A Great Start To The Year 7 Year 10 Peer Mentoring Program

The Year 7 Year 10 Peer Mentoring Program began last week.

Every Thursday afternoon for one hour Year 7 students will meet with their Year 10 Peer Mentors for a mentoring session.

“The Peer Mentoring Program is an opportunity for the Year 7 students to become familiar with the way our school works, learn about our Mercy values, learn study skills and of course make new friends,” says Mrs Tracy Cowling, Leader of Learning Wellbeing Year 7. “Just hearing about the school from an older student is different than hearing it from a teacher. And for the Year 10 students it gives them an opportunity to experience leadership.”

The Year 10 students have already completed a training program on how to be a successful peer mentor and will now spend one hour each week preparing their sessions and then another hour each week with their Year 7 students. The program will run over two terms.

“The Year 10 Peer Mentors have a structured program that they follow with activities suggested for them to run; however how they choose to deliver the activities is up to the mentors,” says Mrs Cowling. “The Year 10 students are supported by Mrs Leanne Kempys, Leader of Learning Wellbeing Year 10 who helps them prepare their sessions when needed.”

Zara and Mia are both Year 10 students who were very keen to become mentors this year. “I remember how I felt when I was in Year 7 as I didn’t have many friends coming from my primary school and that was hard,” says Zara. “Hopefully I can help the Year 7 students feel more comfortable and not feel like I felt.” Mia says she wants to make the experience of starting high school fun for the younger students. “I had a really good connection with the peer mentor I had when in Year 7 and I want to do the same.”

Naomi is another Year 10 Peer Mentor who wants to recreate the experience she had when she was in Year 7 and attended the mentoring sessions. “My peer mentor really helped me improve my organisational skills and even after the program had finished I would regularly speak to her in the playground. She was such a friendly person and I want to offer that to the Year 7 students I will mentor.”

Last week the Year 7 students met with their Year 10 Peer Mentors for the first time. The peer mentor groups are made up of other students within the same House but have been chosen randomly so that students will have familiar faces but will now have the opportunity to spend time with girls they don’t necessarily know very well. The Year 10 Peer Mentors also belong to the same House as the Year 7 students.

The first session last week was spent with lots of getting to know you games and learning how to use the student planner effectively. Lara, Year 10 Peer Mentor, says she is looking forward to participating in lots of fun activities with the Year 7 students over the coming weeks.

We will make friendship charms and be involved in other fun ways to get to know each other.

When asked how Year 7 is settling in Mrs Cowling says they have been wonderful. “They have settled in beautifully,” she says. “I think they are starting to be a little bit exhausted by all the information they have had to take in but they have done really, really well. I have been very impressed. They are getting into the routine of being a Catherine McAuley girl.”