Parrs Wood High School is a mixed comprehensive school located in the South Manchester suburb of East Didsbury.

A multi-cultural and multi-faith school, Parrs Wood has a proven record of academic excellence, accommodating around 1,500 pupils through years 7-11 as well as 400 Sixth Form students.

The school has partnered with Mosaic for the last three years, running both the Enterprise Challenge and secondary school mentoring programme with the backing of Shana Ali, a teacher in the school’s Business, Law and Economics department.

Here, three of the pupils share their experiences of taking part in the latter programme, which provides a package of opportunities to raise the aspirations of young people and close the gap between those aspirations and their attainment.

Kaisar Hayat, 15, said: “I’ve learned a lot about myself through Mosaic but more than anything, it’s been the opportunities that I have appreciated the most – to talk to business mentors, to go on work visits, to meet different people and to speak in public.

“I feel more open and confident when speaking to other people and would encourage other young people to be confident in what they are doing, not be afraid of what can happen but be excited for the things that can happen in life.”

Mukhtar Adeyemi, 16, agreed that working with Mosaic has made him feel more assured. He explained: “The mentoring programme helped build my confidence and I even had the chance to speak in public in front of dozens top professionals.

“I’m more confident at asking questions without the fear of being judged and learnt I am actually an extrovert person. We are all different and can still be successful if we can understand the way we work and what brings out the best in us.”

For Akam Ahmed, 15, it was the opportunity to visit a real working environment that struck a chord. He said: “We went on a trip to Barclays and saw what goes on in the control room and got a look into how big businesses work.

“Our mentors showed us what we would need to do to get a job at a company like this, which really got us thinking about our life. They also helped us become more confident in front of others so that people might want to hire us in the future.”

Mosaic would also like to thank our partners Al Faisal Foundation and the players of the People’s Postcode Lottery for their generous support of the Secondary School mentoring programme.