what was our Creative Mentors in schools project?

This exciting project reimagined our award-winning one-to-one Creative Mentoring programme by adapting its delivery for groups of young people. Between November 2023 and July 2024, we placed Creative Mentors in four schools across Derbyshire. Each school identified four students each to receive Creative Mentoring – a creative intervention which uses a child-centred approach to engage and support young people through challenging phases in their lives.

how did it all work?

Traditionally delivered one-to-one, this project was structured to deliver Creative Mentoring in key phases. Initially, the Creative Mentor would spend a day in the school and work with each of the four young people separately. Once a trusted relationship had been formed between the Creative Mentor and each young person, the young people attended their Creative Mentoring sessions in pairs. Finally, all the young people would join together to experience Creative Mentoring as a group and create a final piece of artwork to be displayed in their school.

At the end there was one final big round of applause and the teammates took a bow. – Young Mentee [referencing the unveiling of the group’s final artwork at a celebration event]

what positive impact did this project have?

We’re delighted that 80% of the young people who took part in this project said that their teamworking skills had increased. The project specifically supported young people facing the most challenging times and helped to foster a lasting sense of belonging within the schools.

Today was the big unveiling! All three girls were very excited and proud of their achievements. – Creative Mentor