The delicate balance of mentoring someone is not creating them in your own image, but giving them the opportunity to create themselves.”​
— Steven Spielberg
Developing an effective Mentoring Programme
Younger Generation Can Ltd, provides a young person focused approach to mentoring, focusing on raising aspiration, self esteem, and confidence.
Mentors encourage children to be the best version of themselves, promoting
the importance of education and planning for the future.
​
A systematic review by the Children's Commissioner (2018) reviewed the outcomes for children in care accessing mentoring that included studies from the UK as well as the US. This review speculated that mentoring may help reduce negative outcomes (Gypen et al. 2017), and that children in care themselves appear to value mentoring programmes, with Philip and Spratt (2007) reporting that care leavers valued the “soft skills” imparted through mentoring schemes.
​
By supporting children to start planning now, we can help them to achieve their full potential. Life isn't about the destination, it is about the journey, and often for children in care, the road can be uneven with lots of twists and turns - therefore the relationship that a child builds with a mentor can be the "calm within the storm". A safe place to reflect, make sense of a particular situation and consider different paths that also lead to the desired destination.
NAME / JOB / TITLE
Most commonly, children with a social worker experience abuse and neglect, often due to domestic abuse and mental ill-health.
They are in 98% of state schools, are almost 3 times more likely to be persistently absent, 3 times as likely to have SEN, almost 4 times as likely to be claiming FSM, nearly 6 times as likely to have both FSM and SEN
They are 25% - 50% less likely to achieve a strong pass in English and Maths (even after accounting for other factors e.g. SEND)
In 19/20, CIN had average attainment 8 scores of just 21, compared to 50 for all pupils.
(DofE June 2021, Webinar - Virtual School Heads)
NAME / JOB / TITLE