Bryan Slater Director of Education	Distribution
	All Schools

This document needs your action as detailed below:

ACTION	Title	Mentoring new headteachers
	Summary of contents	MI sheet, letter and questionnaire
	Associated documents	None
	Date	11^th May 2004
	Summary of action required	Complete online questionnaire
	To be completed by	18^th June 2004
	LEA Contact	Kevin Cowan	(	01603 433276
	E-mail address	Kevin.cowan@norfolk.gov.uk
	Norfolk Self Review reference	7. How well is the school led and managed?
	Document reference	MI 115-04

To Headteachers of all schools

Dear Colleague

As many of you will know, the Headlamp Programme for new Headteachers was superseded in September 2003 by the Headteacher Induction Programme (HIP), run by NCSL through a series of regional centres. For us, the regional centre is the Eastern Leadership Centre (ELC) based in Cambridge.

My reason for writing to you at this time is to outline further changes to the programme from September 2004 that will give opportunity for Headteachers in Norfolk to be trained by ELC to be mentors for new first time Headteachers in the County. This will replace the existing Norfolk arrangements for providing mentors.

It will remain the responsibility of the LEA to identify mentors for new Headteachers and to that end, I am proposing to develop a pool of experienced Headteachers, willing to undertake the role outlined below.

The role of the mentor

The Mentor’s role is to:

Ø Act as a sounding board and provide opportunities to share ideas and concerns

Ø Provide emotional support and reassurance

Ø Provide friendship in an informal relationship

Ø Act as a resource and a link with others

Ø Share knowledge of the school system locally and nationally

Ø Assist the Mentee in solving problems without assuming that there is a right answer

Ø Offer support and challenge

Ø Respect the experience of the Mentee and the context in which they work

Ø Respect differences in learning and leadership styles

Ø Treat all discussions in the strictest confidence

Expectations of Mentors

It is expected that Mentors will:

Ø Be knowledgeable about headship

Ø Be able to listen well

Ø Offer impartial advice

Ø Take on the role for at least a year

Ø Make the first contact with the HIP participant with whom they have been paired, usually at the end of the term before the appointment commences

Ø Confirm contact details

Ø Mutually agree with the Mentee

o The frequency of contact

o Whether contact is face-to-face or by telephone or a mixture of both

o Where meetings will be held, i.e. on neutral ground or in one or the other school

Ø Meet fact-to-face with their Mentee at least termly

Ø Be in telephone contact at least monthly

Ø Agree the agenda before meetings

Ø Keep a record of their contact with the Mentee.

Taken from the ELC HIP - guidance for mentors

At the moment, I am looking for expressions of interest in this development which will offer experienced Headteachers a different professional development opportunity. If you are interested, but would like to know more, further details will be available at the briefing meetings:

· Monday, 6^th July at West Norfolk PDC in Kings Lynn, 4.30 – 5.30

· Tuesday, 7^th July at Norwich PDC, 4.30 – 5.30

Yours faithfully

Kevin Cowan

Adviser