22 June 2009
L-R:
Bob Littlewood, aim higher coordinator, Little Ilford School
Nigel Burt, marketing research assistant, East Thames Group
Shah Uddin, pupil, Little Ilford School
Robert Pope, projects manager, Newham Education Business Partnership
Emma Greenwood, employment and training coordinator, East Potential

School children visited a local housing association today to celebrate completing a six month mentoring project that prepared them for their GCSEs, and gave them a unique insight into the world of work.

The project, coordinated by Newham Education Business Partnership (NEBP) and local regeneration agency East Potential, a subsidiary of East Thames Group housing association, offered year 10 pupils from Little Ilford School in Manor Park support and advice in the run-up to their end-of-school exams. They received mentoring from staff at East Thames Group and were given a tour of East Thames’ head office in Stratford, where they benefitted from spending time in different departments to find out more about working life.

The six-month project culminated in a celebration event at East Thames’ head office today where pupils were presented with certificates by Emma Greenwood, employment and training coordinator at East Potential, and Robert Pope, projects manager, NEBP.

The mentoring project offers motivation to young people who are within reach of achieving the higher A-C grades. Some young people are offered the support and others can put themselves forward. They are paired up with a mentor from a local business who they meet with four times over a six-month period and email regularly via a secure network run by the NEBP.

NEBP work with young people in the borough to encourage aspiration and raise their self-esteem to help them make positive life choices. East Potential already work closely with the NEBP to offer work placements through their Routes to Work programme* and took part in the mentoring project as part of their commitment to providing employment and training opportunities for local people. Over 75,000 local jobs will be created within the borough over twenty-five years, benefitting the young people who live and work in the borough. Work related programmes aim to provide students with some of the necessary skills and qualities in order to take advantage of the future job opportunities.

Nigel Burt, marketing research assistant at East Thames, and his mentee 15-year-old Shah Uddin spoke about their experiences of the mentoring project at the event.

Shah said: “Nigel has been brilliant and has helped me a lot through year 10. He has helped me with revision techniques and I have listened to what he’s told me and put in a lot of work. In November last year I took my Maths exam early and we were very happy when I got a B grade. Thank you Nigel.”

Speaking at the event Robert from NEBP said: “The mentoring project is great as it helps young people to meet professionals and establish working relationships with them. This is just one way the NEBP is working to help young people raise their aspirations and widen horizons. It has been a pleasure working with and organisation like East Thames on this project as they already do a lot of work in the community to prepare young people for the world of work. I would like to thank them and Little Ilford School for their hard work in making this project happen.”

Emma Greenwood said: “The mentoring project offers young people a unique insight into the working world and gives them the opportunity to build working relationships. It is a great example of East Potential’s commitment to providing employment and training opportunities for local people and we are extremely grateful to the NEBP and Little Ilford School for involving us in such a great project. Congratulations to all of the students and mentors who took part and helped to make the programme a success.”

*Routes to Work offers two-week work placements, support, and training to people who are out of work, with the aim of securing full-time employment. It began in 2002 and since then has helped more than 500 people to gain work experience.