Mentorship at Island School

For the past year, Blue Tree Green Sky has been a group of students dedicated to challenging route learning at Island School.

Our priority as of now has been focusing on inviting creative speakers, including Nury Vittachi. However, inspired by Y12 Mentoring, I would like to expand the goals to include a mentorship programme - mentoring by professionals to sixth form students, and mentoring by sixth form students to key stage 3 students.

At Island School, there already is a Mentoring programme exclusive to the Rutherford house, as Year 11s help Year 7s. With our developing skills as Mentors who are undergoing training, Island School Mentoring as a group can expand this small session to a school-wide programme.

The focus of this mentoring will vary according to the needs of the student, and the capabity of the mentor. In particular, areas cultural diversity and academia will be address. As mentors, older students will be able to academically challenge gifted and talented students in Key Stage 3 who are not performing to their full potential due to a restricting curriculum. Heads of houses at Island School will need to be contacted and their participation and support is vital.

I would truly appreciate the opportunity to spread the advantages of mentoring throughout all the stages of Island School, and I believe and hope that the students of Island School will benefit from such a programme.

Today, I discovered an entirely new world of mentoring and mentorship, a branch to help the world in my own little way (... for now). By enrolling in a six hour course (with lunch breaks), I began my journey upon stepping stones of how to be a mentor, furthering my existing skills and gaining new ones.

We- being my new Shatin College friends and I- have decided in between whispered gossip that mentorship included nurturing others social and academic progress. Throughout this process, both the mentoree and mentorer should gain a new relationship, as well as knowledge and . And perhaps even have a bit of fun, but this may be beyond the realms for some.

As a team, I am quite confident this room full of teenagers (and while the prospect may seem quite worrying), will be quite a success, and I truly hope that it will achieve many goals for the future.