Peer Support Programme

As part of our continuing pastoral development at Blue Coat, the Peer Support Programme has now been running successfully since September 2005.

Peer Support, or Mentoring is for pupils, run by pupils and aims to recognise and use the experience of older students in the support of the younger year groups. It encourages the ethos of caring and offers benefits to all involved.

Every year around 30 year 9 pupils are trained by an external youth organisation in listening skills, empathy, roles and responsibility. The pupils are then well equipped to begin working with the new intake of year 7 pupils at the start of the next academic year.

The programme has been seen to have been successful in helping younger pupils to express their concerns and having an older pupil available to work with them towards improving certain situations has proved beneficial.