Trust e-mentoring scheme concludes for 2021. 

The e-mentoring scheme which the Trust runs with the leading online mentoring charity Brightside concluded last week. Our e-mentoring scheme connects the Trust with around 40 sixth form students who are considering journalism as a career. The students are all at colleges and schools in Cardiff, Cornwall, Nottingham and Sheffield, areas which have been identified as places which are being left behind economically.

Together with Brightside the John Schofield Trust encourages and inspires the young people we work with and provides practical advice and support to help them fulfil their potential. Our mentors for the teenagers include mentees from our face to face mentoring scheme.

Overall engagement with the e-mentoring scheme this year was excellent with 72% of mentees sending 10 or more messages to their mentors over the course of the project.

In an exit survey, mentees told us what they valued about the scheme:

Access to a professional within journalism, with knowledge and experience from which to draw information and ask questions about. It is a one on one experience that allows you to talk about your personal interests and aspirations, and ask the questions and gain feedback that is specific to your needs. 

An amazing opportunity to find out more about a career sector that interests me, and gaining a sense of confidence towards how I can go about achieving my goals. It is a chance to discuss with older mentors who can offer their useful advice and knowledge. 

A great opportunity to gain a valuable insight into the field of journalism and develop skills that will help you make informed decisions about the future.

And Sian Gaston, Lecturer in English and scheme co-ordinator at Truro College, Cornwall, contacted us while the scheme was running to say

From a teacher’s perspective the opportunity for my students to have their writing and film or podcast productions valued and taken seriously by adults outside the circle of education or family has been one of the elements which I have appreciated the most. I have seen our students flourish and develop through being involved with the mentoring scheme and would say that in my 34-year career as an English teacher it has been one of the most transformational enrichment activities I have been involved with.