and mentoring within the PRD (professional review and development) process and in career development meetings.
• Mentoring work in the school by a group of staff from a business partner company who volunteered to work with senior school students to support their motivation and progress towards exam success. Exposure to coaching and mentoring training has raised our confidence levels in delivering induction to the company employees.
• Greater use of coaching techniques in absence management.
• Growth of coaching to support leadership development in young people.
• Use of coaching and mentoring as a means of achieving greater consistency in pastoral care delivered across the school

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Contact:  

For more information please email Maggie McCallum.