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Students clock up more mentoring hours for ReachOut than any other university

21 Aug 2020

Students volunteering at the mentoring charity ReachOut have given a staggering amount of their free time this academic year despite some projects finishing slightly earlier than expected due to COVID-19 and lockdown

Student mentoring

87 University of Manchester students enrolled with the charity to support a diverse range of young people aged 9-14 from disadvantaged areas across Manchester and Oldham. One to two hour sessions which aim to raise aspirations, build character and improve attainment were taking place in a range of primary and secondary schools across our region before the country went into lockdown. Many projects in secondary schools had to stop all together although a small handful of the projects were able to quickly adapt to allow the mentor-mentee relationship to continue virtually.  Despite these challenges and constraints, our dedicated students ramped up 1,845 hours, the most from any university in the UK.

In addition to the mentoring, three” world of work” visits took place on campus in February and pupils from 3 local primary schools, St Anne’s, St Philips and Rolls Crescent visited our University to speak with our current students about student life, courses, careers and future opportunities. These events were supported by staff from Widening Participation and the Careers Service.

Out of this mix of 87 exceptional student role models, 3 of our students have now been offered paid, part-time roles as Project Leaders and are enrolled on the ReachOut Leadership development Programme which is going to be a fantastic asset to their future careers and skills profiles.

Communication, confidence, time management, behaviour management and motivating others are just some of the key skills this year’s mentors cite as having already been developed during their time as mentors.

  • If you know of any students who would like to make a difference to the young people in their local community as well as develop their own transferable skills and improve their CV please ask them to visit the website.