Youth Mentor - Gap Year Programme
by City Year UK
Job Details
Youth Mentor - Gap Year Programme
Realise your potential by helping pupils fulfil theirs
Join our year-long leadership development programme and contribute to tackling educational inequality, making a real difference to children’s lives, from August 2024-July 2025.
The role
Was there someone who made a difference in your ability to access education? Or perhaps you were a pupil who would have benefited from having a mentor? This is your chance to harness your energy, passion and creativity, in order to become that person for others.
As a City Year mentor, you’ll spend your year volunteering in schools and supporting children who need our help the most - by acting as a student success coach to them and integrating social, emotional and academic learning to realise pupils' potential.
Alongside your teammates, you’ll help pupils engage with and enjoy learning through classroom, one-to-one and small group support. You’ll also be delivering and running breakfast, lunch and after school clubs, and creating meaningful relationships with children who need help to do well at school.
Not only will you spend the year changing lives in schools, you’ll also get to take part in City Year UK’s Leadership Development Programme. You’ll have the opportunity to do a relevant accredited qualification as part of the programme - CMI Level 3 in Leadership and Management and Coaching and Mentoring. Plus, we’ll create specially tailored Professional Development Programmes to measure your progress and help you develop the key skills and competencies that employers are looking for.
Until July 2025, you will be a City Year mentor based in a school in a low-income area, whilst improving your own career prospects through work experience and personal and professional development workshops. Please note this is a full-time volunteering opportunity and therefore you must be available during school hours in term time from August 2024-July 2025 to apply.
As a City Year Mentor you will:
- Be integral to the school day and work as part of a team
- Act as a role model, mentor and coach to help struggling pupils succeed, providing 1:1 and small group support in class
- Lead clubs, projects and events to promote a positive school culture
- Support pupils’ academic and emotional wellbeing, creating a welcoming learning environment.
What you can gain from your City Year:
City Year is a life-changing experience. As well as having a huge impact on the lives of pupils, it's a year that will accelerate your career and give you the confidence to lead from the front. 93% of our volunteer mentors go on to full-time employment or education after completing our leadership development programme.
Key benefits:
- Bespoke Friday training sessions to develop leadership and employability skills
- A designated professional mentor from our corporate partners
- Access to accredited leadership courses
- £115-£125 living expenses per week, dependent on region, plus all travel expenses reimbursed
- Free uniform - one of our iconic red jackets
Life after City Year: give a year, stay part of a unique community
Our volunteers come from a wide range of backgrounds but are united in one common goal: to better themselves and to better the lives of pupils facing barriers to success.
Since 2009, City Year UK has trained and supported over 1,500 young adults to coach and mentor over 15,000 pupils in need of extra help and contributed to a positive school culture for over 100,000 children. Our volunteers have then gone on to progress into careers within education, social work, law enforcement, finance, engineering, marketing and many others, as well as launching their own businesses.
About City Year UK
City Year UK is a youth and education charity which empowers 18-25 year olds to tackle educational inequality through a year of full-time volunteering in schools.
What we do:
Diverse young adults give a year full-time in schools to support the pupils who need help most. They inspire, mentor and tutor children of all ages to overcome social, emotional and academic barriers to learning, while taking part in our leadership development programme. Often volunteering in their own communities, our coaches gain real world experience, leadership skills (a CMI qualification) and new networks that will set them up for any career.
Why it works:
We believe that where you start in life shouldn’t determine your future and every young person should have the chance to succeed. We offer a unique solution to tackling educational inequality by partnering with teachers and schools to contribute to joyful, responsive and welcoming learning environments where all pupils can build on their strengths and fully engage in their learning. As ‘near peer’ role models and tutors, our City Year mentors complement the work of teachers and become an integral and flexible part of everyday school life.
How to apply
To apply for this role and to find out more, please click on the apply button.
Please note that applications may close before the application deadline, so apply early to avoid disappointment.