The Group Mentoring programme is targeted specifically at 8-12 year olds who are referred to the project from a variety of agencies within Bolton, such as Social Services, CAMHS, and Education. The majority of these youngsters are on the Child Protection Register and all of the youngsters who participate in the service are those classed as disaffected, disadvantaged, vulnerable and ‘at risk’ by the professionals referring them. There is no obligation for statutory agencies to provide these youngsters with a mentoring service such as this which offers them informal & social learning, recreational activities and the ability to mix with their peers in a group environment with the support of a volunteer mentor. The project works over three nights a week with approximately 10 young people on each session and in view of the age of the young people we collect them from their homes and bring them back to the Club. We are unaware of any other organisation within our area offering this service. The aims and objectives of the Group Mentoring project are to work with the young people on their individual action plans to establish their needs and support requirements in the longer term to be able to achieve the goals they have set. These goals can be anything from the ability to express their worries; control their temper; have a better relationship with their siblings/parents or attend school on a regular basis. For instance a number of the children are carers for their parents who may be alcoholics or drug addicts and as the child is worried about their parent, when they are at school they will behave badly or make themselves sick in order to return home from school and care for their parent, this behaviour is addressed as part of the project. A number of specific areas and needs identified through the action planning process are addressed in a group environment, the rules & boundaries for which have been set by the group themselves and because of this they respect the group environment. During group sessions the staff and mentors challenge the young people continually about discrimination, attitudes, beliefs and behaviour, for example the consequences of “spiking” someone’s drink; guns; stabbings and calling people derogatory names. The young people on the programme need firm and consistent boundaries, and a stable environment in which they can progress and achieve. The project uses monthly themed activity based workshops to help these young people achieve their goals and begin to turn their lives around. Examples of monthly themed activities are:  Exploring Anger, Violence and Peace  Community and Environment Awareness  Keeping clean and safe at home, school and out and about  A New Year, A New Way to look at You  Feeling Great for Who I Am  Friends, Friendship and Relationships  Give Something Back As an example as part of the “Exploring Anger, Violence and Peace” theme the group designed their own “super villains” throughout the month; they drew them in the first week, created them using play dough the following week and painted and decorated them in the third. In the final week, drawing on the discussions over the previous weeks about how to deal with and channel feelings, the young people assigned powers to the super villains. Then as a group they looked at whether the powers they had chosen would have positive or negative affects, would the powers mean they would be happier, have more friends and so on. It was a tough yet hugely beneficial month for all concerned, dealing with lots of raw emotions and learning how to channel thoughts and feelings. We completed the month with a fun outdoor activity, pond dipping at Moses Gate. Outcomes for the Project During the last twelve months we have worked with over 50 children of which:  80% of those who had not been attending school have improved their attendance.  75% report having a better relationship with their family members.  100% have engaged in the activities as part of the Group Mentoring Project.  100% have a healthy meal each week - as part of their social education each young person takes a turn to be a table monitor which involves serving the food and clearing away afterwards.  100% have experienced an increase in their self-esteem and confidence and they learn who they are as an individual – a number of the young people have no self-worth having been continually shouted at for being badly behaved.  There has been a reduction in the time young people spend unsupervised - as part of the project we educate them on the consequences of their “hanging around on the streets”.