“Mosaic has helped me and my daughter to have more confidence. The visit to the university and taking part in the programme has been an amazing experience for all the girls and their mums.”

Pupils from inner city Manchester primary schools attended a graduation ceremony at Manchester Metropolitan University to celebrate their successful completion of the Mosaic Primary School mentoring programme, designed to help young girls and their mothers.

The group of 60 female Year 5 and Year 6 pupils, all aged between nine and eleven years-old, proudly received a Mosaic training certificate when they visited the university along with their teachers and Mosaic mentors.

The girls and their mums took part in a summer programme run by Mosaic which seeks to equip young girls with the skills to connect education to work at an early age through female mentors from professional backgrounds acting as role models, and so that girls can aspire to careers in a range of different sectors. Mothers participate in lessons that raise their awareness of the importance of education and how to support their daughters through school and beyond.

International novelist Qaisra Shahraz gave an inspirational talk at the ceremony about how she managed to juggle her career as an educational consultant and leading OFSTED inspector and as a fiction writer. Each school taking part in the programme including, Fiddler’s Lane Primary School, Irlam, St Mary’s Primary School, Moss Side, Marlborough Road Primary School, Salford and Webster primary School, Hulme, all received a copy of the famed authors latest novel ‘A Pair of Jeans’.

Beverly Cohen, a teacher at Fiddler’s Lane Primary School, in Salford, said:

“The Mosaic mentoring programme is one of the most worthwhile things we have ever done. It has been a wonderful experience for all involved and I felt very proud of our Y5, Y6 girls and their mums. It was lovely to see them receive a certificate at the Manchester Metropolitan University for their participation in the course.”

Mosaic’s Primary School mentoring programme works with girls and their mothers, over a period of ten weeks, exploring a range of issues from education, role models and the role of women in today’s society.

One of the mums who took part felt inspired to go back to college after participating in the weekly mentoring sessions.

A mother on the programme said:

“Mosaic has helped me and my daughter to have more confidence. The visit to the university and taking part in the programme has been an amazing experience for all the girls and their mums.”

Nafisa Hakim, Mosaic’s Regional Manager in the North West, said that the volunteer female mentors who work with the girls all come from a variety of professional backgrounds, including company directors, health professional, lawyers, accountants and artists.

“The success of our programmes would not be possible without the invaluable time and effort our mentors put into inspiring young pupils and giving them the confidence in themselves.

“Mosaic believes that positive aspirations are crucial for young people’s success, what people aspire to do as children is very strongly linked to what they end up doing later in life.

“Low aspirations often lead to poor academic attainment and this can be especially true for young people growing up in disadvantaged areas.

“The experience is also very rewarding for our mentors who feel they are putting something valuable back into their community. We can’t thank our supporters enough and would love to hear from any professional people who would like to get involved in mentoring.”

The Mosaic programme was such a success that nine of the ten schools which took part in the North West have already signed-up for next year’s programme.

Find out more about becoming a mentor or read more about taking part in the programme if you are from a primary or secondary school.