Lower Sixth Become Qualified Mentors

In the Sixth Form, students enjoy looking out for their peers and younger members of the School. Recently, Lower Sixth had the opportunity to further develop these skills and gain a certificate in Mentoring and Safeguarding Training.

Anastasija explained “The training itself wasn’t as daunting as it initially seemed to be. In fact, it was very informative and thorough. I attended a guided training class during PSHE where we were introduced to the Safeguarding and Mentoring website and program.”

Detailed resources allowed students to work through potential scenarios they could encounter as a mentor, before allowing them to create a skill set list as a user reference. To complete the training Lower Sixth were then tested to see how they would apply their newfound knowledge to theoretical questions.

“The training programs gave me a variety of resources to further educate myself on the procedures of safeguarding and to help me develop my existing skills of communication, sensitivity and understanding to recognise the signs of emotional distress or abuse and thus be able to effectively provide help to those in need.” commented Anastasija.

The newly qualified mentor continued “I interact with multiple year groups on daily basis. I have friends and acquaintances ranging from Year 9 to Upper Sixth, thus giving me a good set of basic connections within the School to provide support to fellow peers if needed. Moreover, our school highly values communication (Covid-19 safe of course) amongst all year groups to ensure that we all see each other as equals and thus treat each member of our community with the deepest respect and virtue.”

“I am now more confident in my existing skills and strive to improve them as well as develop new ones to be a mentor that is sensible, sensitive and comfortable to talk to. To me, being a good peer mentor isn’t just about being available to talk to at any moment of the day. It’s also a lot about our ability to be approachable and understanding. If the mentor isn’t approachable, friendly and doesn’t bring a sense of comfort to the mentee, then the communication cannot be as effective and beneficial as it could.”

“My goal as a mentor isn’t just to be available to talk to when needed and to contribute to effective safeguarding of my peers, but to also be the person they feel like they can talk to no matter what, the person that brings them a sense of serenity and peace even when the topics are anything but peaceful and serene.”

Mia who is now a peer mentor for Fryer, reflected “I think this training can help my communication skills, especially with younger age groups, also my listening skills. The learning has made me more aware of the importance of safeguarding.”

Fellow mentor, Lauren, remarked “My training involved learning about how to deal with different scenarios to help people who are worried or troubled about something. It’s helped me understand how best to understand and help people who are struggling in school with all sorts of different things. Being a good peer mentor to me means listening to someone and putting yourself in their situation to best give them advice and help them go forward.”