Behaviour Mentor

We are looking for a Behaviour Mentor to join our strong and supportive team.

You will need to have great behaviour management and mentoring skills, alongside motivation, passion, patience and an ability to emotionally support children from various backgrounds and situations.

You will have the ability to communicate effectively with students, staff and parents, as this is imperative in ensuring that effective pastoral support is provided for all our pupils.

Here at Harris Academy Orpington, we have worked hard to create an environment where we look after and care for each other. Whilst being incredibly rewarding, working in schools can sometimes be hard. Colleagues at Harris Academy Orpington know that we work together as a team and we look out for each other; the environment here is one of care, nurture and support, along with a bit of challenge!

About Us

Harris Academy Orpington opened in September 2016, joining the highly successful Federation of Harris academies in London and the senior leaders here are experienced in creating and running great schools and that is what we are doing in BR5. We are a community school that serves families in and around Orpington and we are well on our way towards providing an outstanding education for the students who come here. We want out students to succeed and have choices in their lives; to take control of their futures and achieve beyond their dreams. We are ambitious, tenacious and enterprising and committed to helping our students succeed. Our work as a Health Science Specialist school, with students being given access to recognised professional qualifications, work experience and careers is unique and is designed to help and support the whole community who are regularly invited into the Academy to hear from guest speakers.

We have the most incredible facilities; with brand new science labs, 3 Main Halls, Dance Studios, 3 Astro Turfs, Drama Studios, dedicated Art and DT blocks, we are incredibly proud of the work that our students do here. We have developed a curriculum that is ambitious and broad. We believe in the need to nurture an appreciation of human creativity and achievement and have designed a curriculum that does just that.

We aim to ensure that every student is inspired and supported to achieve his/her personal best and learning comes first. Our motto is “Together We Can” and if you are interested in joining us, we would be very keen to meet you.

Main Areas of Responsibility

Your responsibilities will include:

• Supporting the consistent implementation of our behaviour policy
• Taking responsibility for the calm and purposeful movement of students into/out of the academy and around the academy between lessons
• Working with the other members of the behaviour team to ensure students are monitored and supervised before school, during break and throughout lunch
• Managing detentions every afternoon.
• Acting as the liaison between the academy and the local community (including the Police) for any aspect of behaviour issues arising during the academy day, such as truancy sweeps and liaising with local shopkeepers
• Overseeing the entrance of students into the breakfast club
• Ensuring that students enter the building in full academy uniform and if not, following the agreed procedures
• Ensuring that faculty points are awarded as appropriate
• Ensuring that follow up action is taken for students failing to meet academy standards
• Designing and delivering, alongside the SLT, a variety of agreed enrichment and sporting activities
• Following through any behavioural issues, such as taking student statements regarding incidents and passing these on to relevant colleagues
• Mentoring students on PSPs, including supporting in lessons if required and presenting progress reports at review meetings
• Preparing students' files for disciplinary panels or exclusion hearings
• Ensuring all student safety issues, such as allegations of bullying, are passed on to academy colleagues for further investigation as required
• Supervising students internally excluded, including liaising with the AP for behaviour to deliver the curriculum offer and supporting re-integration back into mainstream lessons
• Liaising with teaching staff to ensure appropriate work is set and appropriate provision is in place
• Liaising with parents/carers and relevant staff to ensure smooth transition to and from internal exclusion
• Maintaining a calm and purposeful learning environment;
• Following up on any truancy or attendance concerns;
• Reducing potential permanent exclusion by offering an alternative curriculum which includes rigorous behaviour for learning intervention
• Being a role model for students internally excluded and providing them with clear expectations of conduct, in line with those for all academy students
• Ensuring that follow up action is taken for students failing to meet academy code of conduct while internally excluded

Qualifications & Experience

We would like to hear from you if you have:

• GCSE Maths and English at grade C or above, or equivalent
• Knowledge of the academy behaviour for learning policy
• Knowledge of the range of barriers to learning that students face
• Training in child protection and safeguarding procedures
• Basic knowledge of first aid; e.g. emergency first aid course
• Two years' experience of working in an inner city school or educational establishment
• Experience of dealing successfully with a range of behaviour issues
• Experience of working with staff to ensure excellent behaviour for learning
• Experience of working with families
• Experience of supervising a group of students for detentions, referral and internal exclusion as appropriate
• Experience of working with challenging students and finding ways in which we can meet their needs more successfully

For a full job description and person specification, please download the Job Pack.

Professional Development & Benefits

Our people are at the heart of our success. We have developed a strong culture of collaboration and best practice, with professional development and career planning at its centre. We invest in our staff with support, coaching, mentoring, and a wide range of top-quality training programmes delivered at every level.

In addition to the opportunities for career development and progression, we also offer a competitive rewards and benefits package which includes a Performance and Loyalty Bonus, Pension Scheme with generous employer contributions, a Wellbeing Cash Plan, electric car scheme, 26 days' annual leave (plus bank holidays) for staff who work across the full year, and many other benefits. Learn more about our benefits on our website.

Safeguarding Notice

The Harris Federation and all our academies are committed to ensuring the highest levels of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people, and we expect all our staff and volunteers to share this commitment. All offers of employment are subject to an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check, references, an online search, and where applicable, a prohibition from teaching check will be completed.