Mentors

Dear Members,

As director and co-founder of Griffin and Bell Education, I will be leading a small group of tutors with the highest levels of experience in a mentorship programme, designed to help students who are struggling under the weight of high stress levels, psychological difficulties, loss of direction, or who have come from abroad and need help adapting to a new language and a new culture.

STRUGGLING STUDENTS

Having worked with students from council estates in Harlesden to townhouses in Mayfair, for over twelve years, I’ve often seen the need for inspiration and motivation that goes beyond the normal academic requirements. I’ve seen stress, depression and addiction cause otherwise capable students to come away from their natural equilibrium, resulting in a breakdown in the system of their lives, which will then have a detrimental effect on their studies, and therefore their life chances, at what is of course a critical age.

Turning this around is so often a holistic process. It requires attention to the motivation of the student and to the root causes of the issues they are facing. It requires an ability to enable the student to reconstruct their self-confidence and their internal guidance mechanisms. It requires advice for parents, as well as students. It requires access to a network of trusted professionals, such as psychologists, to be recommended if and when necessary. Perhaps most of all, it requires an ability to join forces with the student, to enable them to feel supported and to help them to find what it is that will inspire them again.

Academic competition, social media bullying and lifestyle pressures are just a small number of examples of the challenges children and teenagers face, and in London these pressures can be intense. Video game addiction is on the rise. Pressure to play to be able to join the conversation at school spreads through peer groups, affecting students’ ability to maintain deep concentration when reading and studying. Not every child is able to ground themselves amidst these pressures in a calm and natural way. Mentors can act as advisor, enabler and role model for students.

INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS

Students who arrive in the UK and who are expected to gain access to, and perform, at high levels at challenging schools, can find the process psychologically and culturally testing. A mentor figure can teach widely beyond the syllabi at hand, to ensure the cultural context is clear for the student, and help ensure that the home life of the student is organised so as to give them every chance to master the English language and to succeed academically. Opening the book of British culture can be as important as ensuring the study books are close at hand.

GET IN TOUCH

If you would like to know more about how I, or another of our mentors, can help, please drop me an email to discuss this further.


Best wishes,

Matthew Smith

Director and Co-Founder
matt@griffinandbell.com