Xiaohongshu
Build hopeful futures with young refugees
Would you like to utilise your educational experiences for good? Are you looking to gain practical experience working in the refugee education charity sector?
We are looking for volunteer educational mentors to join us for the 2026-2027 academic year and support our community members at Refugee Education UK for the coming year!
The Role
Educational mentors meet with their mentees once a week, in a public place, to help them with an agreed aspect of their education for a minimum of six months. This is typically in the form of English and maths support but mentoring can take different forms, from structured sessions around English reading to conversational goals set by the mentee. We provide support in providing you with resources and training to feel equipped to support your mentee.
We ask the mentor to start their mentoring session by 5:30 pm at the latest on a regular weekday (with flexibility for a later start by 6:30pm if needed) and we ask both mentors and mentees to commit for at least 6 months. Mentoring on the weekend is also possible, subject to agreement from both people.
Why volunteer with us?
Volunteers play a transformative role in the lives of our mentees, in helping build their community and enabling them to rebuild hopeful futures through education.
Here is a testimonial from a past mentor and on his experiences with volunteering so far.
There are more than I could list here, but one of the main ones for me is when your mentee makes a breakthrough on something that was giving them difficulty, especially after you've been working on it together for a while. I've also really enjoyed seeing my mentees flourishing and doing well in their lives, like when they get through their exams or when you hear about the activities they are enjoying outside of education. It's a real privilege to share part of someone's life through the mentoring role. - Duncan L. 2023
What will your role include?
1. To attend full induction training, other training as necessary, and complete all
relevant child protection checks.
2. Prepare and arrange the sessions with your mentee, including sending reminders
each week.
3. Meet with your young person for a one hour session once a week, over the period
of at least 6 months at a mutually convenient, public place, with the purpose of
supporting young people to progress in their education.
4. To safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people you come into
contact with
5. Complete weekly feedback for all mentoring sessions, whether delivered or
missed.
6. Liaise with the REUK Educational Mentoring team for support in delivering
mentoring sessions where needed.
7. Help to identify support needs of vulnerable students and ask your Mentoring
Coordinator to contact REUK’s specialist team with these concerns for assistance
from our specialist support worker.
8. Attend a six-month mentoring review with an REUK Educational Mentoring
Coordinator.
Go through the basics to succeeding as a volunteer at our new mentor training, covering your role, an overview of the lives of the students we work with, safeguarding and practical session planning advice.
You will also upskill as a volunteer mentor with us and be invited to take part in in-depth development trainings to learn about boundaries, cultural competencies, study skills and more.