What makes a mentor?

My first experience of anything like mentoring was far from formal. When I was in year three my patron saint was a lovely year six girl with a brown bob and a red puffa jacket. She taught me how to French plait my hair and that boys are only horrible because girls are really scary.

When I was in year six myself I was hustled into “mentoring” a year three kid, Priyan, who was struggling with reading. A few times a week, for that year, I would proudly march off to the playing field with a book wedged under my arm, hunt down a reluctant Priyan and help him tortuously pick his way through Biff Chip and Kipper for half an hour.

A few years ago, in my hometown supermarket I bumped into a grown-up Priyan; he grinned at me then shot off as if he still expected me to give pursuit. At least he remembered me!

This summer at the end of a long day in a failing Tanzanian school a boy approached me with a question. With only weeks left until his finals he still couldn’t get his head around wavelength and frequency; his only teacher was in hospital and his parents didn’t understand the language of the textbook.

And so what keeps me coming back? Because that moment when everything slotted into place and his eyes lit up was a total gift. Because what comes around really goes around. Whether its two hours a week for a full year, a couple of months or the length of one conversation, whether it’s through a formal scheme or a playground friendship, everyone deserves positive mentoring experiences, even if they don’t always define them that way....

Liz White

ReachOut! Club mentor

Mayor's recent aims reiterate ReachOut!'s core vaules

Boris Johnson has echoed Nick Clegg’s recent comments about the need for more government funded projects across London to tackle emerging problems that have shaken the city over the last year. After months of government cuts, riots and protests, it seems that the coalition is finally taking note of the need for more schemes like ReachOut!’s mentoring projects, to provide role models and support for children in some of London’s most deprived boroughs.

In his speech at the Conservative Party conference in Manchester this week, Boris said:

"Instead of washing their hands of young people having a hard time in school, these clubs will instill a firm sense of purpose, focus and motivation. Instilling discipline and giving young people positive role models and structure can have an amazing effect."

These comments show real commitment by the Mayor of London to our objectives here at ReachOut! – to provide positive role models to set examples of fairness, self-control, good judgement and staying power whilst promoting leadership, trust and responsibility in our young people. This also proves the relevance and necessity of the projects in the current political and social climate.

The ReachOut! Club (formerly the Midweek Mentoring Project) is due to restart at the beginning of November. The project places university and sixth form students as mentors to year 6 pupils in schools in Hackney and Tower Hamlets. Throughout the academic year the mentors provide individual academic support to their mentee, as well as encouraging and inspiring them, at an after school club once a week. The ReachOut! Club is just one of the many projects the charity runs for its young people.

Now in its eighth year in London, ReachOut!’s dedication to work within the local community and provide positive role models has always been at the centre of every project it runs. The recent national focus on the need for these values confirms the importance of supporting local charities.

To find out how you can support ReachOut! or for more information about the projects, please visit http://www.reachoutuk.org/HTML/Funders/support_us_home.html.

Charlotte Goodhart