In 2021, Union High School launched a cross-age peer mentoring programme at the school to promote the learnersโ physical, social and emotional well-being.
The programme is constructed between the older and younger learners, with mentors being assigned to specific class groups so that the younger learners can benefit from the experience and knowledge of the older ones.
๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ด๐ฟ๐ฎ๐บ๐บ๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐น๐๐ผ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ถ๐๐ต ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐ฎ๐น ๐ถ๐บ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐ถ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐น๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ฝ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐น๐ผ๐ฝ๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐ผ๐ฝ๐ฝ๐ผ๐ฟ๐๐๐ป๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ผ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ผ๐น๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ-๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐ผ๐๐๐ต ๐๐ต๐ผ ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ฒ ๐ถ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฟ๐ผ๐น๐ฒ.
The support of parents and teachers is undoubtedly vital for the success of our learners. However, the impact that guidance and advice from people who are closer in age can have is often overlooked – in fact, peer mentoring has been shown to lead to improved attitude to school, attendance and behaviour. It can also help learners to build up a peer network within their school, causing more holistic benefits such as a sense of community and belonging.
โ๐๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐จ๐ณ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ท๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ข ๐ด๐ข๐ง๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ท๐ช๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ณ๐ข๐ช๐ด๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ด๐ฌ ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ค๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ฎ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ง๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ญ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ง๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฅ๐ถ๐ญ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข ๐ค๐ญ๐ข๐ด๐ด๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ,โ said Grade 12 mentor, Kathryn Odendaal.
