Owing to its previous year’s success, this Monday FHS launched its second ever Alumni Mentorship Scheme.

The programme provides support to Lower Sixth pupils following their transition from Year 11 in a previous school to FHS. Pupils benefit greatly from our alumni mentors’ past experiences at FHS, as well as gaining the benefit of their expertise and professionalism from within a broad range of industries.

We were delighted to welcome back alumna Marie El-Khazen (Class of 2008) and her partner, Naomi Trentham, who as their professional collective Mitos.work provide bespoke mentorship training for FHS mentors, mentees and their parents. As coaching and training specialists with extensive experience in secondary school mentoring, as well as communications and leadership training, Marie and Naomi engaged their audience of pupils, parents and alumni before introducing mentors to their mentees.

Class of 1996 alumna and mentor for a second consecutive year, Adriana Bethune (nee Stirling) spoke enthusiastically of her experiences: “The mentoring process is an incredibly rewarding programme, for both the mentor and the mentee.  It was incredibly well supported by the school which took any pressure off.  We were both very open and transparent with each other which meant we found lots of common ground. We chose to speak for an hour every week throughout the academic year, which really worked for us because it kept the sessions current and meaningful.  I hope everyone gets as much out of mentoring a Francis Holland Sixth Form pupil as I did.

Mentorship sessions will begin imminently with weekly online sessions via Teams, reducing to biweekly and then monthly from January to July 2022 – thus spanning the academic year. Sessions will provide focus and context to pupils’ studies by providing support through career development and guidance, building resilience and aptitude and by enhancing academic focus.

Claire Brazer, Alumni Relations Officer