Young People are Soaring – MCR Impact Report 2018

Where nationally only 54% of Care-Experienced Young People Progressed to a Positive Destination now 86% do

Just one of the successes revealed in the recently published MCR Pathways Impact Report.

Glasgow City Council has published the latest MCR Impact Report and we’re delighted to report that both our scope and impact have increased again over the last 12 months. 2017 saw the MCR model embedded in every secondary school across Glasgow and the number of young people supported each week more than doubled, from 600 to 1300 so far. This means we are now helping twice as many young people find, grow and discover their talents.

“I became very disengaged from school but my Mentor got me back involved and was there to reassure me. The help and support of my Mentor and the programme are what has shaped me.” – Rebecca, Lochend Community High School

Maureen McKenna, Executive Director of Education, Glasgow City Council said: “The results and outcomes in last year’s Impact Report were so impressive but the bar has been raised again with more and more of our young people achieving better results and positive destinations – employment, further and higher education.”

“Every young person in Glasgow has talent. This programme is identifying, nurturing and encouraging that talent in the young people who might need a extra bit of support or nudge to believe in themselves – for a variety of different reasons.”

Annemarie O’Donnell, Chief Executive, Glasgow City Council and Iain MacRitchie, MCR Founder and CEO

Motivation, Commitment and Resilience leads to Results

“The results have been outstanding in each of the Key Performance Indicators, enhancing the already great work going on in our schools – staying on after age 16, attainment and post school destinations into college, university or a job.  For mentored young people, each has improved dramatically on the baseline average in 2014 across the 15 schools assessed.”

– Maureen McKenna, Executive Director of Education. Glasgow City Council and MCR Mentor.

In 2014, pre-MCR, only 48.8% of care-experienced young people in the first 10 targeted Glasgow schools went on to employment, university or college. In 2017, that percentage has soared to a transformational 86% of MCR mentored young people across 15 schools. Perhaps even more significant, these mentored young people have closed the gap with Glasgow’s non care-experienced leavers. Care-experienced young people who participated in the mentoring programme progressed 37% better than those who didn’t participate.

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Stay On

“Having a mentor was a major benefit to me as I had no idea what I wanted to do after school, now I have a college course lined up and feel passionate about what I am going on to do next.” – Kellyanne, Smithycroft Secondary Leaver

The Growth of the Talent Taster Programme

In 2016, we piloted our Talent Taster Skills and Employment Programme to give young people a hands-on opportunity to explore work, Further and Higher Education experiences. These practical, half day sessions are delivered by businesses and organisations within the workplace to inspire our young people and raise their aspirations. In 2017/18 the programme expanded further, with 425 young people participating this year compared to 330 last year.

“I was delighted to be given the opportunity to inspire the next generation into engineering. At the world of Sweco, we build and design the cities and communities of the future. Hopefully our team has sparked and interest and understanding in the attendees of the varied careers available within engineering.”

– Geraldine Angus, Operations Manager, Sweco

#GiveAnHour

The MCR staff and our growing army of mentors come in week after week for one reason: our young people. We want to make sure that, regardless of circumstances, every young person gets the same education outcomes, career opportunities and life chances. The results published in this year’s Impact Report directly evidence the work of our mentors and the extraordinary resilience and determination of our young people.

“We are immensely grateful for the motivation, commitment and resilience of our mentors  who attend schools weekly in rain, hail and sunshine to support their young person. Each of our young people are at a different starting point on their journey to success and all will succeed in different timescales in their own way.”

– Dr Iain MacRitchie, Founder and CEO, MCR Pathways and MCR Mentor

“I have now been a mentor myself for the last couple of months, so can say from experience how rewarding the programme is – for both the young person and the mentor. I am delighted to endorse the impact report and the evidence demonstrates that by embedding the programme into our schools’ core business, our young people are reaping the benefits.”

– Annemarie O’Donnell, Chief Executive, Glasgow City Council and Mentor

But we are not finished, there is so much more to do. There are still 754 pupils in Glasgow who are waiting for a mentor to help them to build their confidence, grasp opportunities and think about their future. Within Glasgow and beyond, we will not stop until all Scottish young people, from all backgrounds, are supported. We’re asking you to talk to your friends, family, neighbours and colleagues about MCR Pathways. Help us inspire the next generation and become a mentor today.

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