Peer Mentoring
Peer Mentoring has developed as one of the major initiatives at Bow. As part of the initiative, students run mediation sessions and support the anti-bullying campaign. Sports based peer mentoring workshops are organised in the school and facilitated by the national Beat Bullying programme, on a yearly basis, for Year 7 students.
The training given to Peer Mentors is professionally delivered and equips students with the necessary skills to deal with minor cases of bullying.
At a national mentoring workshop, one Bow students spoke of how Peer Mentors should:
(a) Assist students who are victims of bullying; enabling them to recover from low self-esteem and lack of self-confidence
(b) Mediate between protagonist of bullying and the victims. Act like referees to both sides
(c) Resolve conflicts that exist between them.
To be able to resolve conflict, the Peer Mentor must:
- Mediate between those in conflict
- Listen to both sides of the story
- Recognise all honestly expressed feelings
- Let each side speak without interruption
- If all attempts of reconciliation fail, seek advice from a school Learning Mentor
- Compromise – give a little to each
- Find a solution.
