Mentoring a student is a rewarding experience, where the mentor and mentee can exchange ideas and reflect on practices and strategies together. Clear communication between the mentor Teacher and student about children's safety and wellbeing practices while on placement is essential. Students can also bring new ideas to the learning environment and team.
As the mentor, Teacher's passion and insight are shared, students begin to understand that relationships form the educational core for learning as well as the understanding how important the Early Years is for children and their development.
Steps to ensure when assessing and accepting placement students:
- The student will contact the Campus.
- Campus Leadership is to look at the calendar to ensure there are no double ups of students, if there are none, Leadership is to send a placement link through Zendesk: "Please complete the Woodlands Student Placement Form & Student Placement Induction":
https://stonly.com/guide/en/woodlands-student-placement-induction-form-RfiJZDQBly/Steps/ - This information will be saved on airtable- this will have their WWCC, placement approval doc from the school, start and finish date, how many days per week and what days they prefer.
Campus is to:
- Ensure the student has gone through the induction https://stonly.com/sl/fb4e299f-15d0-47bc-a376-0479314426ca/Steps/ and if they have any questions, then Leadership (Ed Leader) is to answer it. Take them around the Campus and ensure they understand the expectations we have for safe and respectful interactions, processes, procedures and engagements with staff, children and families.
- Ensure the students attendance days are consistent each week and the start and finish times are the same to ensure consistency.
- Leadership are to put in place a 20min and a 30min break, these times will be the same each day to ensure room consistency.
- The ed Leader is to allocate a mentor for the student.
What will the mentor do?
- Ensure the student 1st understands they need to be mindful and respectful with their interactions and engagement with the Woodlands community, this includes children, staff, families.
- The students are aware of the ratio in the room and that they are not to be counted in that ratio.
- That the student is aware of what they need to be doing in the room (room rituals).
- Ensure that is it clearly communicated to the student that placement is their responsibility. It is the students responsibility to approach the mentor and other educators of work they need to complete and learning they want to set up. The student needs to organise respectful times to sit with their mentor to go through their work or any concerns, it is not to be done on the floor with the children.
- Placements provide rich opportunities to learn from the mentors allocated from Leadership
- Mentoring practices enable students to reflect on and build on their practice.
- Mentors support their mentees by offering timely, ongoing feedback and by demonstrating theory in practice in terms of policies, procedures and the Woodlands emerging curriculum plans that are in each room.
Termination of students practicum if this occurs:
- Student harms or is ak risk of harming a child in their care.
- Is under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
- Consistently fails to notify the Service if they will not be attending the Service.
- Is observed using repeated inappropriate behaviour at the Service.
- Does not comply with all policies and procedures addressed in the student package
- Does not provide the photo with an introduction on commencement.
- Does not keep up to date with their work placement tasks.
Policy linking:
https://woodlandelc.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9746925022991-Student-Placement-Policy