Mentoring Services - Absolute Mentoring
An Alternative Education and Mentoring Service based across Cambridge and Norfolk for those who need it most.
Absolute Mentoring WHO'S BEHIND IT?
Our Story
Hi, I’m Ben Carter, founder of Absolute Mentoring, based across Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, and Lincolnshire.
After many years working in children’s social care, residential settings, and local authority teams, I began to see a concerning reality: too many children on the edge of care — or outside the mainstream schooling system — weren’t get
Hi, I’m Ben Carter, founder of Absolute Mentoring, based across Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, and Lincolnshire.
After many years working in children’s social care, residential settings, and local authority teams, I began to see a concerning reality: too many children on the edge of care — or outside the mainstream schooling system — weren’t getting the educational and mentoring support they deserved.
Around 15 years ago, I moved from executive-level recruitment, which allowed me to live in several countries including Australia, the USA, and France, and returned to the UK when I first entered the social care sector. Since then, I have worked across areas including drug and alcohol support, homelessness, and children and young people’s services — finding my greatest fulfilment in directly supporting young people.
I’ve worked in local authority children’s services, became an approved foster parent after COVID, and am a full-time parent to a teenager. These experiences have given me both professional and personal insight into the challenges young people face and the difference consistent, compassionate support can make.
At Absolute Mentoring, we believe every young person deserves to feel seen, heard, and valued. We provide alternative education and one-to-one mentoring for children who find mainstream schooling challenging — including those with complex needs, trauma backgrounds, EHCPs (or awaiting one), or school-refusal issues.
What makes our approa
At Absolute Mentoring, we believe every young person deserves to feel seen, heard, and valued. We provide alternative education and one-to-one mentoring for children who find mainstream schooling challenging — including those with complex needs, trauma backgrounds, EHCPs (or awaiting one), or school-refusal issues.
What makes our approach truly unique is our focus on strengths-based, trauma-informed mentoring. Using the Signs of Safety framework, we create programmes tailored to each young person’s interests, learning style, and life story. This can include academic support, outdoor learning, and confidence-building short courses — all designed to build resilience, engagement, and self-belief.
I started Absolute Mentoring because I’ve seen how education and the right encouragement can transform lives. By helping young people recognise and build on their strengths, we open doors to futures they might once have thought out of reach.
About Absolute Mentoring
Our Mission
Our Approach
Our Approach
The goal of our education support mentoring program is to empower students on their academic journey by providing personalized and compassionate mentorship to those who need it most.
After many years working in various elements of children's social care we have come to realise that life and educational outcomes for children at the edge of
The goal of our education support mentoring program is to empower students on their academic journey by providing personalized and compassionate mentorship to those who need it most.
After many years working in various elements of children's social care we have come to realise that life and educational outcomes for children at the edge of care are not what they should be. With Children's social care often overwhelmed and school places lacking and the impact of COVID still lingering on many children are not equipped to manage in a mainstream school setting and require a highly specialised program of one to one mentoring.
We are committed to fostering a positive and inclusive one to one learning environment where each student feels seen, heard, and valued. Our mentors strive to understand the unique needs and learning styles of every individual, tailoring their guidance to maximize the student's potential.
Through dedicated one-on-one support, we aim to enable confidence, instil a love for learning and develop curiosity about the world and help them understand who they are and find their place in the society.
Our mission is grounded in the belief that education and mentoring is a transformative force, and by offering a tailored and flexible approach to each individual child, we will contribute to the development of each student in their journey towards a positive future.
Our Approach
Our Approach
Our Approach
We take a highly flexible and personalized approach to learning and mentoring for the children and young people placed with us. Our small but dedicated team is absolutely focussed on building meaningful engagement where this has failed previously.
We pride ourselves on being agile and innovative with our work. We will work to a strengths
We take a highly flexible and personalized approach to learning and mentoring for the children and young people placed with us. Our small but dedicated team is absolutely focussed on building meaningful engagement where this has failed previously.
We pride ourselves on being agile and innovative with our work. We will work to a strengths based approach using the Signs of Safety model focussing on meaningful engagement with maximum impact whilst safeguarding remains front and centre.
We are able to source quickly subject matter experts and also have on hand a playbook of therapeutic activity based interventions.
We do this by tapping into the students interests and building from that secure base. This is the starting point for tailored educational and learning opportunities for the children.
Our experienced learning mentors work diligently with students to help them succeed, whether they need help with a specific subject or simply looking for guidance and support from which to explore.
We will look to enable confidence, build resilience and develop the students curiosity about their place in the wider world.
Our Team
Our Approach
Our Team
Our small but dedicated team is made up of passionate workers with many years of experience particularly with residential children's homes, fostering services and local authority children's services.
We are dedicated and passionate in helping those children and young people most at risk of missing out on their education. With many years of
Our small but dedicated team is made up of passionate workers with many years of experience particularly with residential children's homes, fostering services and local authority children's services.
We are dedicated and passionate in helping those children and young people most at risk of missing out on their education. With many years of experience we uniquely understand the challenges that marginalised children and those who grow up in care face and we work tirelessly to bring about positive change and opportunities to children placed within our flexible mentoring program.
We are unique in our value proposition in that we will work with local authorities, school provisions and private referrals to develop a plan that is goal orientated and will meet the needs of the young person rather than a one dimensional approach which can often end up making the young person even more learning averse.
Absolute Mentoring our services
Who is our service for?
Flexible Learning Options
Flexible Learning Options
Absolute has deep experience in delivering services to children and families.
We are for children who require an alternative education (AE) provision who are for whatever reason are unable to manage within a mainstream setting.
For those who have complex needs, experienced significant trauma, those with additional needs, those with an EHCP, those who have likely had and continue to receive additional support from children's services, those who are waiting on an EHCP and those who should have one but do not.
Our experienced and sympathetic team are well versed in working with key stakeholders and other children's support services including other alternative education provisions, children's services, early help services, offending teams, mental health services.
We are deeply passionate about mentoring and will work to bring about positive change for your child in a calming one to one setting.
We do not have our own premises but we utilise public spaces including community centres, libraries and other suitable spaces.
Flexible Learning Options
Flexible Learning Options
Flexible Learning Options
We offer a tailored approach and can work with schools and local authorities to deliver a specific targeted piece of work through our mentoring program. We use a variety of educational tools and resources to suit the child's preferred way to learn.
However, we also look to understand the reasons behind the need to use our service and the barriers behind the school refusal. Often children are carrying significant trauma which has a direct impact on their education. Our work with children will be rooted in our understanding of this and will work at the children's pace underpinned by trauma informed practice and understanding the child's attachment styles.
We have many resources that we utilise including paper based, online and app based learning ( Basic STEM projects / use of Corbett Mathematics / White Rose Science & Maths/ BBC Bitesize/ Literacy Shed/ Scratch/ Hit the Button app / Duolingo / and other appropriate learning apps) but most importantly is the ability for us to be flexible for each child, each day and every situation.
As well as traditional learning methods we also offer specific outdoor based activities including, allotment gardening, forestry activities, walking, animal welfare, fishing and sports for those children who a traditional learning pathway is not working.
Short term recognised courses to build confidence and resilience
We believe that education should be accessible to everyone and is critical for those who are not currently accessing education or do not have a provision.
We will aim to deliver specific short courses that are both achievable and realistic in the timeframes given. We can use ASDAN certified courses and follow the Preparing For Adult pathways and for younger children preparing them for a a return to a classroom setting if that is the desired goal. Again, goal setting in collaboration with schools and local authorities will set the tone for achievable and measurable outcomes.
Pastoral Support Charter - our commitment to you
Pastoral support is a vital component of our educational environment, focusing on the well-being and personal development of those under the mentoring program. Our approach to pastoral support is grounded in the following key principles:
Holisitic care - recognising that academic success is closely tied to emotional and social health.
Personalised Guidance - Recognising that each student is unique and pastoral support is tailored to individual circumstances.
Open communication - We recognise open and transparent communication between students and support staff and ensure that they feel comfortable seeking assistance and sharing their experiences.
Conflict resolution - Our team is equipped to handle challenging behaviour and is able to deploy various strategies that de-escalate and promote harmonious learning.
Parental Involvement - We recognise the importance of collaboration and understand the notion of 'Team Around The Family' to keep all concerned informed regarding progress.