North Worcestershire Schools Mentoring Project Commended in Compact Awards

The St Basils North Worcestershire service recently received a nomination from Bromsgrove District Council in the Worcestershire Compact Awards. Several young people from St Basils attended the Awards along with Staff and although, they weren’t the eventual winner, St Basils was commended for the homelessness prevention work they had undertaken in local schools.

Bromsgrove District Council nominated St Basils and The Basement for working in partnership with Bromsgrove District Council in a project to pilot the St Basils Schools Training and Mentoring Programme (STAMP) in North Worcestershire schools. The aim of STAMP is to raise awareness of the issues of homelessness to students of school age and provide information to young people on where they can seek help. STAMP also offers a mentoring service to pupils, provided by young people from St Basils who are given the opportunity as part of this programme to gain skills through volunteering and also gain a qualification in Peer Mentoring.

St Basils North Worcestershire service has also trained 6 members of staff from both St Basils and The Basement to facilitate delivering the sessions in schools. Alongside this we have trained young people on the Peer Educating Programme and Peer Mentoring programme, enabling them to go into schools with the facilitators and help deliver the sessions.

The pilot was also supported by Redditch Borough Council and this service has reached over 300 pupils in the last year. St Basils is now negotiating with 3 local councils; Wyre Forest, Bromsgrove DC and Redditch BC to continue the project next year with the aim of reaching 1000 pupils across North Worcestershire.

Added November 2011