Photo - Some of our 2020/21 mentorship pairs.  

As part of the school’s vision to equip our students for an ever-changing working world; we will shortly be commencing the fifth year of the BGS Alumnae Mentoring Programme, open to all students in the Lower Sixth to apply for, run in conjunction with The Alumnae.

All the Mentors involved with the programme are alumnae and the programme is part of our drive at BGS to make our alumnae organisation modern and purposeful for its members, as well as an introduction for students to the additional support network our alumnae community provides.

We received a large number of applicants for the programme and currently are able to facilitate up to 15 pairings for the year ahead. This year’s Mentors represent an array of interesting careers such as Banking, Marketing, Engineering and Forensic Science.

A successful mentoring partnership benefits both the Mentor and Mentee in different ways. The students involved in last year’s programme were unanimous in their appreciation of receiving advice and guidance from another adult who is neither their parent nor teacher. The students felt a sense of empowerment as they worked through achieving their own personal challenges with their Mentors. Whilst for the Mentors, it gives them the opportunity to share their skills and experience, as well as enhancing their own personal development.

Mentor Louise Hughes (née Truswell, BHS 1998), who mentored Joanna Solomon (Upper Sixth), reflected on the experience:

“I wanted to give back; to help, support and hopefully inspire the future generation, and to share my experiences that I’d learnt over the course of my career. Last week I had my final session and finally got to meet my amazing student face- to- face. I can honestly say it’s been a really rewarding experience. We’ve both learned a lot through our sessions and I just kept thinking how much I’d have loved to have had the opportunity when I was at school!!”