Hundreds of peer mentors have trained in schools across East Cornwall

A peer mentoring scheme helps pupils make the leap between leaving primary school and starting secondary school.

Three hundred new mentors have been trained in east Cornwall this year by Cornwall Partnership NHS Trust and it is hoped the scheme will soon cover all of Cornwall.

The free program aims to help children with any feelings of anxiety, low self-esteem, confidence or friendship difficulties.

Youngsters at Callington Community College said they wanted to use their own experiences to help their peers.

Amelie, 13, said: “My favorite thing is probably seeing the smile on their faces when they realize they have somewhere to talk about their worries.”

Hannah, 12, said her favorite thing about being a peer mentor was “being able to help other people and help them with their own struggles that I’ve probably been through.”

The program is implemented in the eight secondary schools and 65 primary schools in East Cornwall.

The new peer mentors have been trained by Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust’s mental health support team and are ready to support the intake of students from September.

Ed Davis, associate principal of Callington Community College, said the transition between primary and secondary school was particularly difficult for students in rural areas.

“Some of the students come from primary schools where there are two or three students in year 6.

“We have almost 900 students here.”

The trust said historically, peer mentoring support had been available to students for a number of years.

However, he said the high level of trained support, with the help of the trust’s mental health support team, enabled students to access support specific to their needs.

Grace Cloke, manager of East Cornwall’s mental health support team, added: “After the pandemic there has been a massive increase in the number of children experiencing anxiety, there have been a lot of children experiencing school avoidance, school avoidance on an emotional basis and I”. I found it was very good for them.”

A trial of the same program is underway in west and mid Cornwall.

Mrs Cloke said it was hoped that by next year, in each new year, seven students from Cornwall would have the opportunity to speak to a peer mentor if they wanted.