YOU ARE HERE MAPS’ Annual Review 2011-2012
CONTENTS PAGE 2 - YOU ARE HERE PAGE 3 - THE NUMBERS
PAGE 5 - MENTORS RING O T N E M N O LUSI C N I 7 E G A P PAGE 11 - LEAP MENTORING PAGE 13 - LAC MENTORING PAGE 17 - LEAVING CARE MENTORING PAGE 21 - MENTO RING ALTERNATIV E CARE PAGE 25 SCHOOLS MENTORIN G PAGE 29 - PEER MENTORING
PAGE 32 - NAVIGATE PAGE 33 - MAKING TRACKS
PAGE 34 - THE FUTURE & THE FINAL WORD
YOU ARE HERE Welcome to ‘You are here’. This is a space for MAPS to stop and reflect on the past year as well as look forward to all that this next year of mentoring holds. Its a chance for MAPS to share its vision, its achievements and its story with partners, friends, supporters and all those involved in the project.
Chris Parker, MAPS Manager
MAPS simply wouldnt exist without the unswerving committment of its volunteer mentors who over the past year have gifted over 12,000 hours to ensure young people in the London Borough of Sutton are given the time and space to unpack life. Thank you to each and every one of you who have stood up to make a real difference in your community. MAPS would also like to thank the young people involved in the project who never fail to inspire and challenge us. MAPS are committed to ensuring that we continue to be what our young people need us to be in todays society. As a charity, MAPS are forever grateful to our funders who make what we do possible. We would like to publically thank, LBS, BIG Lottery, Children in Need, the Centre for Social Justice & GamesAid for their support over the past year. Here at MAPS we love what we do. We have 2 main aims that we work hard to achieve each year: 1) To improve the quality of life and longer term opportunities for the most vulnerable, isolated and disadvantaged young people in our society. 2) To build social cohesion and derive new and improved skills and opportunities for volunteers. We hope the following story shows that we have not only achieved our aims, but excelled in the delivery of a specialist early intervention, mentoring project. Enjoy MAPS’ annual review. Thank you for taking the time to journey with us.
THE NUMBERS Its been another record breaking year for MAPS, working with 383 young people across all projects. MAPS has added 2 new mentoring projects to its fold, growing to a programme made up of 7 separate mentoring streams and 2 courses. We’re proud to boast 147 mentors plus a further 151 peer mentors! We’ve held more drop -ins, provided more training, partnered with more organisations than ever before... But its not about the numbers. Its simply about the difference we make. The work of MAPS results in significant improvements for young people across 8 measurable outcomes over 12 months of mentoring. These outcomes are: Support, Empowerment, Boundaries & Expectations, Constructive Use of Time, Commitment to Learning, Positive Values, Social Competencies and Positive Identity. Our outcomes are based on a holistic framework of research called The 40 Developmental Assets, which empowers young people to succeed in life, and progress is measured using RADA’s (Relative Assessment of Developmental Assets). Below is a RADA, depicting the impact of MAPS across all our projects. Arguably the greatest difference we make is in how young people are supported, not just by their mentor, but by plugging them into their community for long term support networks. The evidence also suggests we make a significant difference in a young person’s sense of identity, ensuring they exit our service, a confident young person with a positive view of their future. We’re thrilled with the results of our RADA. It simply says, mentoring works!
Welcome to Sutton MAPS exists to serve its local community. The London Borough of Sutton (LBS) is an exciting borough filled with diversity, contrast, character, beauty and people who love where they live. It embraces its vibrant, modern Greater London identity whilst hosting scenes that would be fit for a Constable painting. Sutton soared to the top of the schools league table, boasting the best results in the country. Whilst at the same time we struggle to bridge an education attainment gap between rich and poor that is significantly wider than the national average. This inequality must change and MAPS are committed to being a part of that change. Young people reach MAPS’ services through a number of referral routes. All young people are referred by a professional, whether that be a GP, teacher, psychologist, youth worker, social worker... The list goes on. The graphs on this page help build a picture of the young people who have engaged with mentoring. This years ethnicity data evidences that 22% of young people represented BME groups, which is over 5% higher than the borough as a whole, which has a BME index of 16.3%. With regards to disability, 63% of MAPS mentees had no diagnosed disability. However of the remaining 37%, young people with a learning disability and/or mental health issues were by far the most common. MAPS have responded to this by providing professional additional training to our mentors. LBS is made up of 18 diverse wards, each with their own unique characteristics. Although a relatively small borough in geographical size, it is home to 194,200 residents of which 43,817 are young people. Of the 18 wards 25% of all MAPS referrals fall within just 2 wards - incidentally these are also the wards which statistically are the most deprived, represent the lowest educational attainment, highest levels of teenage pregnancy’s and largest NEET population. Nonsuch & Cheam wards saw the lowest number of referrals accounting for just 2% of all referrals. However the fact that our referral locations are weighted towards the wards with the greatest need, is testament to our referral process and the professionals who are on the front line identifying these young people.
MENTORS MAPS mentors are truly amazing. They are local hero’s, justice seekers, genuine geniuses, reliable role models, consistently kind, patient, generous, understanding and committed. MAPS simply wouldn’t exist without them. So we have one message for them today:
WE LOVE YOU! So heres 10 amazing facts about our mentors this year... 1) 2011/2012 - Saw us build an overall pool of 147 adult volunteer mentors! (A new record!) 2) MAPS mentors dedicated over 12,000 mentoring hours to young people in Sutton! That’s almost double the collective number of hours every football player from every team in the Premier League gives on the pitch in a whole season! (Plus our mentors are much better role models than John Terry!) 3) Over the last year MAPS have trained 47 shiny new mentors. 4) Feedback from MAPS mentor training this year saw 77% of mentors rate their training as ‘EXCELLENT’ the remaining 23% rated it as ‘VERY GOOD’ Thankfully nobody thought we were average, poor or very poor! In fact one quote from a newly trainined mentor was “Helped me walk away with confidence that I can make a difference” 5) 83% of our mentors live within the London Borough of Sutton, showing that our community really does value our community! 6) Our longest servicing mentor has been mentoring for a whole decade!... Some of the kids we now mentor, weren’t even born when this mentor started volunteering with us! 7) 63% of our mentors are women, and 37% are men. 8) Before a mentor becomes a mentor, they have to endure MAPS’ ‘Boot camp’ which lasts a whopping 18 hours and includes an interview and 3 days training. 9) Our mentors currently have an age range of 53 years, with our youngest mentor aged 19 and our oldest aged 72. 10) Maps mentors will throw a total of over 5000 bowling balls down a bowling alley each year! v 2011 aining - No r T r o t n e M
“Volunteering to be a mentor means so much to me. It gives me the chance to give something back and helps me feel invested into my community. I love it!� - Mentor, aged 27.
INCLUSION MENTORING
Helen Gasparelli, Inclusion Coordinator
The inclusion mentoring team works with some of the most vulnerable and marginalised young people in the borough who have multiple needs or have experienced difficulties across various facets of their lives. Young people are referred to Inclusion Mentoring via the Children & Young Peoples Integrated Support Panel (CYPISP), a multi-agency panel where professionals come together to agree a positive package of care from a range of services of which we are one. Young people today face social exclusion for many reasons such as low self esteem, bullying, poverty, abuse, poor family relationships, domestic violence, loss or bereavement, disability, mental health or offending behaviour. We refuse to let young people fall through the net. We embrace their varied circumstances and provide them with individual one to one support every week for a whole year with a hand picked mentor, helping the young person to recognise their worth, to raise their aspirations, to motivate and encourage them to enjoy and achieve and to help them play a fuller part in society by supporting them on their journey to success for a brighter tomorrow. Over 50% of the young people that Inclusion mentoring works with, live in just 2 of the 18 wards in the London Borough of Sutton (LBS). These 2 wards fall within the 20% most deprived areas in the UK, which are subsequently the areas most densely populated with the highest levels of teenage pregnancies and lowest educational attainment levels. These two wards demonstrate an ongoing need for comprehensive early intervention children’s services such as mentoring.
INCLUSION STATS: Historically Inclusion mentoring receives the highest number of referrals for young men across the MAPS programme. To date this is still the case however we have seen a 7% increase over the past year in referrals for young women bringing us closer to a 50/50 gender split. Provision thresholds have increased over the past year resulting in us working with young people who have more complex needs and fall higher on the Child Concern Framework (CCF). Of the 68 young people Inclusion Mentoring has connected with this year, we have been able to successfully engage over 85% of them in a successful mentoring relationship. For the 2011 to 2012 period inclusion mentoring received its funding from the London Borough of Sutton without which we would not have been able to reach and support some of the boroughs most vulnerable and in need young people. The funding has allowed us to provide dedicated weekly support for one year to 58 young people, providing each young person with a safe space and an opportunity to be heard, to try new activities, to be encouraged and to grow in confidence, learning new life skills and to journey towards a brighter future. We would like to take this opportunity, on behalf of inclusion mentoring and the young people who we have reached to express my thanks to LBS for their ongoing support commitment to MAPS.
INCLUSION EVALUATION: Across the year we have seen over a 21% increase in assets across all areas of a young persons life demonstrating that Inclusion mentoring is a truly holistic support system. Across Inclusion Mentoring, young people gain, on average, over 8 assets a year; put simply this means a 23% reduction in problematic behaviours and a 31% increase in positive behaviours. Across the eight areas of measurement we have seen the greatest progression within the subgroup of ‘commitment to learning’ where we have seen a 30% growth from where the young person was prior to mentoring, to where they were by completion of the project. The result: a cohort of young people with increased aspirations who are motivated to achieve in school. With improved educational attainment evidence identifies a clear link between future health, employment opportunity and material prosperity giving the young person better life chances.
. Inclusion mentoring has also supported a 20% increase in positive identity with the impacts ranging from young people feeling more confident and optimistic about themselves and their future to feeling more in control of situations that happen to them and having the ability to positively affect them. Statistics also illustrate an increase in young people feeling supported demonstrating that they have been able to identify or develop a network of supportive adults and role models within their life from whom they can receive encouragement, ensuring that the young person’s achievements are sustained beyond their years mentoring. Inclusion mentoring provides a foundation of support which promotes the attainment of transferable skills assisting each young person to achieve their full potential and to be the best that they can be.
CASE STUDY: Maria Maria, a 12 year old young lady had a number of challenges in her life. When she joined the project her home life was difficult, living with her elder brothers violent and antagonistic behaviour she felt constantly tense and in a low mood, her sleep was effected leading to concentration issues in school. Maria often felt irritable which impacted on her relationships with her family resulting in verbal confrontations and conflict. Her home life was chaotic, she had no space to think and was losing herself, struggling to deal with the issues influencing her and felt she had no one to talk to. Maria instantly hit it off with her mentor and found that she was easily able to open up to her. Anna’s great sense of humour and ability to find fun in everything helped lift Maria’s mood. With Anna’s encouragement she was able to look at her situation objectively and identify areas where she could have a positive impact. After Just a few months Anna notice that Maria no longer mentioned arguments at home and could see the positive improvements in the families relationships when she picked her up. Maria began to flourish, feeling more confident and in control she found her school work improved, she transitioned well in to secondary school building close friendships which had a positive impact on her social life. A year on and Maria is a different young lady, stating ‘I have had so much fun and laughed so much, I feel I have grown up and don’t let things bother me as much’. Both Anna and her mentoring coordinator are so proud of all that Maria has achieved and the confident young lady that she had become, able to handle all situations maturely, she is an inspiration.
LEAP MENTORING LEAP (Learning, Experience and Action Programme) is the newest mentoring stream within MAPS. It started in November 2011 and has got off to a flying start! LEAP is designed to help young people (aged 16-24) make decisions about their future. LEAP provides support in accessing further education, apprenticeships, employment or starting their own business. In particular we work with those furthest from the workplace and those at risk of dropping out of the education system or becoming NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training). Participants will benefit from a year of mentoring support, the aim of which is to encourage continued participation in education or job search; keep participants target-focused and maintain motivation to achieve goals. Additionally we also run group mentoring sessions to focus on specific skills or capabilities.
Derek Terrell & Tammy Blaikie, LEAP Coordinators
Personal Development Planning is at the heart of what we do;------------ --------participants will create their own plan, documenting the steps they ------------------ need to take to achieve their objectives. LEAP will support them in -----------------------achieving this by identifying suitable training courses which can --------------------------provide valuable and recognised qualifications and providing ----------------------------structured volunteering placements to match the area of -----------------------------training or study of their choice; providing valuable subject ------------------------------experience and experience of working life. LEAP will iden-----------------------------tify those Volunteer Involving Organisations best equipped --------------to offer appropriate support to participants, and use our ------------------------------expertise in volunteering to develop structured, meaning----------------------------------ful placements which support the aspirations of our ---------------------------------participants. We will also design and facilitate a series of group -----------------------------------sessions, each with a specific theme (e.g. developing ------------------------------------interview techniques, how to volunteer, CV work-------------------------------------shops and job searching techniques). We have established relationships with local colleges ---------------------------------and training providers to identify suitable short courses, ---------------------------------including pre-apprenticeship courses, which are avail-------------------------------------able to LEAP participants.
LEAP STATS SO FAR: LEAP is still at the exciting early stage of its project implementation and is still growing towards its full cohort. We expect to fill all places during Q2 2012. To date 89% of all referrals have gained a place on the programme. Gender split is currently 2:1 in favour of male participants; we aim to have a good spread of participants reflecting both genders and the full age range. Early indications suggest that the main area of improvement across our outcomes measurement could be ‘Social Competencies’. This theme focuses on the areas of respect, sensitivity towards others, conflict resolution and decision-making; all highly advantageous traits when attempting to access the job market for the first time. As LEAP progresses we will continue to collect data on the progress of our participants and will be able to draw complete conclusions in 2013; which in turn will allow us to continuously develop what the project offers young people. LEAP is proud to be funded by The Big Lottery Fund as part of the Volunteering for Stronger Communities Project (which is being managed by Volunteering England on their behalf). VSCP consists of 15 separate projects across England; all working towards the same theme of supporting those who have been most impacted by the current economic conditions. Funding has been provided for 2 years and allows us to make a beneficial difference to the young unemployed of Sutton. It is envisaged that on completion of the 2 year project supported by The Big Lottery Fund and Volunteering England that LEAP will continue; we see this project as having a long term and sustainable impact in our local community.
LOOKED AFTER CHILDREN
Emily Hodge & Chris Mingay, LAC Coordinators
MENTORING At MAPS, we are delighted to be able to offer a mentoring service dedicated to Looked After Children (LAC) within the London Borough of Sutton. The LAC stream was the first stream of community mentoring, developed by MAPS over 13 years ago. A lot of looked after children in Sutton have faced significant tribulations in life which have led to them being placed in to the care of local authority. Nationally, we have seen year on year increases in the number of LAC, currently standing at over 65,000, marking the highest number since 1987 (DfE, 2011). 62% of these children’s main contributing factor for care is to escape cases of abuse or neglect. Young people in or exiting care remain one of the most excluded groups in our society. In education, only 12% of LAC achieve the benchmark five A* to C’s at GCSE, compared to 59% for all pupils. Children in care are 4-5 times more likely to have mental health issues than their peers. A third of homeless people were formerly in care, even though children in care account for less than 1% of the total population. (CSJ, 2008). It is a depressing picture. The purpose of mentoring is to repaint a picture of hope, we aim to empower young people to beat these statistics and help them to realise and achieve their potential. Our mentors are stable and consistent role models who have clear boundaries and aim to increase self esteem and help to develop a sense of independence for looked after children as they continue their journey through to adulthood.
LAC STATS: The first graph displays the status of the young people that we have directly worked with, or had referred between April 1st 2011-March 31st 2012. The chart represents 19 young people. Of all of the referrals we received, we have directly worked with, or are currently working with just under 95%. One of the 19 decided not to invest in the project, meaning that 18 of the 19 referrals were successful. Of these 18, 94% have, or are on course to complete the mentoring one year programme. Reasons for not completing the year programme were because of changes of circumstances that meant that those young people were relocated to a home that was too far away to continue the relationship. The second graph indicates the breakdown between male and female. This is particularly interesting as roughly around 65% of all referrals to MAPS are male, whereas throughout the care stream (LAC & MAC), there is a clear indication that there are more female referrals than male. The LAC project is funded by the London Borough of Sutton (LBS). Their belief in the project, has enabled MAPS to continually run the LAC stream of mentoring which is now entering its 13th year. Whilst this stream has usually been funded on a one or two year basis, LBS showed a huge vote of confidence by providing three years of funding for the LAC stream, as of April 1st 2012. MAPS would like to thank LBS for the continued support that they display that enables us to reach, and directly work with some of the boroughs most vulnerable young people. “This service has proved to be vital for a number of the young people I work with and has enabled me to provide further support for them whilst being in care that would otherwise not be provided.” (Anna Causebrook – LAC Social Worker)
LAC EVALUATION: The RADA displays some really positive results through eight sub-categories, of which six showed signs of improvement during the time of mentoring. Two sub categories that showed improvement that are of particular interest are ‘Empowerment’ and ‘Commitment-to-learning’.
Empowerment was ranked as the lowest starting score for Looked after children. LAC are sometimes placed in homes in an area that is new to them-often without much of a choice. This takes away a sense of ownership within the community, and also could instil anxiety into young people as they are not always comfortable in a new place, or lack security with regards to not knowing how long they will be there. From the lowest point to the highest point chronologically, we can see a 37% increase in looked after children’s perception score in ‘Empowerment’. MAPS encourage mentors and mentees to engage in local activity and invest in their communities, as well as providing a non judgmental, confidential, 1:1 relationship in which they can discuss issues that they may have. By helping to provide a sense of ownership and pride in communities, we believe that young people in care gain a sense of empowerment. This is supported by the results from the RADA chart. The second sub-category of particular interest is ‘Commitment to learning’. Government statistics show that looked after children are five times less likely to achieve five A*-C GCSE’s than other pupils. This isn’t linked with intelligence, but more likely connected with specific assets within ‘Commitment-to-learning’, such as achievement motivation and school engagement. The average RADA score for this sub-category at its lowest chronological point was around 6/10. Again, MAPS have seen, on average, a 15% increase in commitment to learning. MAPS believe that providing a mentor raises aspiration and gives young people a increased motivation to achieve through specific targets that are formalised throughout the structure of the year; with quarterly reviews and goal settings.
CASE STUDY: Robert Robert was referred to the project as a 16 year old looked after child . He was not in education or employment. He was matched with an experienced mentor called Brian. Soon after the mentoring relationship began, he found himself in trouble with the police and out of favour with his friends, to the point where Robert feared to visit the town centre. It quickly became apparent that Brian was the only person that Robert was engaging with, and because Robert did not feel safe near the high street, Brian was willing to continue the relationship away from the town centre. As the mentoring relationship drew to the end of its year, it was clear that MAPS’ involvement could not cease. Robert was about to turn 18, meaning he would move in to independent accommodation through the Leaving Care Team. The decision was made to extend his mentoring relationship by six months to provide Robert with some support during this huge transition. Robert continued to engage with Brian, and they met regularly for the next six months where they would spend some time talking about the future and allowing Robert some time to unwind. Robert was keen to achieve a goal they had previously set, which was to save up enough of the budget attached to mentoring and attend a premier league football match. This was achieved in the final six months, as well as Robert slowly feeling more comfortable in the town centre. He is also now involved in other social clubs, has in turn made new positive friendships and fully engaging with his social worker and is currently on target to complete a painting and decorating course.
LEAVING CARE MENTORING Young people aged between 16-21 who have previously been looked after by the Local Authority and young asylum seekers make up the Leaving Care stream of mentoring. Within the London Borough of Sutton, there are no Children’s homes, therefore a lot of the young people that MAPS work with have been looked after for many years, away from their ‘local’ area, therefore when the young person transitions to the Leaving Care team, they are often relocated back into the borough leaving friends behind and often feeling extremely isolated.
Teresa Martucci, LC Coordinator
Many of these young people struggle with confidence and self-esteem issues. At MAPS, we commit to journeying with a young person (mentee) for one year, with the help from an unpaid volunteer (mentor). The young person engages on a weekly basis, learning the skills they need to face their future. The leaving care stream also includes young unaccompanied asylum seekers. This cohort of young people have many issues to contend with, especially with regards to language and cultural barriers, often having to overcome racism, discrimination and the threat of deportation. MAPS provide a package of support for the mentee as they transition from being looked after to independent living. When Care Leavers or asylum seekers have mentors the emphasis is the same: supporting the young person towards inter-dependant living. Mentoring offers whole new experiences in life from learning to swim to the more challenging issues such as living in a new community. The mentor equips the mentee with tools to assist them now & in their future, with help to write a C.V. or support them while continuing with their education. Those who leave care and go on to university are only a tiny proportionjust 6 % in England which is why teaching life skills to this group is so important.
LEAVING CARE STATS: During the last year MAPS has had 73% of care leavers engage with the mentoring service. This has enabled 16 care leavers to receive support around budgeting, self esteem issues, positive friendships and continued education. 18% of the young people referred exited early from the mentoring programme as they ceased to engage. 27% of the young people who have been referred to MAPS choose not to take up the service. This is reflective of this client group as they move away from local authority guardianship and try to establish themselves independently. This is the second year running that we have seen an increase in the number of girls being referred for mentoring, since 2010 there has been a 6% increase. The increase may be due to more challenges faced by our girls. Girls in care are 4 times more likely to get pregnant before their 19th birthday than their peers. With a poverty of ‘good’ female role models, mentoring plays a vital role in raising aspiration, and self esteem. Without the support of the London Borough of Sutton’s Leaving Care Team, MAPS would not be able to meet with our people in need of support, working with Leaving Care Team has allowed MAPS to attend the Leaving Care Team drop-in and meet with young people in a relaxed environment as well as being able to put on informal get-togethers to promote mentoring and to raise awareness to the young people who may be in need of support. The continued funding from London Borough of Sutton, allows MAPS mentoring to continue to provide a comprehensive service to care leavers, and represents a continued belief in what MAPS does.
LEAVING CARE EVALUATION: Looking at this graph we can see the biggest impact on the mentees has been in the developmental asset subgroup of support. With this client group this is not surprising as this group tends to have the least support from parents and professionals and support is significantly reduced as they exit the care system. During the year’s relationship the mentee transitions into independent living and moves from supported accommodation (they have their own space with a member of staff living on site) into their own accommodation. With regards to the support outcome this comes in many guises; the mentor will often help a care leaver manage living on a limited budget and learning to prioritise spending. Mentors provide support by meeting with the mentee and providing a listening ear or a voice of reason. While we would like to have seen a larger increase under the sub group of Constructive use of time there has been a 10% increase, during this coming year we hope to see further increases. Under the sub group of ‘Positive Identity’ there has been significant improvement, an increase of 30%, this has many knock on effects and accounts for progress across all 8 areas of the RADA.
These are excellent results, particularly for this client group who still remain one of the most marginalised and isolated groups within our society. With the highest number of young people in care for over a quarter of a century, there will be an ongoing need to ensure those exiting the care system are supported and empowered to live a full and prosperous life.
CASE STUDY: Michelle Michelle had been fostered for a number of years, she struggled to adhere to house rules and had trouble with unsuitable boyfriends. Michelle identified that she needed some help with budgeting and anger management along with support with self confidence. Michelle liked having someone to talk to – who wasn’t being paid to help her. Michelle would chat about making new friends, continuing her education and it became apparent that having Joanne (mentor) was having a positive influence on Michelle. The mentor and mentee met consistently over the year, Joanne would encourage Michelle to get involved in new activities, this included Zumba, as Michelle had indicated she wanted to try and live a healthier life style and loose some weight. Michelle and Joanne also worked on budgeting as Michelle was receiving a very limited income as she was not in employment. They explored ways to make Michelle’s money go further and began using a local community kitchen, learning to cook meals from scratch. Joanne and Michelle spent plenty of time chatting and just enjoying a positive time together, along with discussions around appropriate friendships and relationships. During the mentoring year it wasn’t just the mentee that learnt new things, the mentor expressed how she had learnt so much. “Variety is key. We’ve enjoyed trying new activities and learning together.” “It was great to have Joanne to talk to, she pushes me along, making me try new things she knows I will enjoy and she is kind giving me her time”
MENTORING ALTERNATIVE CARE
Bernie Rowe, MAC Coordinator
In October 2011 MAPS were pleased to receive funding from the BBC charity Children in Need. Here in MAPS we call this mentoring stream MAC which stands for Mentoring for Alternative Care. Having had many years working with children who are “Looked After” by the local authority we became aware of a whole group of young people who are not classed as “Looked After” but who are not living with either one of their birth parents. These children are under “Special Guardianship” and are being raised by their grandparents, aunts, uncles, older siblings or have been privately fostered or adopted. After an initial period of support by the local authority children under Special Guardianship and their carers have little or no services available to them. We have been fortunate to have been working with this client group for a couple of years through another funding stream and in our experience we have found these young people still have to deal with the same problems and issues that a “Looked After” child might face such as, separation anxiety, behaviour issues, isolation, loneliness, being exposed to drugs, alcohol or domestic violence. This can lead to depression, anger issues or low self esteem and confidence. The MAC stream works with 15 young people per year from the age of 8 to 18 years old. We accept direct referrals from the boroughs primary and secondary schools, from statutory agencies like Family Support Care Planning Team or the Permanence and Adoption Team. We are able to accept referrals from many different places as long as the young person fits the criteria of the right age bracket and is not living with either of their birth parents. MAC young people meet with their volunteer mentor weekly for one year; their meetings take place in the local community. This gives the young person an opportunity to talk, share their thoughts and feelings, express ideas and generally unpack life. They can also take part in positive activities such as bowling, swimming, going to the cinema or visiting an art gallery, museum or library.
MAC STATS SO FAR:
Six months into this new project so far we have worked with ten young people. Of these ten, one young person has successfully completed their mentoring relationship, however it must be noted that this young person had already received six months support prior to this project starting. We have four young people active, four young people have had their initial assessment carried out and are awaiting matching with a volunteer mentor and only one young person who chose not to take up the service. Unlike most of the other mentoring streams within MAPS so far we have a higher ratio of female to male referrals. MAC is funded by the BBC charity Children in Need, the project started in October 2010 and is funded for two years. We support 15 young people per year from the age of 8 to 18 years old who either live or go to school in our local borough. All of these young people are facing the same disadvantages as a “Looked After� child but with little or no support. Mentoring gives them the opportunity to have a consistent positive adult role model who will journey with them through a difficult period in their lives. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Children in Need from giving us the chance to work with these forgotten children.
MAC EVALUATION SO FAR: In the early stages of the project the data shows us that two of the areas that have made significant improvements have been Commitment to Learning and Social Competencies. It is interesting to note that so far, out of the ten referrals, the majority of these have come through local schools. Therefore, the area they have wanted us to focus on has been around education and learning, although this has not been our complete focus we are pleased to see that the young people have themselves felt that they now have a stronger commitment to learning, we believe mentoring has played an active part in encouraging the young people to either join their local library, to read more for pleasure, to be more creative about writing their own stories or having access to different types of literature or through different types of mediums. Some of the mentors have also visited places of interest such as local galleries or museums; we believe that this in turn has helped improve the young person’s interest and commitment to learning. The other area of development has been around Social Competency. The Young People have felt more connected to their community by getting involved in positive activities and attending local events. Having a mentor to go with them to different places and do different activities whereas they would not always have the confidence to take part by themselves. It is worth noting that in this early stage of RADA evaluation we can see that 3 outcomes have evidenced a decline. This is common when evaluation is predominantly made up of relationships that have been going for 3 months. Over the course of the year we expect these declines to be reversed. MAPS often find that young people will rate their outcome scores higher during their initial assessment and then at our second point of assessment (normally 3 months) we see a truer reflection, sometimes resulting in a dip on the RADA. This seems to be the case for the 3 areas showing a decline on this particular RADA. We are confident that by the time this RADA reflects the full year of our mentees we will see progression across all 8 areas.
CASE STUDY: Charlie Charlie was referred to the mentoring project through the CYPISP panel . Charlie had lost her mother several years before and at the time of referral she was living with her older sister. The focus of the mentoring was to help Charlie with her transition from primary to secondary school, and to have someone to communicate her feelings openly with outside the family unit. Charlie described herself as quite, caring, helpful and friendly; she had also experienced bullying at school which affected her self confidence. Charlie and her mentor Caroline were introduced and it was agreed they would meet weekly for a full year. Caroline said that Charlie was quiet at the beginning and she had to do most of the talking and suggestion of what they could do together. As time went on and they got to know each other better this changed and Charlie became more talkative and started to open up. During their year together they were a couple of issues around Charlie’s living arrangements, and it was decided that Charlie would go and live with her mums best friend Sam and her family. During all of this time of change Charlie had continued to meet with Caroline weekly, this gave us the ability to support Charlie and help her deal with the change. In their last meeting together Charlie said that Caroline had become one of her best friends who had been there for her, she was someone she could talk to and trusted. They had done some great activates together, and made a journal of her mentoring experience it contained photos, drawings, receipts and all sorts of bits she had stuck in along the way. Caroline said she felt Charlie was more settled now, both in school and with her living arrangements, she seemed happier, more relaxed and felt she was communication her feelings more openly, although Caroline was going to miss Charlie she felt happy in the knowledge Charlie was in a better place.
SCHOOL MENTORING
Louise Storey, Schools Coordinator
Ten years ago the European Social Fund recognised that mentoring initiatives can make a significant contribution to support students in education. Young people face social and school exclusion for a variety of reasons. Mentoring can support these young people to increase their self-confidence, raise aspirations and improve their academic performance. In 2002 our school mentoring project began. This year we worked with 5 secondary schools and 1 primary school in the Borough: Stanley Park, Cheam High, Overton Grange, Carshalton Boys, Glenthorne High and Manor Park Primary. Identified students volunteer to the project and meet their mentors in a classroom environment. Through creative activities our mentors are able to engage and build constructive relationships. The mentors help the mentees to identify their skills and abilities, to encourage and inspire them so they can recognise their strengths and grow in confidence. Last year all 14 Sutton secondary schools signed a joint letter to Michael Gove, expressing their intent to become Academies and many of the borough schools have already changed. This has had a huge influence on local education. Many Local Authority funded support projects for children have been withdrawn and schools now have to buy in services or provide them in house. This has had a direct impact on school mentoring. Not only has this affected how we are funded, we have seen a significant rise in the threshold of our referrals due to the reduction of other intervention programmes. NEET referrals have risen along with child protection disclosures. It has been a challenging year but with the support of mentors, schools and GamesAid we have delivered an excellent service to meet the needs of the individual mentee.
SCHOOL STATS: Historically we have had an equal spread of young people across the schools we work in. You can see from the school’s graph that this year the amount of young people on the project for each individual school is different. This is due to the quantity of school buy in and GamesAid places. This is a direct impact of Sutton schools becoming academies and local authority cuts. Financially, like all other local community projects it has been a tough year but with the loyalty of our schools and the tremendous support from GamesAid we were able to connect with 41 young people, an amazing achievement. Of these 41 young people 29 are boys. Historically school mentoring attracts more boys to the project. This year we have been funded in 2 ways; direct buy in from schools and money from winning the 2011 GamesAid Charity Award which is the gaming industry’s charity. This meant we could offer continuity and stability of mentoring each week to our young people, giving them an individual experience and a listening ear. A direct quote from a GamesAid trustee; “MAPS and its work has really struck a chord with GamesAid members”. THANK YOU GAMESAID for believing in us without your help we wouldn’t have been able to help young people like this; A direct quote from a year 11 student referred because of depression and low self esteem as a result of bullying ; “I thought mentoring would be awkward but it wasn’t. My bullying stopped because my mentor helped me to look at the situation and to think about how I was handling things and to see if I could do it better. It’s brilliant!” School mentoring does make a difference, and we are thankful to our dedicated mentors who give up time in the middle of their day to support these young people. The reasoning behind this according to the school referrers is the emotional needs of teenage boys and school mentoring’s success in helping them.
SCHOOLS EVALUATION: The RADA contains information only on our secondary school mentoring because primary mentoring is a new project since January 2012. 85% of school mentoring is working with young people 14 to 16 years of age doing their GCSEs. It is an early intervention and is often the only service working with the young person. The school will have recognised that the student’s behaviour has changed and is having a negative impact. It is our role to help the student understand and identify the reasoning behind this and help them find the skills and strategies to overcome it. Our RADA evaluation shows significant improvement in commitment to learning, social competencies and positive identity. Working within a school, the mentoring is often structured around addressing issues impacting the young person’s educational attainment. Mentoring can tackle the emotional, academic or social aspects attached to the reasons for educational decline, and this is reflected in the RADA. There will be ripple effects into other areas of their life as the RADA shows. However it is pleasing to see that the investment of a mentor has such a large impact on their commitment to learning outcome, this is interesting as MAPS mentors do not focus on subject comprehension or exam results etc, rather they invest into the relationship and help make school a welcoming and supportive environment – this in turn helps young people with their engagement within school. With good progress the student’s confidence and self esteem improve. High confidence and self esteem lead to increases in the positive identity outcome. Often mentors help young people work through any social issues they may be having at school and this accounts for the impact on the social competencies outcome.
A direct quote from Head of Pastoral Care Glenthorne High School; “I would like to thank you for all the hard work that you and your team of mentors put in to help our pupils. I am thrilled with the high number of extremely successful interventions. It is so nice to see so many of those involved blossoming as a result of the excellent mentoring they receive from carefully identified mentors.”
CASE STUDY: Sharon Sharon came to the project in year 10 referred because she was having friendship problems and appeared sad and lonely. She stayed on her own and hadn’t been out in the playground since year 9. School wanted mentoring to build confidence and self esteem and help her with her social and communication skills. Sharon a young career was highly academic and wanted to go to University but didn’t think she would get there. Family life weighed heavily on her shoulders. In her RADA she rated her ‘commitment to learning’ a low 3 because she didn’t see the point and had no enjoyment of school. She also rated ‘positive identity’ low as she had no confidence due to her friendship issues and couldn’t see a positive future ahead. Sharon said “Mentoring worked because I could say anything and she would be honest with me even though sometimes I didn’t like what she said I appreciated why she said it. I am more open and chatty and much happier now. I am back in the playground and mixing with friends. Not only do I feel I can go to University I have already started to look at which one to attend!” Her final RADA showed the progress she had made ‘commitment to learning had increased from 3 to 7 and ‘positive identity’ had increased from 2 to 8.
PEER MENTORING MAPS Peer mentoring stream supports and encourages young people in secondary schools in Sutton to become effective at supporting and positively influencing others. Peer Mentors help year 7 students with the transition from primary to secondary school and also offer support to other students who are struggling to engage with school for various reasons. MAPS Peer mentoring has delivered vibrant training and provided solid monthly structured support sessions for the mentors in four secondary schools in the borough. This year MAPS Peer mentoring stream has worked in partnership with Carshalton High School for girls, Carshalton Boys Sports College, Greenshaw and Glenthorne High School.
Cerys Cotterill, Peer Coordinator
Navigating youth culture is difficult. There are so many things to take into consideration when supporting a young person, for example, cultures, subcultures, transition from one school to another, puberty, peer pressures, bullying, identity, loneliness, the list goes on and on… We have found that young people are particularly skilled at supporting and encouraging each other. Our Peer programme of study has proven an excellent resource to schools looking to boost leadership skills, pupil voice and emotional intelligence. ‘The Peer Mentors are doing a fantastic job at supporting the year 7s week in week out. It is amazing to see the commitment and influence that the mentors have on the mentees lives and the impact that the mentees have on the mentor’s life. These young people have been extremely influential to their peers and it has been great watching them impact their peers in such a positive way.’ - School Teacher
PEER STATS: This graph shows that MAPS have been working in 4 different schools this year to deliver our Peer Mentoring. The schools that we have been working in partnership with are Carshalton High School for Girls, Carshalton Boys Sports College, Greenshaw and Glenthorne High School. The graph below reflects the amount of boys and girls that have been Mentors on our stream over the past year; more girls are represented in our Peer Mentor group than boys. This year the Peer Mentoring stream has been funded by the schools. Through the ongoing belief and support of Carshalton High School for Girls, Carshalton Boys Sports College, Greenshaw and Glenthorne High School we are able to continue to develop our project to reach the students who are vulnerable and struggle with the transition in to secondary school. MAPS would like to say a big thank you to all of the schools that we are working in partnership with; we have loved working with you and are so pleased to see the Peer mentors making such an amazing positive impact on the mentees lives. ‘The training and support provided by Sutton Volunteers for our Peer Mentors this year has been outstanding. It has moved the quality of Peer Mentoring onto a completely different level. Peer Mentoring is now an essential and extremely effective part of our schools welfare provision. The Peer Mentors are confident in their role and the younger pupils are using the service extensively.’ -Clare Bayles, Head of Pastoral Care and Deputy Head of Glenthorne High School
PEER EVALUATION: During the year MAPS has monitored the Peer Mentors progress, the RADA graph below shows that the biggest increase has been in Empowerment, the reason for this might be due to the student’s new responsibilities that have been given to them as peer mentors. MAPS are pleased to see that the mentors have felt more empowered as the year has progressed. The hope is that the peer mentors will continue to develop in their responsibilities and feel more empowered as they continue their Peer Mentoring thus increasing their positive identity, a way that we will encourage this progression is through developing our steering group. The lowest increase we have seen has been in Positive Identity, this could be as a result of the Peer Mentors being the deliverers of the service, therefore they gain less input as they are giving each week and do not get much feedback from their mentees. MAPS Peer mentoring stream works hard to ensure that the Mentors are supported throughout the year by providing monthly support sessions. As a result of this evaluation we will spend time trying to work out ways in which we can help develop the Mentors positive identity.
The RADA shows that the Peer Mentors started of with a high score, to see progression beyond the starting point is fantastic. MAPS are pleased to see that their has been gradual progression in all of the Asset areas as this shows that the Peer Mentors are not only excelling in their delivery but also their own personal development.
CASE STUDY: Ben Ben really hated school when he first started; he struggled with the transition to secondary school in a big way. Ben’s attendance in year 7 was poor as his dislike for school made him want to spend as little time as possible in the school environment. Ben is in year 10 now and still remembers how his Mum had helped him with her encouragement. Ben also received support from the Cognitive Behavioural Therapy counselling team. The help that Ben had received from his Mother and counsellor helped him change his mind-set, which in time changed his approach to and experience of school. Ben thoroughly enjoys school now, he loves coming into see his friends. This change that has taken place in Bens life has made him excited about the support that he can offer his mentee this year and hopes that he will be able to make a difference through the support he offers. After the peer mentoring training Ben shared with a teacher that he was excited and feeling ready to make a positive difference in his mentees life. Ben has been meeting with Craig for three months and has seen a big increase in Craig’s confidence. When the relationship begun Craig came across as a timid young person but now he is extremely chatty and confident year 7 student. Craig shared that he has enjoyed spending time with Ben as it has helped him feel safer in his new environment as he knows that there is an older student in the school that is supporting him. ‘I found it very difficult in year 7 and I was lucky to have a good support network around me. I am so pleased that I am in a position to help those who are in need like I was and if it makes the slightest difference to their life I feel I have been able to give something back.’ - Ben, Peer mentor
NAVIGATE Navigate provides educational opportunities through a number of different mediums to best engage those young people who may struggle in a more formal setup. This programme has been very successful in engaging many young people who have previously failed to get involved with education or other forms of intentional youth work. Our links through the Children and Young Peoples Integrated Support Panel and the Volunteer Centre positions us well to assess and sign post the young people to further positive opportunities on completion of Navigate. Navigate is a six week course for young people who are NEET or at risk of becoming NEET. This year the course has been run in Community Centres and in Secondary schools, a new venture this year has been running Navigate in Carew Manor, for young people with learning difficulties and disabilities. The topics that are covered in the course are identity, motivation, communication, relationships and aspirations. The course uses unique and modern methods of group work and interaction, different to that of school lessons, with the aim of building confidence and motivation to achieve full potential., MAPS Navigate stream has engaged with 46 young people this year, 42 have completed the course. The graph above shows that we have worked with a wide range of young people, who have been referred through CYPISP (Children & Young Peoples Integrated Support Panel,) Carew Manor School for young people with learning difficulties and disabilities and Carshalton Sports College for Boys. The second graph demonstrates that 27 boys and 15 girls have completed the course. 58% of young people who completed the course gave the course 10/10 (10=excellent.) 21% of young people gave the course 8/10, 14% gave the course 6/10 and 7% gave the course 5/10. These percentages show that over half of the young people rated the course as excellent. ‘The great thing about Navigate is that young people are shown that they matter and have talent, they may never have realised before and this realisation is incredibly valuable to a young person who may never have felt valued before.’ -Ben Webb, Navigate Volunteer Youth Worker
MAKING TRACKS The Making Tracks Project came to formation after a consultation period initiated by the Red Locality Forum. Their objective was to identify a common need within their locality that currently wasn’t being met by services within the London Borough of Sutton. Once these needs/gaps in services had been identified, the locality team commenced a transparent process for commissioning the work required. It was identified that many young people struggle with the significant transition from primary school to secondary school. Although many primary schools do fantastic work to support their children with this process, there is an outstanding need for a dedicated service that tackles risk factors associated with this pivotal point for year 6 students. It was MAPS’ privilege to undertake this work and formulate a pilot project to address risk factors associated with transitioning to secondary school. Building on the success of MAPS’ award winning mentoring projects, group work and youth clubs, MAPS created Making Tracks, a 6 week course followed by a week’s summers activity. The results were fantastic. MAPS are able to boast a significant positive impact on all young people involved in the project, however MAPS are also able to highlight the ongoing need for this work Borough wide. Making Tracks had a significant impact on young people’s positive identity and ability to use their time constructively, both now and in the future. Approaching Secondary School with an improved sense of your identity is a key element in building appropriate, positive friendships. The constructive use of time outcome measurement was the lowest scored outcome prior to the Transition Project, however this outcome saw the greatest improvement as young people were taught the skills to use their time constructively, giving them the tools to express themselves and follow their interests beyond this project.
THE FUTURE So what next for MAPS? Well its quite simple really, we continue to place people who listen with young people who need to be heard. MAPS are committed to building a valuable community who value community. Mentoring is a term we use to say nobody should miss out. It is an action that reaches the most marginalised and most vulnerable. Many children today are faced with a poverty of support and receive a poor serving of positive role models. MAPS mentoring does not seek to replace traditional support systems but rather seeks to empower the young person to bridge the gap step by step. Last year MAPS rolled out our 40 Assets framework to ensure our mentors are empowered to make a real difference to the young people we serve. It worked. But there is so much we can learn from these results and our target is to take these lessons and pump them into new and innovative resources for 2012/13 to empower mentors to continue to be great asset builders. It’s no longer breaking news that the charity sector is in the midst of a radical upheaval. Reports of charities facing a ‘triple whammy’ of reduced income streams, rising costs and growing demand for services, are commonplace. Yet MAPS are encouraged by indicators of resilience as a result of our clear strategy for the future. MAPS are committed to 5 principles over the next year. 1. Grow: A vision to see every young person who needs a mentor to have a mentor. MAPS are committed to the continual growth of mentoring within current streams of mentoring and in response to gaps in services in LBS & its neighbouring boroughs. 2. Sustain: A drive towards financial sustainability through emerging social enterprise opportunities, local commissioning models, and diversifying funding. 3. RE:Source: The intentional development of mentor resourcing (guiding STARS) framed within our 40 assets model and inspired by our vision regarding the source of what we do. 4. Connect: An aspiration to be known by name and by face within our local community. For community to understand our essence and respond to our cause through a variety of opportunities. 5. Engage: A desire to inspire local business to engage with our service for a mutually beneficial partnership.
THE FINAL WORD It is an absolute privilege to be contributing the final word to this review of what has been an incredible year for MAPS. Having witnessed the progress of the last year, it occurs to me that the word most fitting should be, thanks. Thanks to Chris, the team, our mentors, mentees and their families. MAPS continue to be a vital component in the VCS social action machine. The team are vibrant, the professionalism exemplary, and most inspiring of all, the vision coming out of this department is often breath-taking – thus enabling volunteers to play an integral part in supporting the most marginalised young people in Sutton who experience isolation, poverty of opportunity and a deprivation of hope. For me the MAPS experience is a snapshot of Big Society, a strong contribution to this proud vanguard borough. The programme is also of great importance to me as it allows VCS to provide infrastructure support to other organisations borne out of our experience as a practitioner first. I am convinced that this example of best practice; working everyday with volunteers and stakeholders and ensuring that our best practice policies are lived out effectively, is one of the key reasons for our many kite marks, awards and successes. So thanks to all who continue to make MAPS remarkable. - Adam Knuckey, Chief Officer VCS
Mentoring And Peer Support Volunteer Centre Sutton 31, West Street Sutton Surrey SM1 1SJ 020 8661 5900 www.mapsmentoring.co.uk