Lichfield Christian Schools Work Trust
Whilst the last year has limited the range of the Trust, the impact of projects on the community has been profound.
Bridge Builders (employability skills for young people in schools/colleges) has been unable to operate for the past year; but, Shepherd's Crook School Ministry and Engage Mentoring have been creative in their support for young people.
Shepherd’s Crook have delivered 2 highly successful schools weeks – virtually! These outlined the Christmas and Easter stories. Feedback from schools has been encouraging and a wide range of schools across the country have accessed these resources.
Engage Mentoring has continued to support young people with low self esteem and confidence when schools have been open. We have worked with around 100 young people and 35 volunteers are now on the books as mentors with the next cohort are due to be trained later this year.
Almost £50K new funding has been secured in the last year. This will give Engage Mentoring the resources to be sustainable for the next few years. It has also led to the recruitment of an assistant project manager. The funding has been provided by URC and Wade Street Church for which we are very grateful. The seed funding by Churches Together was critical in gaining this sustainability.
Recent quotes from schools/young people and volunteers continue to highlight how the Trust is helping young people to ‘live their lives to the full’.
"If I had not contacted Pastoral and they had not put me in touch with you I know I would definitely not be in the better place that I am now' Year 9 March 2021
“My mentor has been easy to speak to.” Mentoring “…has helped me greatly with the teachers who now have a better opinion of me” “I think everybody in year 10 should meet with my mentor” “I now have the confidence to follow my dream” Y10 students Dec 2020
“Building relationships and seeing the students adopt a new positive attitude has been very rewarding for me” Mentor Dec 2020
“Mentoring is my favourite afternoon of the week!” Mentor Dec 2020
“The reception at the school was great, and I know I am doing the right thing by trying to help. Great satisfaction!” “You will be pleased to know I am massively enjoying it. The three lads are all engaging, all very different, but hugely enjoyable, and really nice guys.” Mentor Oct 2020
“Just a quick email to say a huge thank you already for the obvious positive impact you have had on [student]. She has been in school more, not needed to leave lessons due to anxiety and genuinely has more of a smile on her face. She says (when I asked her) that she really finds it useful having you to speak with – which from her (who speaks so little about this sort of thing!) is a huge compliment.” Dec 2020 Sixth form staff
(The mentors) “They really do make such a difference to the students as, even with the best will in the world, the pastoral team are not always able to guarantee some allocated time.” Oct 2020, Pastoral team
"Just before school closes for the foreseeable future I just want to thank you for facilitating the contact with David (student's mentor); hopefully they'll be able to reunite at some point but who knows. However, David has truly had an immeasurable impact on his self-esteem and ability to cope with stress. We were discussing whether he would see David today and he said that he hoped David stayed at home and stayed safe; that he now felt able to cope in the short term with the contacts inevitable lack of contact with David. He feels that David has given him strategies that really help and wanted me to strongly express how grateful he is to David. Considering the position we find ourselves in as regards the pandemic and GCSE chaos, he has remained calm and rationale...we can hardly believe it!” March 20 Parent
The Trust has developed a new website https://www.lcswt.co.uk/
This is well worth looking at and if you want to get involved, we would love to hear from you.
Sharing God’s Love in Lichfield
Rick Hill
Chair, Lichfield Christian Schools Work Trust