Absent NQT mentor

[Rachellow]

Hello, I'm a KS1 NQT in a small primary school and I really don't know what I'm supposed to be doing with my mentor. Whilst I've been introduced to her I've only ever exchanged greetings. She's made no attempt to contact me and due to staggered break/lunch there's no opportunity to spontaneously meet. We're heavily discouraged from going into other classrooms as it's not my bubble and I think she was shielding. Also I've lost 7 after schools in 2 weeks due to a 12 hour autism course and staff meetings. I genuinely thought she would be the proactive one and imagined weekly meetings which all of my PGCE friends have had. I really don't know what the norm is.
Whilst I'm enjoying teaching and my class I feel like I'm just expected to know things and are being left to do my own thing. To put into context my first placement mentor was amazing and v proactive and I only did half my teaching days due to COVID as I was supposed to teach 80% Easter to July. Whilst my HT is good she's v busy and I don't want to keep asking her a million questions but I'm missing stuff. Despite asking about CP on my first day I only found out about a child had experienced domestic violence when I queried why he'd been removed from my class on Wednesday and it turns out it was counselling but no one would have told me if I hadn't run round at lunch looking for the SENCO. This has freaked me out tbh as there's a strict dad can't collect order which again no one told me. My lovely TA is good for school specific stuff but I have no idea what I'm doing about data and assessment as my 2nd placement was to focus on this. We had to do about 5 tests last week and I don't really know what to do with it. My HT knows I missed my 2nd placement btw but made me Music Lead despite literally teaching it for the first time last week.

Sorry this is long but whilst I feel ok about the general in the classroom stuff which is taking up much off my time, I feel like I'm missing all the other stuff. The only other teacher I see regularly is the Y1 (I'm Y2) but she's new to the school as well and honestly v irritating.

I would email her ( sorry huge secondary here so staff to staff email usual) and ask to set up a mentor meeting. If she doesn’t want to do face to face then do it via teams.

Sorry you are lacking in mentor support. I work in secondary and I am an NQT mentor this year - I have met my NQT "formally" every week and make sure I see him every day just to check in. The current situation is hard but NQTs still need and deserve the support.

I would email her and ask to set up a meeting, offer to have it on teams if that's more comfortable for her. You should have an observation in the first 4 weeks -has this been organised?

The HT is ultimately responsible for your induction, so that's where you need to go.

Also, you should both have the same protected non-contac

Grrr...

You should both have the same non-contact time (which cannot be taken for cover) to meet together.

However, induction is the NQT's responsibility, so you should be the one that is doing the chasing.

The child protection issues are very worrying. Make an appointment with the DSL to say that you belatedly found out something critical and only avoided a serious breach by luck.

Email your mentor to ask when meetings will take place. It is still only week 2, but you do need your first formal meeting by the end of next week. Weekly meetings are ideal, but fortnightly is not unusual. Given you feel you have missed some key information already though, you are right to aim for weekly to start with at least.

HT if you don’t get a satisfactory response. Appropriate Body (the LA or teaching school you are registered with) if the HT doesn’t take it seriously and sort things out. You should NOT be a subject lead for anything. Remind the HT that NQTs are not expected to take on any additional responsibilities.

By the end of this month you should have a regular mentor meeting schedule, have discussed specific training needs (eg if school uses a phonics scheme that’s new to you) have seen DSL and SENDCo, know when your first observation will be and know who to go to for help for different things or when your mentor is not available. If your phase leader can’t help with assessment, a meeting with assessment lead.

If the bubble arrangements mean you can’t be observed or observe others in class, ask about outdoor lessons or using video. You need feedback and you need to see good practice in your new school.

It’s possible your mentor is overwhelmed by being back in school with all the negative media coverage about the rate of spread and testing etc, but you are right to not want time to run away with no action.

Great advice on this thread.

I'm an NQT in a primary too - fwiw I had my first weekly review with my mentor today and took an hour. My first observation is next week too, so we spent time looking at targets.

Re the school info, definitely send a few emails off to the safeguarding lead or year lead requesting any further important handover details.

I hope things settle into a routine for you!

Have you joined a union? They can be quite helpful with advice about the expectations of your NQT year.

Why not email your mentor and ask for a schedule of meetings (weekly) and observations during your NQT. Someone should be observing you quite regularly! You do have to be the one doing the chasing. If you email then you have a record of when you asked these questions.

In all the schools I know, NQTs cannot be subject leaders, so maybe ask her about that too.

Is your NQT CPD provided by a scheme (like Salesian Teaching School Alliance) if so, they will have advice for you.

Good luck!

You could suggest meeting by Google meet/Zoom etc if face to face is tricky.

But make sure that you keep lots of notes!

We don't give our NQTs and their mentors the same protected non contact. But they are expected to have a formal minuted meeting at least once a fortnight.
As induction tutor, I saw all my NQTs teaching last week and will meet with each of them next week to see how they're going on.
Do you have a named contact at the appropriate body? If you're getting nowhere in school, you need to contact them.

Thanks so much for all your comments. Re the subject leading there’s only 8 teachers so I don’t think they wanted to triple up people and music’s using a scheme so not lots of work in comparison to the big ones. But equally it doesn’t seem to be the norm and it’s not like I’ve ever given indication of being musical.
I think I do need to be proactive and just email her instead of hoping for spontaneous chats in the corridor.
Yes I do belong to a union but need to check who our rep is. Thank you!

I'd be inclined to email asking for a meeting and suggesting a regular slot for it that looks like it will work. This term has been more hectic than normal so you might have dropped to the bottom of the list. Not ideal but maybe also not surprising. It's perhaps also worth you suggesting things for the first agenda. I set the agenda for the whole school sessions but if an NQT wants something specific one week, that can normally be accommodated.