Press Release

Expressions of interest - regional support agencies (peer mentoring anti-bullying pilot)

Thursday, July 10 2008

The Mentoring and Befriending Foundation (MBF) invites expressions of interest from suitably qualified, experienced organisations to provide support services for a range of schools taking part in the new two year, DCSF funded national peer mentoring anti bullying pilot. 
MBF has recently been successful in attaining funding from the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) to manage a new two year peer mentoring anti-bullying pilot.

Models of peer mentoring will be developed in 150 primary, secondary and special schools as part of the Government's Anti-Bullying Strategy.

The purpose of the anti bullying pilot is to develop several models of peer mentoring as part of the Government’s Anti-Bullying Strategy.  MBF will develop a structured peer mentoring programme in 150 schools as part of a wider school anti-bullying strategy and will look at how peer mentoring can fit into wider strategies such as Healthy Schools and SEAL (Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning) programmes. The programme will recruit approximately 3,000 peer mentors per year and work with primary, secondary and special schools across England.

Participating schools will be supported throughout the project by Regional Support Agencies  Agencies will have considerable experience and expertise in peer mentoring with a particular emphasis on impact measurement and the capture of evidence. Expressions of interest and applications from organisations wanting to apply to become a Regional Support Agency are invited until 25 July 2008.

The aims of the pilot will be to:

- Establish high quality and sustainable peer mentoring schemes in 150 schools across primary, secondary and special school sectors based upon MBF’s established model for the development of peer mentoring practice within schools

- Support the introduction of a peer mentoring model(s) into the wider anti-bullying plan of each school
Publication of a number of delivery models that schools can readily incorporate into their structures that have successfully demonstrated an impact in addressing bullying issues

- Development of an impact measurement framework designed to capture evidence from schools of the outcomes for young people and the impact that peer mentoring is having in terms of reducing incidents of bullying, promoting positive relationships and reducing aggressive behaviour

MBF will be taking part in the pilot with two other organisations who have been chosen by the DSCF Anti-Bullying Team; CHIPs and Beatbullying.

Each organisation will be looking at different methods of tackling bullying such as peer mentoring, peer mediation and cyber mentoring.

Apply now if you are interested in providing support services for pilot schools (deadline 25 July 2008)