ReachOut Summer Projects 2014

Throughout the month of August, ReachOut has been busy delivering summer projects in our partner schools. The summer projects are designed to ease the transition from primary to secondary school for target groups of year 6 mentees, as well as consolidate the Maths and English they have learnt during the previous year. At the projects we delivered high quality literacy and numeracy support and provided positive activities to over 400 mentees.

We recruited current ReachOut mentees in year 10 and above to help out as junior mentors, supporting the delivery staff and acting as role models to younger mentees. To supervise and support the junior mentors we hired university students to work as senior mentors. 

Getting young people to study during their holidays is not always easy and can be a huge challenge for even the most experienced mentor, but both junior and senior mentors worked together successfully to deliver several fantastic summer projects! Below we have shared some of their experiences.

Fatimah Nazir worked with us in Manchester on the MCMA project and The Barlow High School as a senior mentor. In that role Fatimah delivered literacy classes in the morning and assisted with fun activities in the afternoon.

"During the ReachOut Summer Project I had the responsibility of teaching English to the children in the mornings. Alongside this I ran sessions of Sports and Arts and Crafts in the afternoon. 

The great thing about this experience is the confidence it has given me in speaking in front of big groups of people, as well as allowing me to develop the ability of communicating with people of different ages. Ultimately ReachOut has benefitted me by giving me the chance to build on skills I already had and allowed me to put these into practice.

Through working with kids starting high school I believe ReachOut is helping the community in a greater way than just through this transition. ReachOut instills a sense of respect in each person for people of different backgrounds to themselves. Through this it enables the children to develop their empathy as well as making new friends. Ultimately it is providing young people with skills such as fairness and good judgement which they then go on to implement in their lives in the future."

Molly is currently on her fourth summer project as a junior mentor, this year at St Pauls. Earlier this year she also attended our year 12 – 13 Junior Mentors Project where she develop teamwork and leadership skills in preparation for the role.

"My role as a junior mentor involved working closely with the children, and assisting them in whatever they needed over the course of the two weeks. As a junior mentor it was my responsibility to help the senior mentors run lessons, ensuring that the kids were involved and happy. Having this role has benefited me in many ways, it has taught me many skills that are useful in the everyday life such as patience, listening and teamwork. 

Whilst volunteering with ReachOut there is a real sense of community and this is what I enjoyed the most, not just getting to know the children, but working closely with other mentors.

I think the ReachOut projects are very beneficial to the community due to the noticeable change in the children as they go throughout the weeks. They grow in confidence, in character and have often become better individuals from doing the project." 

Owura attended the ReachOut Academy for 3 years in his early teens, he returned this summer as a junior mentor in London and did a great job!

"My role as a junior mentor was to be a 'helping hand' towards the staff and an exemplary role model that the children could socialize/ interact with academically and sports wise.

I was able to benefit from the experience immensely because I was given an opportunity to be given adult responsibilities. It also allowed me to improve my interactive skills, patience and adaptability in different situations. 

It also gave me experience of a working environment.

I enjoyed my time with ReachOut because I felt that I contributed towards the impact achieved by the project. I felt I had a direct impact on developing the young people’s academic ability, confidence, and all round enjoyment of the project.

I believe ReachOut is a very valuable organisation. Instead of wasting your time you could effectively use that time for something positive. ReachOut can help you academically, it’s fun, offers a wide variety of activities with staff who are devoted towards the organization and passionate about guiding you to strive for success."

All in all it was another great summer of mentoring. Now we look forward to starting our new mentoring projects in October. If you're interested in becoming a mentor please visit our website.

We hope to meet you soon!

The ReachOut Team