Volunteer mentors introduced to help pupils at Falkirk schools

Graeme High School, Falkirk High School and Bo'ness Academy will see their care-experienced young people and other pupils taking part in the initiative, which sees

the youngsters matched with a volunteer mentor to help them build confidence, overcome challenges and focus on a positive future.

There will be weekly mentoring sessions between a young person and their mentor, who commits an hour of their time to meet in school each week.

These mentors are fully trained and share their time to listen and encourage a young person.

Fay Gingell, MCR Pathways CEO, said: “We are absolutely delighted to be working with Falkirk Council and these three schools to direct vital support to the young people who need it most.

"MCR mentoring is not just making a significant impact on educational outcomes for Scotland’s young people, but also to their confidence and well being, so we are really excited to begin working in Falkirk.

“We are already looking for mentors who can commit their time to help a young person. Our volunteers come from all walks of life; anyone can be a mentor, they just need an hour a week and the desire to make a difference.

"We’d also love to hear from local employers who would like to support staff to get involved. Mentors and their employers gain massively from the experience for relatively little time commitment.”

Councillor Adanna McCue, Falkirk Council education spokesperson, added: “MCR Pathways is a fantastic programme to have running in three of our schools. This programme provides support to care-experienced young people to help them realise their full potential in terms of education and learning.

"We look forward to launching our school based mentoring programme initially within three high schools with the aim of rolling out a mentoring service to all high schools across the Falkirk Council area.”

Established in 2007, MCR Pathways currently provides support to over 3500 young people throughout Scotland each week and the programme has recently expanded into a total of 16 local authorities.

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