Learning Mentor (Kettering)

Location: Tresham College - Kettering Campus

Benefits: People’s pension, Retail and Leisure Discounts, excellent professional and personal development opportunities, accessing college courses.

Contract Type: Permanent - Term Time

About the role:

We are currently seeking a Learning Mentor to join our Student Services department at The Bedford College group.

As a Learning Mentor, you play an important role in the success of our students through:

• Welfare and support - understanding starting points and working with students to develop resilience, growth mind set and strategies to help them to prepare for their next step and the World of work.
• Ensuring consistently high attendance and readiness to learn while proactively tackling persistent absence.
• Working with students who are ‘at risk’ due to welfare issues, undertaking early interventions to provide support and removing barriers in order to improve their learning opportunities (caseload of circa 250 learners).
• Providing support for vulnerable students by being a conduit between internal and external support agencies and curriculum teams.
• Carrying out all aspects of the role in line with TBCG culture and values
• Ensuring the student experience is kept at the heart of everything your Directorate does
• Working closely with the Head of Department, Course Manager, parents, teaching team and relevant external agencies to ensure maximum student progression
• Working with students to ensure that attendance and punctuality is excellent and that students understand the impact positive attendance has
• Tracking and supporting the progress and development of each student using TBCG approved systems (ProMonitor), processes and procedures. Ensuring that information including contact details, health information, intended destination, barriers to learning and additional interventions are accurate and up to date on ProMonitor
• Working alongside course teams to provide pastoral support, improve attendance, retention and achievement, encouraging both internal and external progression to enhance the quality of the student journey.
• Maintaining accurate records of all interventions including one to one meetings on ProMonitor
• Supporting student progression including assisting with UCAS applications, personal statements and reference preparation, and recording destinations
• Producing regular reports on:
  • Monitoring and mentoring activities associated with their caseload
  • The progress of “at risk students”
  • Tracking and monitoring all vulnerable student groups
• Working with Teachers and other TBCG staff to plan and deliver appropriate one to one support
• Working with other support teams within TBCG to promote a holistic system of support
• Embracing the development opportunities presented to you and seek out for yourself learning opportunities which will transform your work, so you meet and exceed the role requirements
• Attending other TBCG campuses for team management, meetings etc. where required
• Supporting and participating in invigilation during exam periods
• Supporting and participating in TBCG open days and other key events
• Being responsible for promoting and safeguarding the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and for raising any concerns in line with BCG policy and procedure
• Being responsible for promoting equality & diversity in line with BCG policy and procedure
• Being responsible for following health & safety requirements in line with BCG policy and procedure
• Participating proactively in training & development including any required qualification development

About you:

• Hold Math's and English GCSE’s (Grade A – C) or equivalent level 2
• Be willing to work towards Level 2 Safeguarding and Youth Mental Health First Aid qualification if not already held
• Have knowledge and awareness of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
• Have experience of working in a student support or related role
• Have experience of providing careers advice and guidance or education to young people and/or adults
• Have good verbal and written communication, organisational, interpersonal, and prioritisation skills
• Possess the ability to work effectively with students, including vulnerable students
• Possess the ability to deal with sensitive data confidentially
• Possess the ability to work both alone and within a team
• Possess the ability to travel to all campus locations for meetings, events, training etc.
• Possess the ability to adapt working hours to changing needs in the business when these occur

Interviews to be held: 07 March 2025

Successful candidates must also be able to demonstrate alignment to our organisational VISION values:

• Valuing Teamwork - We are one team who by working together can achieve great things, respecting the opinion and valuing the contribution each of us makes.
• Improving Continuously - We challenge ourselves to always do better by trying new things, sharing knowledge, reflecting on practice and learning from others.
• Student Centred - At our heart is always doing what is best for our students. We consider students in all of our decision making to create positive outcomes and memorable experiences for every student.
• Inclusive - We celebrate differences and diversity, recognising that we can learn from each other.
• Open and Caring - We care about the wellbeing of our staff, our students, our community and wider society, creating an environment built on trust where we listen, engage with and support each other.
• Nurturing Education Excellence - We promote educational excellence by delivering programmes that challenge our students to achieve their ambitions.

About Bedford College Services (BCS)

BCS is A multi-faceted enterprise that operates across the leisure, hospitality, catering, theatre and facilities hire sectors.

The purpose of BCS is to provide a suite of commercial services to the staff and students of The Bedford College Group and to the wider community. Always striving to provide the highest quality of product and services and endeavouring to ensure that its supply chain complies with modern day thinking of sustainability, carbon emissions and modern slavery. BCS will bid for external contracts to provide those services, exploiting its management skills and capacity. Additionally BCS works to enrich student and staff experience within the Group through work experience, qualifying courses or apprenticeship, actively engaging withing the communities it operates in.

About The Bedford College Group

The Bedford College Group was formed in 2017 following the merger of Bedford College and Tresham College and is now the largest provider of education in the South East Midlands, with over 15,000 students passing through our doors each year.

Today, the Group is made up of a family of colleges across Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire: Bedford College, Central Bedfordshire College and Tresham College in the towns of Bedford, Dunstable, Leighton Buzzard, Corby, Kettering and Wellingborough; Shuttleworth College, a specialist land-based college; The Bedford Sixth Form, (the only dedicated sixth form in Bedford); The Corby Sixth Form, (opened in September 2023); and the National College for Motorsport alongside Silverstone race circuit. To widen accessibility to education and training, the Group also has community-based Learning Centres in Bedford, Corby and Kettering which offer IT training.

Safeguarding our Students

The Bedford College Group is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. The successful candidate will be subject to thorough vetting process which includes, an enhanced DBS check and satisfactory references.

This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and the Exceptions Order 1975, provides information about which convictions must be declared during job applications and related exceptions and further information about filtering offences can be found in the DBS filtering guide. The Bedford College Group's policy on Employment of Ex-Offenders is attached to this vacancy.

Candidates who are barred from working with children are reminded it is a criminal offence to apply for this post.

Job Description:

Learning Mentor [TL8] Jun24 V2 2.docx

Advert information