St Roch’s Secondary is in the North East of Glasgow. We spoke to Tommy Donnelly, the Deputy Head Teacher, to discuss how the MCR Mentoring Programme is “a perfect fit for the ethos of our school.” Tommy tells us, “Our school motto is ‘help others’ and MCR is a perfect way for us to reinforce that.”
How has MCR’s support impacted your school as a whole?
The impact of the programme on the staff is growing. It’s like an extra arm to our pupil support. Some of the approaches embedded in MCR – the individual mentoring, the Talent Tasters – have spilled out into the whole school. Because, if it’s worked in that context, with those young people, it can definitely help the rest of our practice as well
How have MCR Mentors impacted your school’s young people?
Mentoring has many benefits for our young people. Initially, we were one of the lead schools and it started off with just four young people. I was sceptical at first but it’s grown, now we’ve got 50 young people in the school that are being mentored. The young people themselves had value for it and they were valuing the input that they were having from external mentors.
“Behind these statistics are our young peoples’ experiences in life. Behind these numbers, we’re moving young people who are in vulnerable situations and helping them improve their lives longterm.”
What would you say to other schools about the benefit of MCR’s programme and encouraging them to become an MCR school?
We can see an increased level of engagement in their subjects and also within their role in the wider community. With MCR, you’ve got this dedicated approach to identify young people who are in a difficult situation and give them the support. This is something that’s proved to be very successful.
