Nishath and fellow Cubitt Town Junior School pupils

Mosaic’s Primary School mentoring programme aims to raise the aspirations of young pupils, particularly girls, and help empower their mothers so that they are better able to support their daughters fulfil their potential.

Mosaic is particularly thankful to our headline supporter Human Appeal, alongside the Aziz Foundation, TRS Foundation, John Laing Foundation and the players of the People’s Postcode Lottery for their generous support of the primary school mentoring programme.

During the 2015/16 academic year, BP supported the programme with various members of staff volunteering as mentors. One of the schools supported by this was Cubitt Town Junior School in London, where BP employees mentored a group of young boys as well as a group of girls and their mothers.

One of these mentors was Elizabeth Beale who spent one day a week at the school over a 10-week period mentoring three of the pupils.

Here, 10-year-old pupil Nishath shares her experience of the programme. She said: “When I first met Elizabeth I was really nervous but by the time we got to the end I felt really comfortable talking to her. She helped me raise my confidence and learn how to deal with anger. To succeed in the future, I have to practice to get good at the things I want to do. I think it was really important to have a mentor to help me understand these things.”

Following completion of the mentoring programme, Nishath and her fellow pupils were presented with certificates during a special ‘graduation’ ceremony to celebrate their achievement.

Nishath added: “I don’t get stage fright anymore. Even if I don’t know the answer to a question in school I still try and give it a good guess. I think it’s a good programme and I would do it again.”

Nishath’s mentor, Elizabeth, said: “When I first met Nishath she was extremely shy and didn’t engage in any group conversations, but as the weeks passed I could see her confidence grow. She really responded to me and I always encouraged her to believe she could achieve anything she wanted. Towards the end of the mosaic term, Nishath was leading conversations in the group and her confidence in the Graduation presentation was obvious.”

Miss Ansell-Jones, Assistant Head Teacher at Cubitt Town Junior School, said: “Nishath’s confidence has greatly improved since being supported by Mosaic, as has the standard of her work.”