Departmental Pastoral Mentors

Departmental Pastoral Mentors

Departmental Pastoral Mentors

Departmental Pastoral Mentors

Departmental Pastoral Mentors

Departmental Pastoral Mentors

Departmental Pastoral Mentors

Pastoral Mentors are a point of contact, embedded within departments, who can support you if you are facing challenges that impact your ability to study and be successful in your programme. They are also a point of contact for Personal Tutors (also known as Academic Tutors) and provide end-to-end support for student queries, including signposting to expert services as required. 

This role has been created as a result of a university project with collaboration with departments, students, the Students’ Guild and the Students’ Union.

Currently, Pastoral Mentors support undergraduate and postgraduate taught students. They do not support postgraduate research students, purely online learners, and degree apprenticeships students, as these groups of students have alternative support mechanisms in place. To find out more, please see the frequently asked questions (FAQs) at the bottom of this page.

You can also find out more about the role of the Pastoral Mentor by watching the short video below, and visiting the aforementioned FAQs.

 

Who is my Pastoral Mentor?

Name Faculty Department Email Address

Hannah Lyons

HASS

HASS Cornwall

pastoralmentors.hass@exeter.ac.uk

Becca Barnard

ESE

Physics and Astronomy

Natural Sciences

physics-pastoral@exeter.ac.uk

natsci-pastoral@exeter.ac.uk (for Natural Science enquiries)

Sarah Street and   Jay Ford

HASS

Law

law-pastoral@exeter.ac.uk

Fern Baker

ESE

Engineering

engineering-pastoral@exeter.ac.uk

Abby Horrocks

ESE

Maths

maths-pastoral@exeter.ac.uk

Hannah Jordan

ESE

Earth and Environmental Sciences (ESS) Penryn

Renewables

PastoralMentorsPenryn.EES@exeter.ac.uk

Sally Homden

ESE

Geography

Geography-Pastoral@exeter.ac.uk

Laura Parden and Ellie Aitchison

HASS

Social and Political Sciences, Philosophy, and Anthropology (SPSPA)

SPSPA-Pastoral@exeter.ac.uk

Nena Yendell

HASS

Classics, Ancient History, Religion and Theology

 CAHRT-Pastoral@exeter.ac.uk

Emily Skellon 

HASS

Archaeology and History

 ArchaeologyHistory-Pastoral@exeter.ac.uk

George Roberts

HLS

Public Health and Sports Sciences (PHSS)

phss-pastoral@exeter.ac.uk

Milly Upton

HLS

Clinical and Biomedical Sciences – non-clinical programmes only

biomed-pastoral@exeter.ac.uk

 Coming late Autumn 2024

ESE

Computer Science

Coming late Autumn 2024

 Sophie Corner

ESE

Business School (UEBS)

business-school-pastoralmentors@exeter.ac.uk 

 Coming Spring 2025

ESE

Ecology and Conservation (CEC) Penryn

Coming Spring 2025

Coming Spring 2025

HASS

Communications, Drama and Film

Coming Spring 2025

Coming Spring 2025

HASS

English and Creative Writing

Coming Spring 2025

Coming Spring 2025

HASS

Languages, Cultures and Visual Studies

Coming Spring 2025

Coming Spring 2025

HASS

Arab and Islamic Studies (IAIS)

Coming Spring 2025

Coming Spring 2025

HLS

Health and Community Sciences

Coming Spring 2025

Coming Spring 2025

HLS

Health Care Professions

Coming Spring 2025

Coming Spring 2025

HLS

Psychology

Coming Spring 2025

Coming Autumn 2025

HASS

School of Education (SoE)

Coming Autumn 2025

Coming Autumn 2025

HLS

Biosciences

Coming Autumn 2025

Coming Autumn 2025

HLS

Clinical and Biomedical Sciences – all programmes

Coming Autumn 2025

 

Testimonials

What has been your experience of working with Pastoral Mentors? 

It has been a pleasure, and I could not have imagined how helpful they would be. Pastoral Mentors can dedicate time to meet with students, proactively, at pace and at scale, and act as the bridge between our other University support teams to support students' success.

Dr Pablo Loren-Aguilar 
Physics and Astronomy, Senior Tutor/Director of Education

What difference do you think Pastoral Mentors can make to the ways of working centred around pastoral and wellbeing support?

Pastoral Mentors provide an additional mechanism that can engage with the data available and provide that first point of contact and triage for students. This then enables them to refer them on to other teams, such as ourselves.

Tim Harris
Education Welfare Advisor, facing Physics and Astronomy

What benefits do you think the Pastoral Mentor role brings to the University's Student Academic Support model?

We provide students with a supportive bridge into services that they may otherwise not have accessed and a reassuring presence through their academic journey. We provide a pro-active data-informed outreach approach, based from within the department – this is what makes us differ from the rest of the support model.

Pastoral Mentors, Hannah Lyons and Hannah Jordan

Frequently asked questions

  • Acts as a first port of call when students are not sure what academic or pastoral support they might need.
  • Shares and promotes information about Pastoral Mentor support services with students and staff.
  • Proactively identifies and reaches out to students who may be experiencing challenges that create barriers to academic study, wellness, and success.
  • Triages and maintains oversight for students in the department, including signposting and referring students to academic and pastoral support within and outside the department.
  •  Refers and signposts students to relevant University support services (including the Education Welfare Team), and to Academic Tutors, to help with any difficulties relating to pastoral support, academic study, and success.
  • Co-creates action plans related to pastoral support needs and academic interventions with staff and students to support improvement in engagement.
  • Provides clear and relevant pastoral information, advice, and guidance to staff and students in the department.
  • Can provide evidence for mitigation applications (excluding exceptional mitigation) where academic and pastoral concerns are raised.
  • Fosters an inclusive, supportive, and accessible academic community for all students in a Department e.g., through departmental events, sharing of information, and proactive outreach.
  • Works in collaboration with all University support teams to ensure the correct support is received and students can progress with their studies by being a central point of contact, embedded in the student’s department.

Your Pastoral Mentor will have 1:1 drop-in sessions during their office hours, which can be face-to-face or virtual, please contact them using their details above. They will also host and join events within your department throughout the year.

Currently, Pastoral Mentors support undergraduate and postgraduate taught students. They do not support postgraduate research students, purely online learners, and degree apprenticeships students, as these groups of students have alternative support mechanism in place.

For PGR support:

Online learners:

For DA support: 

Undergraduate (UG):

This will be a student’s first degree, often a Bachelors Degree (BA/BA Hons). Bachelors (or honours, styled as ‘Hons’) degrees are Level 6 courses. They include titles like Bachelor of Arts, or BA (Hons); Bachelor of Science, or BSc (Hons); Bachelor of Engineering, or BEng (Hons); and Bachelor of Law, or LLB.  Also see: www.exeter.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/. UG programmes include Degree Apprentices (DA) (www.exeter.ac.uk/study/degreeapprenticeships/), however, as per the exceptions list below, DAs are not within the PM’s purview.

Postgraduate Taught (PGT):

These are level 7 qualifications, with the most common kind being a Masters Degree. This can be a Master of Science (MSc) or a Master of Arts (MA), for example. These are typically one year (full-time). They involve a taught component and an intensive, independent research project. It is important to note that an MRes is a PGT programme, while a MbyRes programme is a PGR programme. Also see: www.exeter.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/.  

  • Shares and promotes information about Wellbeing Services' support and appointments with students and staff.
  • Promotes health and wellbeing resources and activities to students through meetings and events.
  • Refers and signposts students to relevant University support services, and to Pastoral Mentors and/or Academic Tutors, to help with any difficulties relating to pastoral support, academic study, and success.
  • Holds one-off meetings with students to provide wellbeing-focused support and interventions.
  • Provides ongoing academic and wellbeing support to students throughout the Health, Wellbeing and Support for Study (HWSS) process.
  • Co-creates actions plans related to academic and wellbeing-related concerns with staff and students to support students to progress with their studies or next steps.
  • Helps to facilitate mitigation, repeat study, and interruption relation support where health, wellbeing and academic interventions are raised (including exceptional cases).
  • Works collaboratively with internal teams, including Wellbeing Services, and Education Support Teams, and external support services to assist and advocate for students in accessing specialist support.
  • Provides academic advice and support to the student across the programme of study and reviews wider academic progress.
  • Meets with tutees regularly throughout the year to support their transition and progress and help them to realise their ambitions.
  • Works closely with Module Convenors, Senior Tutors, Education Welfare Team, and Pastoral Mentors to manage unsatisfactory engagement and/or performance.
  • Can provide evidence for mitigation applications (excluding exceptional mitigation) where academic concerns are raised.
  • Refers and signposts students to Pastoral Mentors for the department where they are unsure of the support students might need and/or they have concerns in relation to academic study and success.
  • Refers and signposts students to specialist support services as appropriate (e.g. wellbeing (including the Education Welfare Team), careers and professional development, etc.).

You should contact your Education Welfare Advisor or Personal/Academic Tutor, as appropriate.

These pastoral drop-in sessions are optional and you do not need to attend if you have a clash.

Other resources