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In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, SHINE Mentoring has taken steps to reduce risk of infection transmission among volunteers and within schools.  All interviews and training events will be held remotely using videoconferencing platforms. In-person volunteering has resumed with pen-pal scheme as a back up.

Welcome to SHINE Mentoring

“These mentors have given so much to our children – personalised support, individual care and attention and a realisation that the future could hold the same successes and achievements as they see their mentors enjoy.” – Head Teacher

SHINE Mentoring is a volunteer-led Southwark charity which recruits, trains, and supports university students to mentor local children aged 9-11.

SHINE Mentoring was established to support local children during their school education, addressing some of the health and social needs of Southwark.  The charity has been able to show that providing university student mentors enhances the learning and development of children through proactive support and positive role models.

SHINE recruits university student volunteers from King’s College London, as by partnering with one university institution, we are able to focus the training and support we provide to students for their role as a mentor and in their university degree.

Since the programmes started in 2004:

  • 1,500 children aged 9-11 years old have received targeted one-on-one support from a university student mentor
  • 1,250 volunteers have been recruited, trained and supported as SHINE mentors
  • SHINE has gained recognition on a regional and national level being awarded two Student Volunteering England Gold Awards and a Southwark Community Contribution Award
  • 16 organisations have shown their support for SHINE through the award of grant funding

Aims for 2022-2023:

We are continually working to develop our charity. We have highlighted three areas of focussed development over the academic year 2022-2023.
These are:
  1. To continue to offer pastoral support to children and aim to return to face-to-face mentoring, with a pen-pal scheme as a back-up
  2. Increasing training opportunities for volunteers and trustees
  3. Develop a monitoring and evaluation framework to measure the impact of the SHINE Mentoring programme