Peer mentoring: are you missing out?

Research evidence from the Education Endowment Foundation confirms that peer mentoring can be a low-cost, high impact intervention. At FunKey we really believe in maths mentoring and have supported hundreds of schools to set up a maths mentoring programme.

An external evaluation into the FunKey Peer Mentoring program confirmed that mentees made good progress in the target areas and there were significant other social and emotional benefits for mentors and mentees.

To see success you need three key things: a set of highly structured activities, high quality initial training for mentors and a member of staff who is committed to the program.

We can get you started on your mentoring journey with our tried and tested Five Steps program which tackles gaps in times table knowledge.

You can expect not just higher scores on times table tests but also improvements in confidence and self-esteem. Maths mentoring is also an effective way of tackling maths anxiety: a student with maths anxiety will engage more readily with another student particularly if the learning includes games.

Older children in primary schools are a huge untapped resource and have so much to gain themselves from taking on a maths mentoring role.

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Contact us to talk about peer mentoring at your school

“We had a pupil premium review in school today and I know they were very impressed with the impact FunKey Maths peer mentoring is having. I honestly think it’s one of the best interventions we have!”

Jane Robinson
Brunel Field and Ashley Down, Bristol

Getting started

To support you to get up and running we provide everything you need: physical resources, training notes and 90 minutes of bespoke online training sessions for staff overseeing the program. We are happy to work with schools from all over the world and can arrange training to suit your timetable.

To get started go to shop and select the peer mentoring starter pack. This is the starter pack for a group of six mentors and includes the cost of all physical resources and personalised training for your school. If you would like to start with a larger mentor group, you can simply buy additional card packs.

The cost of resources and training is approximately the cost of one day’s supply cover, but that investment will set you up for years of sustainable high quality intervention for the students who need it most.

After you attend the online training you will be ready to get started on your mentor training. Our approach helps mentors think about communication, how to encourage and motivate learners and how to correct them. It focuses on key mathematical language and explains how memory works so that mentors fully understand the importance of repeating activities to embed learning. Leadership skills are also explored.

“It’s taken a load off my workload with the lower attainers – the repetition has worked so well and they are applying it in lessons.”

Sara Phillips
Teaching Assistant, Ledbury Primary

Once trained, mentors can work with minimal supervision

You can train any number of mentors. Some schools start with a small group of six mentors, while others feel confident to start with a bigger group. (We know of one English secondary school with 59 mentors!) Some primary schools have even undertaken whole class mentor training as they found the training to be beneficial for building positive relationships within a class.

Once mentoring is underway, it should generally be 1:1 and the mentor/mentee pairing should be stable to allow a relationship of trust to develop. Mentoring sessions can be as little as 10 mins. Ideally there would be two or more sessions per week. These can be timetabled flexibly.

A school wanting to introduce maths peer mentoring should identify a member of staff who will be the peer mentoring champion and lead the program. This staff member takes responsibility for training and co-ordinating the mentors, pairing mentors and mentees, supervising sessions and signing off mentees when they complete the program. The peer mentoring champion will attend the online training.

Don’t miss out!

We developed our maths peer mentoring programme with the help of charitable funding from Nesta’s Maths Mission. Over the last ten years, we have seen the transformational effects of maths peer mentoring on many young children and we want all schools to benefit.

We are sure you will be delighted by the energy and enthusiasm you see in mentoring sessions. Children engage so positively with each other in a structured 1:1 setting. The positive relationships mentors build with their mentees transform children’s attitudes to maths and open the gates to progress.

“I was gobsmacked how good she was. She could have been employed.”

Lisa George, Deputy Head,
Port Talbot, about a Year 5 mentor

Funkey Maths and peer mentoring