Birmingham City University was the venue for our most recent ‘graduation ceremony’ in which we celebrated the achievements of 11 primary school girls and their mums, who have completed the ‘Mosaic Futures’ mentoring programme at St John’s Primary School, Birmingham.
Mosaic Futures seeks to equip young girls with the skills to connect their education to employment at an early age by using female mentors from professional backgrounds as inspirational role models, so that girls can aspire to careers in a range of different sectors.
The children’s mothers also participate in sessions about the importance of education and how they can support their daughters through school and beyond.
The girls and their mums, along with their mentors and staff from the school, spent the day at Birmingham City University. In the morning the participants had a tour of the facilities, visiting the courtrooms used by law students, admiring the incredible selection of resources in the state-of-the-art library, and having a glance at the goings on in the student union.
Later, with the support of University Student Ambassadors, the girls and their mums engaged in a lively debate about university life and what they had learnt whilst on the Mosaic programme.
When asked what journey they would need to take to achieve their dreams, Sukhveer said: “I’m going to go to Hall Green High School, then Solihull College then come to BCU”. Mum Minara added: “I will look forward to supporting my children in going to university and hope to look for opportunity for myself”.
Faeeza Vaid, Executive Director of the Muslim Women’s Network UK, gave an inspirational speech about her work and the positive roles that women can and do play in today’s society and home life.
The day culminated in the graduation ceremony where the university’s Associate Dean, Lynn Fulford, had the honour of presenting the girls, their mothers, mentors and school staff with their Mosaic certificates.
Kate Lyne, Assistant Head Teacher at St John’s School, said: “We have enjoyed working with Mosaic again this year. It has really helped us to engage parents with school and given them the opportunity to spend quality time with their daughters. Raising the aspirations of our local community is really important and this programme has really made a difference to both children’s and parents’ expectations”.
Find out more about our primary school mentoring programmes
Could you volunteer as a mentor? Register your interest here or email Annalisa.Lockett@bitc.org.uk
