what is a learning mentor?

[polarfox]

I noticed some primary schools in my area have a learning mentor- others do not.

What are those? And why do they only exist in some schools?
(If they only exist in some schools due to funding, then are these schools providing better their pupils?)

My school has one that is attached to our designated provision unit. The area is deprived and there are many issues. She works with children to remove barriers to learning (self esteem, low motivation etc). She's really great and does a fantastic job which makes my job as a teacher easier.

Thanks Sassy, thats interesting, it was a title I had not heard before.
I suppose the teacher 'refers' to them? Do they work with individual pupils or groups of pupils?

She does both intervention groups but also mentors individual children. The unit runs a breakfast club for certain children who finds the transition from home to school hard.

We have a learning mentor in our primary school. She works with children who are having problems in school (eg behaviour, concentration, bullying etc) who are referred by the class teacher. However parents can go to her if they feel that their child is having problems and best of all, children can self-refer.

I went to her last year and found her support absolutely invaluable, as did my child. She has a wealth of experience and has more time than the class teacher to talk to children about their problems.

Thanks guys- sounds like they do an invaluable job, all schools would benefit from one!!
It's an eye opener Cat that some schools are better than others in obtaining funding! Or is it just that some schools dont want to openly admit that they could do with some help, I wonder?

My school employs just such a person cat and her wage is funded by the savings and grants she accesses although it isn't popular with LAs as they like schools to use their services for everything.