An overview
Each Volunteer Educational Mentor provides individual educational support to one young
person for one hour a week, for a minimum of six months. These sessions take place either
in a public library local to the young person, or in the young person’s college library.
Educational goals are set at the beginning of the mentoring relationship, and reviewed
after six months. Mentors mostly work on the aspects of homework or classwork which
young people find most challenging; at times, they also provide additional teaching and
prepare resources. Mentors work closely with the REUK Educational Mentoring team who
provide oversight, guidance and support.
Support a young person on their educational journey, using the best of your own academic and interpersonal skills and experiences to support them!
Your responsibilities:
1. To attend full induction training, other training as necessary, and complete all
relevant child protection checks.
2. Prepare and arrange the sessions with your mentee, including sending reminders
each week.
3. Meet with your young person for a one hour session once a week, over the period
of at least 6 months at a mutually convenient, public place, with the purpose of
supporting young people to progress in their education.
4. To safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people you come into
contact with
5. Complete weekly feedback for all mentoring sessions, whether delivered or
missed.
6. Liaise with the REUK Educational Mentoring team for support in delivering
mentoring sessions where needed.
7. Help to identify support needs of vulnerable students and ask your Mentoring
Coordinator to contact REUK’s specialist team with these concerns for assistance
from our specialist support worker.
8. Attend a six-month mentoring review with an REUK Educational Mentoring
Coordinator.
9. Any other reasonable task requested by REUK.
The opportunity can both be in-person or online. The young person is based in Balham but would also be keen to meet in central so the mentoring can take place in either location.
While the minimum commitment is six months (26 weeks), the progress you make with your mentoring pair can be really substantial, even in this short period. At the end of this initial volunteering period, many volunteers choose to continue because of:
- the close relationship they build with their mentee as a supportive, impartial adult in their lives
- the tailored training opportunities mentors get access to
- the different REUK community events with exclusive mentor socials and wider mentor-mentee socials to celebrate your work
- the impact you will make as a volunteer, in the lives of the young people you support
Onboarding training
Once you are past the interview, we invite all new mentors to a training session that goes through different themes of our work. From an introduction to the forced migrant community and working with unaccompanied asylum-seeking children to learning about the mentoring session facilitation, we make sure that you are ready to start as educational mentors.
Ongoing training and upskilling
Once matched, you will be invited to our quarterly mentor development trainings, providing you with knowledge and resources to pertinent issues that may affect your mentoring pairs such as addressing wellbeing challenges and study skills. These opportunities are also chances to meet other more experienced mentors and connect with the wider REUK community.
Onboarding training
Once you are past the interview, we invite all new mentors to a training session that goes through different themes of our work. From an introduction to the forced migrant community and working with unaccompanied asylum-seeking children to learning about the mentoring session facilitation, we make sure that you are ready to start as educational mentors.
Ongoing training and upskilling
Once matched, you will be invited to our quarterly mentor development trainings, providing you with knowledge and resources to pertinent issues that may affect your mentoring pairs such as addressing wellbeing challenges and study skills. These opportunities are also chances to meet other more experienced mentors and connect with the wider REUK community.
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