When joining Sixth Form this year, I was told about our in-school mentoring programme called STAMP, Student Teaching and Mentoring Programme; I immediately knew I wanted to take part. This programme is available to anyone in Sixth Form and has hugely grown since its creation thanks to Mr Weeks. It reaches to our lower school, letting us tutor and mentor younger students. Within STAMP, the first time opportunity to visit Kenley Primary School was offered, and due to my interest in education, I was happy to take part!

In our weekly visits, we would advise and talk to their school’s Prefects the Parliamentarians, a mix of year 5 and 6 students. We created strong relationships with the children talking to them about ways to make playtime more inclusive. I distinctly remember me and my teammate, Mae, teaching them games we had specifically researched prior such as Shipwrecks, What’s the Time Mr Wolf?, Emotion Charades and It. Every week the children would become more confident, and they eventually were very excited to have allocated time with us telling us all about themselves and their ideas helping shape our decisions and the programme!

Although sounding silly to teach them such common games it was extremely effective in helping them learn and understand other ways to get different year groups involved. It was a wonderful experience and being able to see the younger children be eager to join in the parliamentarian’s games was adorable and made me, and I’m sure everyone involved, very proud and feel extremely accomplished.

After a little break, I am happy to say our involvement with Kenley is not over and we will be returning to support students in reading come June.

STAMP is a great programme and has taught me so much about how to help others and leadership. I strongly encourage any sixth-formers to participate in STAMP even slightly as it’s a great experience and you might enjoy it more than you could imagine!

By Maya