Good Practice

Contd.

Mentors who have been working with the programme for a number of years report that it is good practice when working with the children to:

Be prepared: at the end of a session, plan what you will do with the child on the following week.
Arrive in the school some time before the start of the session—perhaps get a coffee from the staffroom, and set out the games and materials for the first child to work from.
Go to the child's classroom promptly to collect him/her from the room—a good opportunity to interact with the teacher.
Mentors should check with the child's teacher which topics they are covering in maths and play games that reinforce the concepts/skills covered in class.
Think about the interests the pupil has, and try to select games material associated with those interests.
Vary the diet and type of games material used each week.
Keep a record (a Time 2 Count diary) of what games or materials have been used.
It is not recommend that individual mentors give gifts on a regular basis to the children as it is the 'time' aspect they should appreciate. In Time 2 Count, lead corporate partner Northern Bank gives appropriate branded gifts to each child before the Christmas holidays.
However, if, as a group of mentors, you do want to consider giving individual gifts to your children, decide on a strategy—perhaps birthdays only, for example; gifts should be inexpensive and related to numeracy (a simple maths game set or book for example?)
Be careful about giving the children anything to eat—check with the school with regard to healthy eating policies or whether the children have any medical conditions such as nut allergies.

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