An Award Winning Charity

On Monday night, we won the Kids Count “Most Inspirational Community Group” Award in a ceremony at the House of Commons attended by MPs from across the country.

Five young people who volunteer as mentors for ReachOut, several of whom used to be ReachOut mentees, collected the award from John Leech MP for Manchester Withington. It recognises the fantastic weekly support these guys give to local young people (aged 11-16) to improve their maths and English and build character. John Leech MP described ReachOut as ‘an inspirational charity’.

ReachOut Director Peter Blackwell used his acceptance speech to thank the young people volunteering for ReachOut and other community groups. He said, ‘They are an incredibly powerful example to those around them, the other young people in our communities, estates and schools, and they are an inspiration not just to those people, but to everyone that works with them, myself included.’

This award is testimony to the great work all our volunteers in London and Manchester do for young people, so a big thank you to all of you!

Volunteer Spotlight - Jamie Broom

Jamie Broom, Macquarie employee, has been an enthusiastic and committed mentor at the ReachOut Academy for three years now. When he’s not mentoring, Jamie is a keen runner and has raised a fantastic £5770 for ReachOut doing various marathons and half-marathons with colleagues, which has been generously matched by the Macquarie Group Foundation.

How did you hear about ReachOut and get involved?

One of my colleagues attended ReachOut regularly for a few years and the concept of combining football with mentoring and learning seemed like a great idea. I was looking for a something to get involved in outside of work to challenge myself whilst (hopefully!) doing some good. Getting involved was really easy, I applied online then they sent me an email with more information and invited me to a training session.

What were you nervous about before you first started?

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I started. I don’t have many family or friends who are in the age group of the young people who attend ReachOut so I wasn’t sure what they’d make of me. Luckily, the ReachOut staff are incredibly good and made the whole process easy. The training also helped.

What have the challenges and high points been so far?

I do find it challenging when meeting new young people for the first time as we don’t immediately know what we have in common. The high point is always when one of the young people shows a breakthrough in learning something that they didn’t know already. I also enjoy listening to interesting stories about the lives of the young people. They all live much more interestingly than me!

How do you manage mentoring with your routine?

This can be really tough. I work at a bank and support activities going on around the clock so getting out in time for ReachOut can sometimes be tricky. I generally block plenty of diary time out for ReachOut and try to be strict to leave on time! I’ve explained to my team how important it is that I make it to ReachOut every Wednesday and they’re really supportive – probably because they know it’s a worthwhile cause.

Have you gained anything yourself from mentoring with ReachOut?

I have learnt to connect with a greater range of people which has helped me when dealing with different personalities at work. ReachOut has also taught me ways to motivate individuals and to communicate effectively with them. At first, there were occasions where I felt out of my comfort zone but these turned out to be times where I was gaining new life experiences. 

A tribute to Kieran

We were extremely sad to hear of the death of one of our mentors last weekend. Kieran Dhaliwal, a student at Queen Mary University of London and ReachOut Club mentor at Redlands Primary School, was killed in a hit-and-run accident while walking home on Saturday night.

Kieran was a dedicated ReachOut mentor, giving up 2 hours each week to support a Y6 child with his English and Maths, and to help him develop confidence and character. Kieran was also involved in the ReachOut Society, helping to build the ReachOut community at Queen Mary and to recruit more volunteers.

We would like to express our gratitude for the commitment that Kieran showed to ReachOut and his mentee and pass our condolences to his friends and family.

Kieran mentoring at the ReachOut Club

Kieran and his mentee having a bit of fun

ReachOut is Kingsley Napley’s Charity of the Year

This year, ReachOut has been lucky enough to be Kingsley Napley’s Charity of the Year. We've had some great events over the last 12 months. In April, Kingsley Napley held a mini-carnival in their offices to raise money for ReachOut. There were sweets, cakes and party games, the most popular of which was the Buzz Bar Competition. The person who completed it in the fastest time won a life size teddy bear, so competition was fierce. The staff also held a silent auction to raise money for ReachOut.

In July, we were invited to the Kingsley Napley Summer Party. With the help of four young people from the ReachOut Academy, we ran a very popular pick-a-mix stall and some games including a giant connect four, table football and the Kingsley Napley favourite – the Buzz Bar. ReachOut helpers, Tolu and Mustapha also won a few medals in the three legged race and sack race.

A big thank you to everyone a Kingsley Napley for a great year!

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