Peer Mentoring
I’ve worked with hundreds of students in a 1:1 capacity, and I have developed a program to teach others to become peer mentors. This program is suitable for all Post 16 students willing to learn the skills, and who are willing to give up time to help others. By doing this, they will greatly develop themselves and prove a real asset to your school.
Having a team of trained Post 16 Peer Mentors could greatly help the school’s intake of Year 7’s who may find the new “Big School” somewhat overwhelming, Year 8’s who could still be struggling to settle with either academic work or peer issues, or simply provide a Buddy to anyone who needs someone to talk to. It can also assist your school’s pastoral team as a valuable resource.
The Post 16 students themselves also benefit in several ways. These days “soft skills” are very much prized by both universities and many employers. My training focuses on strong communication skills including empathic and active listening as well as character education. This can be a super addition to their job or UCAS applications. Extra-Curricular activities also make young people stand out and demonstrates they can handle responsible roles.
I have seen many Peer Mentoring training schemes in many schools during my 18 years of mentoring,all of which focus on academic mentoring with only a tiny part helping with personal development, confidence and self-esteem, and no training on listening skills.
My programme also introduces some of the world’s greatest coaches and teachers in the Personal Development world. The skills and techniques these coaches teach have provided me with so many opportunities to help others over the years and I hope the Mentors will find them equally inspiring.
The Mental Health of young people has been affected over the last couple of years and for the “Mentee” to have the opportunity to have a Mentor in (name of school) who is able to give them the time and space to share their concerns, to help with their confidence, or just be an ear for them, will without doubt, help them emotionally, physically, and academically.
This aspect of mentoring is now being highlighted by people like Justine Greening, and Tony Blair, as well as a large trial in schools listed on the gov.uk website.
I just wanted to inform you that Jesse’s Mum mentioned on the phone that you peer mentor Zion.A is brilliant with her son Jesse and he really is enjoying his sessions. She said he looks forward to seeing Zion and has opened up a lot. J
Testimonial: St John’s Catholic Comprehensive
Peer Mentoring
My name is Lucy and I participated in an experimental peer mentoring scheme that was presented to my year group at St Johns. At this time, I had just started my Gold level Duke of Edinburgh award, therefore it was a great way to complete my volunteering, give back to the school and gain some more experience in teaching and leadership.
I applied for a mentor role by writing up an application explaining why I thought I would be a good candidate and why I would be a great role model for a year 7 or 8 student. Many of the younger students at the time had missed out on a lot of teaching hours due to covid, so our role as mentors would provide academic support as well as social support.
As a small group, we did some training with Neil to prepare us for some of the things we needed to know about being a supportive mentor. The group of us worked well as a team, and we were recognised by the rest of our year group for what we were doing. We saw our mentees at least once a week, in addition to our academic studies.
The initial presentation outlined the aim of the scheme and many students applied for a mentoring position. If we wanted the role, we were tasked with finding a room or safe space to do a mentoring session with our student. It was the first thing we did as a group that showed we could be organised and responsible for ourselves. It got the word out to members of staff around the school that the mentoring could be going ahead, and it got the ball rolling.
After we were all official accepted, we did three days’ worth of training which involved some icebreaker games to get us talking, as well as discussing what we think would make a good mentor. Neil introduced us to a quote ‘seek first to understand’ which after discussion taught us how important listening is, to being a mentor. We looked at the 6 human needs, ways to improve self-esteem, confidence, image, bullying and the different ways to listen. There were multiple things that I was made aware of that gave me a much greater perspective about how you can inspire and learn about somebody else. I have previously done coaching, leadership roles in secondary school and in girl guiding, but this training really helped me and set me up to be a great mentor.