Community Mentoring Newsletter Murray Lands Schools

Transcription

1 Community Mentoring Newsletter Murray Lands Schools Cambria Area School; Jervois Primary School; Karoonda Area School; Mannum Community College; Murray Bridge Primary School; Murray Bridge South Primary School; Mypolonga Primary School; Tailem Bend Primary School Season s Greetings to All Our Mentors and Friends It s that time of the year when we take the opportunity to extend season s greetings and sincere thanks to our marvelous volunteer mentors. You are a part of a network of over 600 volunteers who are mentoring in DECD schools across the state. Included with this newsletter is information gathered from students this term about why they like having a mentor. Please take the time to read this and you will see that our young people have warmly embraced the program and that your efforts as mentors have been greatly valued by them. The mentoring program since 2010 has been managed centrally via the Youth Engagement and Inclusion Team, a part of the Aboriginal, Student and Families Services directorate in the Department for Education and Child Development. As mentioned to you in my last newsletter, the program in 2013 will be managed on a local level, directly by schools. Schools in the program have indicated they want mentoring to continue and will welcome you back warmly in I encourage you to continue to mentor as I have seen the enormous benefits for the students, mentors and schools who have been involved. My role as Team Leader will be changing to a Project Officer from January I will be an advisor, consultant and capacity builder for schools to continue to grow mentoring and volunteering in their schools and communities. The schools will be your contact people from 2013 and on the next page is a list of names and numbers to help with getting mentoring recommenced in term 1 for you. Thank you for the support you have given our young people. It has been a privilege to get to know so many of you and to see firsthand the difference you have made for young people in the Murray Lands and Mallee. I extend best wishes to you and your families for the festive season and for Heidi Unferdorben, Team Leader, Greater Southern Community Mentoring Program. Heidi.unferdorben@sa.gov.au c/o Ascot Park Primary School

2 2013 Community Mentoring Contacts Schools will likely contact you sometime after the first week of term; however feel free to call them before hand if you would like to discuss anything with them. Cambrai Area School Debra Wilson phone: Jervois Primary School Mikelle Miegel phone: Karoonda Area School Karen Norman phone: Mannum Community College Joy Marks phone: Murray Bridge High School Luke Wilson phone: Murray Bridge Primary School Les Cameron or Lyn Davids phone: Murray Bridge South Primary School Rosemary Rowley or Cathy Bolt Phone: Mypolonga Primary School Necia Zadow phone: Tailem Bend Primary School Marie Flavell phone: School Term Dates 2013 Term 1: 29 Jan - 12 Apr Term 2: 29 Apr - 5 Jul Term 3: 22 Jul - 27 Sep Term 4: 14 Oct - 13 Dec Murray Lands Mentoring Network 2013 Following your feedback, we know that one of the most important requirements for you as volunteer mentors is to have the opportunity to get together about once a term to chat and to learn from one another or to have professional development provided for you. Next year I hope to set up what we will call the Murray Lands Mentoring Network. DECD Schools involved in mentoring will be a part of that network and I will be encouraging them to give you all, no matter what school you are mentoring in, the opportunity to meet once a term still. Someone from one of the schools involved will take leadership in arranging these events. Any support from you as mentors will be greatly appreciated I am sure. 2

3 Students say YES to Mentoring Results from a survey of students in the Community Mentoring Program Murray Lands this year indicate a high level of satisfaction with the program. The students responses indicate they value the time they meet with their mentor. Here are some of their comments about What do you like about having a mentor? My mentor is fun, nice, helpful and friendly. She helps me feel better about my mum and dad s breakup. He is very nice and good to talk to. Everything. She makes me happy. He has taught me to be considerate to others. My mentor is good at basketball. He is smart. She has made me realize I will be OK in high school. She has made me think before I do things. I like that they have different opinions and thoughts to mine. I can get things off my chest. It s very fun and exciting. She s a very nice person You can talk about my problems and she helps me a lot and you have fun too. Feedback from school staff has included: The mentor was interested and able to communicate with the mentee at all levels. The student has displayed greater honesty in her conversations with others. The mentee always looked forward to the session. She gave a lot of thought about activities. The mentor was flexible and tuned in to the students needs. The mentor is doing a great job. The mentee really looks forward to his visits. It is a credit to the mentor. The mentor has been really beneficial in giving more confidence to the young person. They are now better prepared for high school. The mentor goes over and beyond. The student s school work and engagement in school has improved a lot since having a mentor. 3

4 Thanks to the Meet and Greets Joy Marks; Marie Flavell; Debra Wilson; Jo; Karen Norman; Cathy Bolt; Lyn Davids; Necia Zadow; Jenni Lutz These wonderful women (and others) have played a large role in the success of the implementation of Community Mentoring programs in the schools over the past two years. From meeting and greeting mentors; to chasing up consent forms and collecting and inputting data into EDSAS and SSS (DECD databases), they have managed to organize processes that will be continued to be followed in their schools beyond this year. They have seen firsthand the impact Community Mentoring has on their students and on the mentors. Thank you each and every one of you. Sincere thanks are extended to the leadership at our schools who have seen the benefits and supported mentoring in their schools. This includes: - Paul Paulenas; Mikelle Miguel; Daniel Rankine; Leonie Falland; Lesley Cameron; Rosemary Rowley and Dr Kevin Lee; Rita O Brien and Phil Garner. National Youth Mentoring Conference November 2012 I was very fortunate to present and to attend at the above conference with some colleagues on the Gold Coast last month. One of the robust findings presented by researchers in the field of young people and mentoring was this: Among children and adolescents at risk for developing psychological difficulties, one good relationship with an adult, not necessarily a parent is associated with greater psychological health. Renée Spencer, Ed.D., LICSW Boston University School of Social Work I encourage you to take some time and review the presentations from the conference by going to the Australian Youth Mentoring Website 4

5 End of Year Celebration Dinner Monday 3 December 2012 Murray Bridge Hotel It was a real pleasure to see so many mentors and school staff come together to celebrate the success of Community Mentoring in the Murray Lands in Volunteers and school staff working together to achieve better outcomes for young people is greatly appreciated by the Department for Education and Child Development and the night was filled with good food, good atmosphere and cheer. Special recognition on the night was given to Luke Wilson, the Local Community Mentor Coordinator who commenced in the role in October 2010 and who left in September 2012 to take on the role as Transition Mentor at Murray Bridge High School. Luke was instrumental in getting the mentoring happening and many mentors made note on the night of all of Luke s work and support he gave. Although Luke was not able to attend the event, his mother Marie was there and she promised to take home everyone s kind regards to Luke. 5