Suitability & scope
Agree the child or cohort, intended outcomes, delivery capacity and professional contacts. Support is confirmed through the project agreement.
Delivery & safeguarding
Clear responsibilities.
Careful delivery.
Before delivery, agree suitability, safeguarding arrangements, practitioner clearance, a named liaison and review points. During the project, supervision, professional communication and progress reviews support purposeful mentoring. Confirm the arrangements for your commission before work begins.
A clear framework for delivery
- 01 / Before deliveryAgree the brief.
Scope, responsibilities and safeguarding arrangements.
- 02 / During deliveryStay connected.
Direct work, professional contact and agreed reporting.
- 03 / At reviewExamine progress.
Compare the starting point, observations and available records.
Before work begins.
Safeguarding arrangements
Confirm the safeguarding lead, escalation route, required clearance information, venue procedures and expectations for sharing concerns.
Information & boundaries
Agree referral information, professional boundaries, reporting arrangements and appropriate handling of child and family information.
During the project.
The COBS delivery account records supervision, weekly mentor progress meetings and enhanced DBS information supplied to the setting. Confirm the clearance, oversight and reporting arrangements applicable to your own project before delivery.
Read the documented delivery exampleBefore you commission
Clarity before
we begin.
You need to know what happens next and what to share. Here are three practical answers to help you start the conversation with confidence.
Is an initial enquiry a confirmed referral?
No. ECNM reviews suitability, availability and requirements before accepting a project. An enquiry or meeting does not confirm delivery.
Where should personal referral information be sent?
Use the initial enquiry to describe the need without naming children. ECNM and the referring organisation agree the appropriate referral route and information-sharing arrangements.
Can we request policies and clearance information?
Discuss the documentation your organisation needs during commissioning so the relevant materials and arrangements can be confirmed before delivery.
Start with the need.
A short outline is enough for an initial enquiry. Please leave out children’s names and sensitive personal details.
A shared view of progress
Measure the change.
Keep the full picture.
Agree a starting point and review measures before delivery. Track each accepted referral, including non-starts and setbacks, so progress is assessed in context.
From contact to engagement.
Record contact, sessions offered and attended, and the child’s views. Look for participation that develops beyond the first meeting.
Support around the child.
Record parent or carer contribution, agreed actions and changes they describe. Include the child’s perspective where appropriate.
The actual pathway.
Review hours accessed, attendance and transitions. Distinguish a planned place, an accepted place and sustained participation.
Comparable records.
Compare the same measures over equivalent periods. Keep incident counts separate from behaviour points and interpret them with professional observations.
How this framework is used
These are measures to agree for each commission, rather than a claim that every historical project collected all four consistently. Review missing information, other support and changes in circumstances. Follow-up arrangements are specified in the brief.
How progress reporting works
Progress reporting / From evidence to decisions
Progress you can understand.
Decisions you can act on.
Agree what matters, record what happens and review what changes. The reporting schedule, recipients and format are agreed for each commission so the work stays connected to the child’s goals and the referring team’s decisions.
- 01 / Agree
A shared starting point.
Identify strengths, intended outcomes, available starting measures and the review arrangements.
- 02 / Record
The work as it happens.
Bring together participation, the young person’s voice, professional observations and agreed next actions.
- 03 / Review
The change in context.
Compare like-for-like records where available. Include setbacks, missed sessions, missing information and other support.
- 04 / Decide
A purposeful next step.
Agree whether to continue, adapt or conclude the work, with a responsible person and a review point.
Clear sources.
A fuller view.
- The young person’s voice
- What matters to them, what feels different and what they want to work towards.
- Professional and family observations
- What the people around them notice, attributed to the person reporting it.
- Recorded measures
- Attendance, participation or behaviour records, with the period, source and missing information made clear.
Explore the structure of a useful progress review
A report outline to agree for the project. It contains no child’s records or example outcome data.
| Review element | What it should make clear |
|---|---|
| Strengths and agreed goal | The starting point, the young person’s aspirations and the change being worked towards. |
| Participation | Sessions offered and attended, engagement and any barriers to taking part. |
| Voice and observations | The young person’s perspective and clearly attributed family or professional feedback. |
| Recorded change | Comparable measures, their dates and source; gaps and limitations stay visible. |
| Context and setbacks | Changes in circumstances, other support and the parts of the work that need adapting. |
| Next action | The agreed decision, who is responsible and when it will be reviewed. |
Individual reporting is shared through agreed project channels with authorised recipients. The website enquiry form is for initial project-level information.
Registration & training
Clear standards. Clear scope.
The Incensu mark identifies ECNM’s education supplier registration.
The CPD Standards Office mark identifies the accredited mentoring course, provider 21454, for the 2024–2026 period shown. The course and provider information sets out its scope.
Explore the course and provider information ↗Your next step
Let’s explore a way forward.
Describe the barrier, the children involved and the outcome you need. ECNM will review the brief before confirming delivery.