The Mayor's Stepping Stones programme aims to support vulnerable young people in their transition from primary to secondary school. 15 schools across London have just completed their first year delivering the programme including peer mentoring, summer school, aspirational activities and Stepping Stones lessons.
Eltham Hill School tell us few highlights from their first year…
“To kick off the programme we had fantastic week-long Summer School, focusing on team-work, physical activity and creativity. The Summer School programme includes workshops such as: creating a magazine in a day; photography using nature; creating a music video; creating an allotment and PSHE/PE activities.
Once school started each Year 7 Stepping Stones student was matched with their Year 10 mentor. They meet every Tuesday at 8am to have breakfast together and discuss relevant topics and talk through any issues that the Year 7 may be facing.
As for aspirational activities, each week during term-time, there is a specific Stepping Stones club where students are encouraged to take part in creative projects, working with professional artists, musicians, photographers and dancers. We know that this work helps to engage and motivate students who may be hard to reach. From our video, you can see the impact that such work has on students’ motivation, engagement, attendance and confidence levels.
We are so proud and excited to be part of the Stepping Stones programme and we look forward to the second year of the project. If you would like to hear more about the projects we offer or would like to get in touch, please contact Rosie Osborne at [email protected].”
The Stepping Stones online toolkit offers free resources for both primary and secondary schools to help them run elements of the programme. Download the free resources here.