#VolunteersWeek: Year nine students spurred to think about their future by Stone King mentors

Career aspirations, role models and overcoming barriers are all topics on the agenda in a series of mentoring sessions being run by Stone King employees for a group of year nine students.

As part of a programme delivered by the West of England Mentoring (WEM) partnership, six Stone King volunteers are mentoring 20 students aged between 13 and 14 from Hayefield Girls’ School in Bath. The volunteers work in various departments at the national law firm, including in the Private Client and Employment teams, Marketing and Human Resources.

Danielle Saint, Marketing Administrator at Stone King LLP, who led the first session, says: “It is already proving to be a very rewarding experience. The first session was quite challenging because we didn’t know each other and the students weren’t sure what to expect. We tried to create a relaxed and friendly environment to break the ice and by session two the girls really started to open up and get involved.”

The students attend a series of mentoring sessions designed to give them an insight into the world of work and make them think about their future careers and aspirations, set goals and how to overcome any barriers they think may be in their way. The WEM model involves six sessions over 12 weeks and concludes with a celebration and school visit. Each two-hour session is led by a different volunteer mentor, whilst the other five support activities and discussions.

Danielle adds: “In session two we asked them to do a career survey to make them think about what they enjoy and what careers their interests could lead them to. The majority came out as healthcare, law and marketing and hopefully through these sessions we can help to spur them to work towards and achieve these career aspirations.”

The WEM partnership is the result of a collaboration between Bath and Bristol based organisations that are running successful mentoring schemes across the region. It is delivered by Mentoring Plus and Ablaze in collaboration with Bath Bridge and Babassa. More information about these organisations, WEM and its other supporters is at wementoring.org.uk.

For media enquiries please contact

Lucie Willis
01225 478180
LucieWillis@stoneking.co.uk