Reach Out!
There is a direct correlation with economic disadvantage and students failing to get 5 good A* - C grades at GCSE including maths and English. This makes it much harder for them to secure good jobs in the future.
SHINE is always interested in exploring innovative ways to help more young people reach this all important target and Reach Out!’s new project focusing on academic mentoring fits the bill nicely.
The Grant recipient
Reach Out! provides positive role models for children and aims to develop their core skills in numeracy and literacy, improve their self-confidence and reinforce key values of fairness and good judgement. Reach Out! works with volunteer undergraduates and trains them to become mentors and tutors to young people. Its programmes include sports and team activities, as well as one-to-one tuition.
Last year Reach Out! had 250 undergraduate volunteers working on programmes for several hundred children in schools across some of England’s most deprived areas including Hackney, Tower Hamlets, Wythenshawe and Moss Side.
What it aims to do
- Help students aged 12 reach level 4 in English and maths, in line with national expectations
- Help students aged 16 to obtain at least a C grade in GCSE maths and English
- Give students in the project a more developed all-round knowledge
How it works
Mentors receive training and clearance, after which they travel to primary and secondary schools once a week for 25 weeks. The time is divided between tutoring the mentee and most importantly providing an adult role model, which may be lacking elsewhere in the child’s life.
Latest results
A pilot scheme was carried out with 15 underachieving year 11 pupils from Manchester Enterprise Academy. By the January mock exams, 12 out of the 15 students had already achieved their desired C grade! These are very encouraging results which we hope to maintain in 2011-2012.
Funding
SHINE has made a grant to fund most of the delivery costs. Some additional funding is being provided by Reach Out!
Funding: £35,000 for one year (2011-2012) This covers volunteer training, equipment and classroom time for the tutoring and discussion.
"SHINE is glad to be able to support Reach Out! It's a charity that does brilliant work and shares the same values as SHINE."
SHINE staff member
Quotes
"SHINE is glad to be able to support Reach Out! It's a charity that does brilliant work and shares the same values as SHINE."
SHINE staff member