Site blog
By Hampshire EMTAS Specialist Teacher Advisor Claire Barker
© Copyright Hampshire EMTAS 2018
‘I really need the toilet but I don’t know where it is!’
‘Will anyone like me?'
On speaking to many children their biggest fears when joining a school are the toilets and making friends. Many worry that they won’t know where the toilet is; some worry that they will be too scared to ask to go and some worry that there are certain toilets for certain year groups. Many children worry that they won’t make new friends and that no one will like them. They are missing their friends from their old school and lack the confidence to break into established groups to find friends.
Starting a new school at an irregular time of the academic year can be a daunting and frightening experience for some children and cause them great anxiety.
The New Arrivals Ambassadors Scheme
This programme is a hybrid peer mentoring course specially designed to train pupils to support the needs of new entrants into your school community with a focus on vulnerable pupils like Service children, Looked After children and Travellers. Its aim is to ensure that no pupil joining a school at an irregular entry point in the year is left to feel alone and confused.
The New Arrivals Ambassador Scheme trains a cohort of established pupils to guide a new entrant through their school day and to explain how it all works.
This programme is designed to be low key and informal within a limited time. The Ambassadors will learn skills in listening and communicating and they will help the new entrant to grow in confidence and independence in their new setting.
How does the Scheme work?
Each school chooses a member of staff who will have responsibility for choosing the children who are to become Ambassadors. This can be done in a variety of ways: cherry picking the most suitable children, asking for applications for the new role, using the existing school council. It is entirely up to the school how they pick their children – it has to be what works best for you and your setting.
The designated member of staff informs parents of the children that their child is going to be trained for this specialised role and how this role will impact on the whole school community.
The chosen pupils then undergo around four hours of training and this too is delivered in a way that suits your school best.
However, the good news is, you are given all the resources and lesson planning and the letters home in the New Arrivals Ambassadors pack so there is no additional work for you to do if you are the designated adult. You only have to photocopy and deliver!
When the children are all trained they are then ready to be let loose on any new children arriving in the school. It is your job as the designated adult to choose the best Ambassador for the new child to help them settle down quickly and happily.
What are the benefits for the school?
This programme is very effective when planned within the whole school context and is designed to form part of the school’s response to improving outcomes for children and young people particularly from vulnerable groups. It is well placed in Citizenship and PSHE, Healthy Schools, FBV and SMSC. It is valuable in promoting good attendance and behaviour and the development of social skills by pupils. It promotes pupil voice and pupil leadership. The main benefit for the school is new children arriving and feeling safe and secure with a known peer to support them.
How does the NAA scheme differ from the Young Interpreters Scheme (YI)?
Both schemes are mentoring and buddying schemes but the focus is different. The NAA scheme is a short sharp peer mentoring scheme that aims to support all children within your school who arrive at irregular times of the academic year,with the main focus on Service children, Looked After children and Gypsy, Roma, Traveller children. The Young Interpreters Scheme is aimed at supporting children with English as an Additional Language (EAL); like the NAA, the scheme encourages schools to enrol children from all types of backgrounds and not only those that are the main focus of the schemes. Both schemes look at issues like safeguarding, being friendly though not necessarily a best friend, negotiation skills and ways to build up self-esteem and confidence through the training of the Interpreters and the Ambassadors. Both schemes can run concurrently in a school as Young Interpreters and New Arrival Ambassadors target different pupils.
Where do I go from here?
The resource pack costs £45 including the resources CD and film DVD as well as an information DVD. To find out more visit our website.
If you would like a chat about NAA please contact me: claire.barker@hants.gov.uk
If you would like a chat about YI please contact: astrid.dinneen@hants.gov.uk
Or alternatively, if you are raring to go, visit the EMTAS shop for an order form.