GE Capital, Sale is partnering with the local schools of Sale to help to engage children with alternative learning methods. This new initiative will see GE offering support to the local schools of Sale by hosting mentoring sessions by industry professionals using numeracy themed games and help in improving literacy. This Initiative aims to raise the aspirations and attainment of young people across the local areas.
The purpose of this new initiative is to help bridge the gap felt by children needing that extra little bit of support by engaging them with alternative learning methods in a hope to raise their interest, confidence and aspirations within education. The initiative has seen a donation of £1,000 to Education Business Solutions who have provided 24 numeracy themed games, which are aimed at reaching out and engaging both 5-7 and 7-11 year olds.
The numeracy and literacy mentoring scheme has been running for around three years and to date has held 236 individual mentoring sessions involving over 500 pupils. Heather Bradshaw school administrator at Lime Tree Primary school, states 'The children love having the volunteers in school and the regular support through numeracy games has helped the children gain confidence with numbers and has helped to create enthusiasm for numeracy, We have created a good working relationship with GE and look forward to working with them more in the future.'
Peter Hornby, Maintenance Cost Analyst within GE Capital, Fleet Services is the co-ordinator behind the mentoring scheme. Peter's role within the primary school initiative was inspired by his involvement in practice interviews with year 11 students. Peter feels, "children are like sponges that are willing to soak up information, if we help bridge the gap between children at these early stages then we give them a better chance of achieving their career goals in life. If we make a little bit of difference to even one child with this scheme then it has all been worthwhile"
GE's strong relationship with the Education Business Solutions group means that their mentors are both EBS trained and fully CRB checked, providing the local children involved with both a high level of understanding and safety. The mentoring team at GE are working closely with the two schools currently involved in trialling the games initiative (Holy Family School & Lime Tree Primary School) to help make the games as relevant and productive as possible in engaging the children.
GE's mentoring scheme is a part of the company's wider educational promise 'iCount' which is dedicated to supporting education in the UK with the aim of meeting the need for a strong workforce and raising the aspirations and attainment of young people across all sectors of education.
Angela Goulding
GE Capital
[email protected]
0870-458-8421