Become one of our mentors
BECOME A Volunteer
OUR VOLUNTEER MENTORS HELP CHANGE LOCAL COMMUNITIES
Would you like to help a young person in your local community prosper? You’ve come to the right place!
At ReachOut we believe that academic skills and character strengths go hand-in-hand to help our young people to achieve positive outcomes and to go on to lead good, happy and successful lives. Support from a mentor can help to develop those key skills and strengths.
ReachOut partners with schools in disadvantaged communities to support young people aged 9 to 16 referred to us for one of the following reasons: low academic attainment, low confidence, behaviour issues or because their teachers believe they would benefit from the support of a role model.
Young people meet weekly with their ReachOut mentor at after-school projects that take place in a classroom in our partner schools. There are up to sixteen young people on each project, each paired with a mentor, and supervised by a Project Leader.
WHAT YOU'LL ACHIEVE AS A MENTOR
As one of our volunteer mentors, you will help raise the aspirations of our young people and help them grow in character and attainment. You will also develop your skills:
- See a long-term impact by dedicating just two hours per week to your mentee for at least one academic year
- Volunteer alongside likeminded people and have the opportunity to form lifelong friendships
- Feel part of your local community by making a difference at the ground level
- Develop your skills. Former mentors have told us that volunteering really helped to build their confidence, communication and team working abilities
- Come away with scenarios and situations where you will have used your commitment and resilience, which can be perfect for bringing up in job applications and interviews
- Brush up on your maths and english skills!
PRACTICAL INFORMATION FOR VOLUNTEERING
We run weekly projects across London, Liverpool, Manchester and Oldham during term time.
ReachOut
Club
15:30 - 17:30
You work with young people in either Year 5 or Year 6
Volunteers are involved the whole way through
ReachOut academy
18:00 - 20:00
You work with young people in Year 7 – 11
Volunteers stay for the first hour, and the second hour of sports/drama is optional
Find a project to get involved in
TIMETABLE FOR (LOCATIONS AND TIMINGS):
START MENTORING IN 6 SIMPLE STEPS!
- Register to become a mentor by clicking here [link to registration form]
- You’ll be emailed instructions on how to complete an online DBS application (a police check paid for by ReachOut), and be invited to book onto a one-off mentor training session. The safety of our young people is key in all that we do!
- Attend your chosen mentor training, meet other mentors, and get your DBS application verified by showing the trainer your three forms of ID for a full list of what you can bring, click here.
- Choose the project you’d like to mentor on!
LONDON
LIVERPOOL
MANCHESTER+OLDHAM - Provide the details of two references and complete the compulsory online safeguarding training.
- Start mentoring as soon as your DBS clearance comes through!
Material to support you as a mentor
Has your ReachOut Mentor Training left you wanting to find out more about some of the topics we discussed? We’ve put together a collection of interesting and useful resources for you to download and read in your own time to support you as a volunteer
Download Resources:
REACHOUT LEVEL UP EXPERIENCE
WHAT IS THE REACHOUT LEVEL UP EXPERIENCE?
The ReachOut Level Up Experience is a volunteering scheme for university students at the University of Greenwich and Queen Mary, University of London. We‘ve partnered with some amazing employers and huge brands to ensure our volunteers get maximum value from their ReachOut experience by giving them exclusive access to incredible career development opportunities.
By volunteering as a mentor you will:
- Develop a broad range of transferable skills, from problem-solving and time-management to communication, teamwork and leadership
- Have a real impact on young people from disadvantaged backgrounds and will help your mentee set up a bright and positive future
- Get access to ReachOut’s growing network, with chances to meet some major graduate employers and to attend workshops on how to prepare for an interview, assessment centre or a psychometric test
- Best of all, when you complete your volunteering year (approximately 20 mentoring sessions) you will become eligible for fast-track access to graduate schemes and internships at our corporate partners
REACHOUT LEVEL UP EXPEREINCE corporate partners
In 2020/21 we have partnered with amazing companies to offer some fantastic opportunities to mentors in the ReachOut Level Up Experience. Some of our partners ran workshops for our Level Uppers to help them find out more about the graduate schemes on offer, as well as tips for their applications and interviews. They also provided all Level Uppers who completed the volunteering year with fast-track access to their graduate schemes, bypassing a stage of the application process.
HOW IT WORKS
If you’re interested in the joining the ReachOut Level Up Experience and taking advantage of the benefits:
- Join the ReachOut Level Up Experience and train as a mentor by the end of October 2020
- Get a ticket to our exclusive ReachOut Level Up Experience Launch event in October 2020
- Make a difference by volunteering for 2 hours per week, mentoring a child at a local primary school in a ReachOut Club (term-time only, October – April)
- Meet our graduate employers
- Get the chance to attend training workshops and network with our corporate partners
- Complete your year of volunteering and graduate from the ReachOut Level Up Experience
- Get fast track grad scheme access with our corporate partners!
ARE YOU READY TO START THE REACHOUT LEVEL EXPERIENCE?
- Click here to sign up to be a ReachOut Level Up Experience volunteer (limited number of spaces)
- Attend a one-off comprehensive training session that prepares you to be a mentor
- Complete our safeguarding checks (all our volunteers have to be DBS checked and provide two references) with the support of our fantastic team
- Become a mentor and be there for your mentee, once a week, every week during term time (at the beginning of the programme, you choose the day and location, on a first come first serve basis)
Leadership Programme for Project Leaders
Training programme to develop and grow your leadership and management skills
To ensure our project delivery is the best, and that our young people have the best support, we developed the Leadership Programme for those who lead the sessions, our Project Leaders.
Each participant becomes one of our fantastic Project Leaders who are paid to manage and lead a mentoring project. Each Project Leader will have up to 16 mentees and 16 mentors in their group, and will facilitate range of academic and character activities.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, projects are likely to start online until it is safe to go back into schools. Project Leaders will be trained on how to deliver sessions both online and in-person to prepare for this.
HOW REACHOUT SUPPORTS PROJECT LEADERS
The Leadership Programme is designed to support our Project Leaders to develop exceptional leadership and communication skills. To achieve this, those enrolled:
- Attend online training modules in September, which will equip you with the skills and knowledge to deliver sessions. Upon completion of the training, Project Leaders will be paid a lump sum of £50.
- Receive training throughout the academic year, allowing you to learn more about supporting young people and develop your skills
- Regularly meet with your dedicated Project Officer who will support you to deliver a successful project.
- Have the opportunity to be supported by a career mentor with whom you can discuss your personal development.
In this programme, you will be encouraged to challenge and stretch yourself, reflect on your experiences and take control of your development. Peer learning is essential and you’ll be asked to visit other projects and learn from the experience by sharing and reflecting with other Project Leaders
Apply Now
We are looking for enthusiastic, collaborative and positive individuals to join our Leadership Programme and become Project Leaders for the 2021/2022 academic year.
Applicants must ensure they are available to attend evening and weekend online training throughout September 2021. Upon completion of the induction training, all Project Leaders will be paid a lump sum of £50.
We aim to respond to applications within 2 weeks. We will review applications on a rolling basis so we recommend applying as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.
Please send your completed application form and CV to leadership.programme@reachoutuk.org. Please also complete our equality and diversity monitoring form.
At ReachOut, we are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion. We aim to be an organisation that represents the young people that we mentor. We actively encourage applications from Black and Minority Ethnic candidates as these are under-represented within our organisation.
Applications are now open!
