We are seeking undergraduate, postgraduate students and corporate mentors to mentor young people between the ages of 9 and 16.

As a mentor you would be required to act as a positive role model to a young person. Mentoring pairs meet twice monthly to engage in activities designed to support the mentee in three areas; educational attainment, improve school engagement and exploring future plans.

Activities might include helping with homework, help students with reading, writing, maths and science, life skills, working world and share their skills and experience, cooking, playing a board game, financial literacy support, CV writing, writing an article for the mentoring magazine and taking part in a group trip to places of interest.

All our volunteers will take part in a comprehensive mentoring and safeguarding training programme before being matched with a student. It is essential that all successful candidates attend.

As a mentor you will also receive ongoing support from the African Community School and supervision is provided via email, telephone and one to one meeting. Where possible, mentees and mentors are matched according to common interest areas, but this is unlikely to be achievable in every case.

Please note that all of our volunteering appointments are subject to an enhanced DBS check.

Project Aims
It aims to engage young people aged 9 to 16 from Hackney in a 12-month mentoring relationship to improve school engagement, educational attainment and to support them in building plans for the future.

MENTORS’ ROLE
Mentors will discuss with students their interests, aspirations and progress at school. They will encourage students to apply themselves at school to maximise their achievements. They will also share with students some aspects of their working life.
Mentors will give brief feedback to the mentoring team about their sessions with mentees for the team to be able to monitor the mentoring relationship. Mentoring is tailored to each individual with the aim of supporting young people to reach their personal goals.
 
MENTORS WILL BE ABLE TO:
• Demonstrate through their own education and career history the value of learning and achieving.
• Help students to see the relevance of the mentor’s experience to their own present and future.

Mentors may or may not have had experience of working with young people, but they have all been teenagers once and they would remember what that is like.