About ReachOut
ReachOut is a national mentoring and education charity, rooted in local communities. Working in under-resourced areas, we support young people to grow in character and confidence, sparking change in themselves and society.
At ReachOut, we run afterschool mentoring projects across London, Greater Manchester and Liverpool for young people aged 9-19.
Each young person in a ReachOut project is paired with their own volunteer mentor and, each week, through mentoring and fun group activities, they grow in character and confidence, sparking change in themselves and society.
There are three things at the heart of everything we do:
Character
The high-quality, intensive programmes we deliver go far beyond academic tutoring.
Fundamental to our approach is developing character; by which we mean Staying Power, Self-Control, Fairness and Good Judgement.
We believe a focus on developing these strengths helps young people to make better decisions and take on whatever life throws at them; at school, at home and in later life.
Confidence
We work with amazing young people who need some additional support to reach and be confident in their potential. Working closely with schools, we identify young people who often don’t have the advantages that others do and who are most likely to benefit from our interventions.
Our work helps young people to build their academic and social confidence and prepare them for a world of opportunities.
Change
ReachOut works in areas where young people face a variety of social and economic challenges.
Our programmes support young people to overcome the barriers they face and create wider positive change in society.
Mentoring, group activities and work experiences open up fresh horizons for young people and give them new tools and networks to support their future success.
Our Projects
We run three types of projects – ReachOut Club which takes place in primary schools with young people aged 9-11; ReachOut Academy which takes place in high schools with young people aged 11-16 and ReachOut + a programme that works with ReachOut alumni aged 16-19, helping them with the transition from school to whatever comes next.
Find out more about the work we do in each project:
ReachOut Club projects run straight after school for Years 5 and 6. Each project supports 10 young people for 20 weeks. The sessions involve one-to-one Maths and English activities focusing on building academic confidence, character and a growth mindset, combined with fun group activities such as sports, drama and art.
Mentors encourage their mentees to reflect on their use of good character in and outside of school.
Providing young people with a mentor whilst in Years 5 and 6 helps them to prepare for the challenging transition into secondary school for Key Stage 2 assessments (SATs).
ReachOut Academy projects run in the evenings for Year 7 – Year 11. Each project supports 16 young people and runs for 30 weeks.Each two-hour session includes an hour of academic mentoring focusing on Maths and English as well as group activities all centred around developing character. The second hour is an extra-curricular group activity also centred around character, such as football coaching, drama, public speaking and art.
Our mentors help young people navigate through challenging teenage years and ultimately prepare them for crucial GCSE exams and transition into further education and work.
ReachOut+ projects run in the evenings to help 16 – 19-year-olds transition from secondary school into adulthood with the best possible opportunities to lead good, happy and successful lives.
This is an online project that focuses on one-to-one mentoring to cater to the individual needs of the young person. We also offer workshops to develop the skills and experience of the mentees.
Our mentors on this project offer support with current studies, options, finding work, apprenticeships, CV building, soft skills development and character development.
“ReachOut opened everything up a little more for me”
ReachOut Mentee
Introducing the ReachOut Character Strenghts
At ReachOut, we have a focus on character. We believe that by developing good character, a person gives themselves the tools to learn and thrive in any given situation.
Character can be ‘taught’, but it can also be ‘caught’ from role models – a reason why high-quality mentoring is so important.
By making Character a central part of every ReachOut project, we aim to give mentees the tools they need to grow as individuals, taking these character strengths and applying them to their everyday lives in and out of the classroom.
Staying Power
Resilience, grit, the ability to stick at something, honour commitments and see tasks through to the end.
Self-Control
The ability to keep emotions in check and to choose to act (or not to act) in a certain way despite how we may feel.
Fairness
To treat others with respect and empathy, honouring rights and responsibilities, and being honest.
Good Judgement
The ability to consider consequences and make decisions that benefit both ourselves and those affected by our choice.
“I understand myself on a much deeper level than I would without ReachOut and some of the things they teach, like Character Strengths. Slowly I could see that my character has built up and I’ve become a much better person.”
Aya, ReachOut Mentee
