27 years of Mentoring Works
Written by Maria Tonchievici, Team Leader – Mentoring Works (ELBA & BIG Alliance)
Since 1996, Mentoring Works has worked with thousands of student mentees and volunteer business mentors. Mentoring Works is delivered by ELBA in secondary schools and colleges in the boroughs of Hackney, Haringey, and Newham, and by the BIG Alliance across secondary schools and colleges in Islington.
Mentoring Works’ aims are to introduce young people to the world of work, raise aspiration, enable students to identify career goals, and increase employability through development of key skills and competencies. Mentors and mentees are matched, introduced and then have regular in-person mentoring sessions after school at their mentor’s office. Mentoring Works strives to give all participating students the opportunity to develop over a nine-month period.
Since 1996, Mentoring Works has been a brilliant way for mentors and mentee to connect. Over the last two years, the programme adapted to telephone mentoring and remote delivery due to COVID-19. However, for 2022-23 the programme will return to face-to-face interactions between mentors and mentees. This academic year, Mentoring Works has been incredibly busy organising a series of launch events across the Year 10 and Sixth form programmes. The programme culminates with celebration events in June/July 2023 (Year 10) and November/December 2023 (Sixth form), where we will be celebrating the successes achieved by the mentors and mentees.
For more information about Mentoring Works, click here.
“Mentoring Works has been the best experience ever and we couldn’t have asked for a better mentor. We have grown so much in confidence, grown as people and flowered. It has been fun and amazing. We now know what employers are looking for, how to present ourselves and how to find a job.…We are very grateful and now have a better chance of a better future.”
– Mentee
“Every session with my mentee has been full of energy and commitment, leaving me feeling uplifted and rewarded each time.”
– Mentor
“Students have an increased awareness of themselves and this feeds into their university and job applications…The most positive benefit for our students was building their confidence. It assists students with aspects of their life not linked to academic work and acts as a support system.”
– School Coordinator
“The programme allows volunteers of any background to use their skills and experiences and to develop those skills in new and meaningful ways. It also allows us to reach a good number of students but in a really high impact and bespoke way, meaning they get a lot more out of it.”
– Company Coordinator
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