RSN offers tailor-made educational mentoring opportunities to young refugees and asylum seekers across London, Birmingham, Oxford and the East of England (Peterborough and Cambridge) who need extra support with their education.
How does mentoring work?
RSN takes referrals of young people from colleges, social services and a variety of other organisations and individuals
We meet the young person for an initial assessment of their educational aspirations and current circumstances
We match the individual young person with a trained, local volunteer mentor
The mentor meets them each week, in a public place, to support them towards their educational goal
We ask for a minimum commitment of six month from both the young person and the mentor. After six months the relationship is reviewed to see if both mentor and mentee would like to continue
Who is mentoring for?
Mentoring is for refugees, asylum seekers and survivors of trafficking aged 14-25 who need extra support with their education
We prioritise young people who are in the UK without their families and are looked after by social services (unaccompanied asylum-seeking children)
We also run a specialist mentoring programme for trafficked girls, in partnership with ECPAT UK.
“I am happy when I meet my mentor. I want to pass my exams this year so that next year I can study mechanics and my mentor helps me so much with this. This is good for me!” (16 year old boy from Afghanistan)
How can you get a mentor?
If you are a young person who would like a mentor, please talk to your teacher or social worker or get in touch with us directly.
Alternatively if you are a professional wishing to refer a young person for educational mentoring please get in touch with the appropriate area coordinator:
North London - until our new mentoring coordinator is in post, please contact the programme manager,Katie Barringer
If you would like to discuss referring young people from other parts of the UK, please contact Katie Barringer, our educational mentoring programme manager, to talk further.
Refugee Support Network is a charity registered in England & Wales under charity number 1132509 and company number 06879651 at 1st Floor, The Salvation Army Building, London NW10 4JJ. We use cookies to improve your experience using this website. To learn more, read our privacy policy.
