Girls from eight West Midlands primary schools have graduated from Mosaic’s Primary School mentoring programme at two very special ceremonies hosted by Birmingham City University.

Pupils from Parkfield Community School, Uplands Manor Primary School, St Georges C of E Academy, Nelson Mandela Primary School, Ladypool Primary School, Arden Primary School, Ward End Primary School and Chilwell Croft Academy Primary School spoke about their experiences of Mosaic’s pioneering scheme in front of a packed audience including their mentors, teachers and parents.

Mosaic would like to thank our headline supporter Human Appeal, alongside the Aziz Foundation and the players of the People’s Postcode Lottery for their generous support of the primary school mentoring programme.

Mosaic’s Primary School programme seeks to equip young people with the skills and confidence they need to connect education to a work at an early age. The programme often focuses on girls and their mothers, raising aspirations and broadening expectations of what’s possible in adult life. Volunteer mentors from professional backgrounds act as role models to the pupils and encourage them to aspire to careers in a range of different sectors.

The keynote speakers at the two events were Shahin Ashraf MBE, Muslim Chaplain and Manager of Muslim Women’s Network; and Anita Bhalla OBE, who is currently Chair of the Creative City Partnership, and Director of Greater Birmingham and Solihull LEP.

Shahin Ashraf said: “It’s vital that all young people receive the encouragement they need to realise that they have limitless potential and I’m excited that this message is being so well delivered by Mosaic’s mentoring programme. To hear the girls talk so confidently today about their hopes and ambitions has been extremely uplifting and their positive attitude is a credit to the support they’ve received from their mentors, parents and schools.”

Becky Mitchell, Mosaic’s West Midlands Regional Manager, said: “The primary school graduations are always a highlight of the Mosaic calendar and this year has been no exception. The girls have clearly had a very positive experience over the past few weeks and thanks must go, as always, to our volunteer mentors who give up their time to make it all happen.”

Mosaic is beginning to recruit mentors for all of its programmes in the academic year 2016-17 so please get in touch if you’d like to help us deliver the vital work such as that described above. You can apply via the sign-up page.