Clustered in the south of the city are three of MCR’s newest schools, St Margaret Mary’s Secondary, Castlemilk High and King’s Park Secondary. Over the past few week, we’ve visited and met with their Pathways Coordinators, school staff and young people to better get to know the newest additions to the MCR family. We’re excited to show you what we’ve learned over the coming weeks and encourage you to get involved.
Community Spirit
These southside schools, just 20 minutes from the centre of Glasgow, share much in common.
During our recent school visit to St Margaret Mary’s Irene, their Pathways Coordinator, told us, “the area is like a village in Glasgow, with a very strong community feeling. All the mentors who have come for the induction have liked the school, they’ve said it has a lovely feeling.”
Castlemilk High’s School Link and Depute Head Teacher Patrick echo’s Irene when describing his school. “One of the beauties of working in Castlemilk is there’s a real sense of community and sense that people want to support each other.”
Even though MCR Pathways has only been in Patrick’s school since late 2017 he already sees the benefits. He’s heard of MCR’s success in other schools is keen for more mentors to get involved.
“If we can get local people in to support us – I’m sure they are there – they’ll see difference they could make”.
The First Mentor Matches
David is St Margaret Mary’s first ever mentor. After attending an MCR info session he knew that the programme was for him and there was no going back.
“I saw one of the posts on Twitter and when I read that it was only for an hour a week I thought ‘how could I not do it?’ I know some of the schools have a harder time attracting mentors, but to be honest it’s just a couple of miles down the road and there are several buses that take you directly to the school doors.”
David’s only been meeting with his mentee since March, but already the two talk like old friends.
“My mentee is so chatty. I’ve never had the problem of her going quiet. She’s very open, very eloquent. Its just being an ear for someone that’s the main thing.”
#SouthSideSignUps
Over and over, we heard about the ‘community spirit’ and strong sense of identity in this area of town. While across the city, young people are enjoying their summer holidays, at MCR we’re busy preparing for term. Come August there will be more than 60 young people in S3 across these three schools ready to be matched, in addition to the older pupils already keen to take part. Let’s harness that Southside community support and find them all mentors!
Can you join our #SouthSideSignUps and be the listening ear for one of our young people in a southside school? All it takes is just one hour a week to make a life changing difference.
